When to Aerate & Kill Weeds & Seed in North Carolina?

Creating Loose Soil

• Hot summers and hard North Carolina clay soil combine into a tough ground surface for grass seed germination. Before seeding your lawn, use a hollow-tine aerator to pull 1- to 2-inch long soil cores from the turf. This process creates friable soil while allowing moisture and oxygen to permeate grass roots. Typically performed in October or November, aeration also removes thick thatch, or decomposing stems and foliage, from your lawn to encourage healthy seedling growth. Do not aerate early, such as in July or August, however. Summer's heat creates stress across the turf. When coupled with aeration, you may actually damage your lawn rather than renovate it.

Seeding Your Yard

• Preferably, seed your lawn after aerating it in the fall. Cool-season grasses germinate quickly in the fall before cold winter weather arrives. Cover your yard evenly with seed and rake it lightly into the soil. Water your yard at least twice a day to maintain damp conditions to a 1/2-inch depth for successful germination. Seedlings quickly populate your yard for strong establishment. If you have a warm-season grass, however, they are typically grown from sod, plugs or sprigs. Because they do not grow well from seed, reserve any renovation for these grasses until spring. They are entering dormancy in the fall and do not respond well to late season aeration or seeding.

Killing Those Weeds

• Many weed seeds germinate in the spring when temperatures rise and days lengthen. Apply any preemergent herbicides in the spring before weeds are visible in your yard. These chemicals work by hindering natural germination processes. If you seeded at the same time as chemical application, both your weeds and new grass would fail to sprout. By applying weed killer in the spring and seeding in fall, you effectively clear the soil of undesirable plants and ready the space for thick grass growth. If you do have some weeds in the fall, simply hand pull them before they seed to prevent any more spread.

Considering Drought Conditions

• If your region has seen extensive drought, your lawn is often a reflection of the local weather conditions. Thinning and patchy lawns contribute to soil erosion and significant runoff during rare rainstorms. A struggling lawn should be seeded in either fall or spring to rejuvenate it as quickly as possible. Ideally, avoid weed killer application and seed your lawn in the spring before summer heat sets in. Although you may not have a textbook lawn by summer, any seedling establishment helps your yard retain its topsoil. Losing significant soil amounts causes poor growth for plants and requires expensive renovation over time.