Lawn Clay

Clay soils create problems in both gardens and lawns. They stay soggy when wet, and turn rock hard when they dry out in the summer. When soils are "tight", necessary air, water, and nutrients can't move through the soil. Disease occurs. Roots are stunted. Beneficial micro-organisms can't survive. Plants are stressed and weakened, while specific weeds are actually encouraged.

Improving clay in the garden is normally accomplished by tilling or mixing organic matter –such as compost, peat moss, cocoa shells, etc… into the clay 4-12 inches deep or more. This process, if done right, can immediately improve soil aeration and drainage, and can help create humus over time as beneficial soil microbes break down the organic matter. *

If you have a lawn clay situation, there is no way to till in organic matter down deep without tilling up the lawn. The standard advice is to top dress the lawn with compost, leave the clippings, fertilize organically and wait and wait and wait for all of that organic matter to eventually break down, convert to humus and help restructure the soil. The denser the clay, the longer it will take – often years.

The problem is that dense clays consist of microscopic mineral particles that are very tightly bonded, with little to no air space between them. The microbes that break down organic matter need air to survive. The only air you'll have when working with lawn clay is going to be at the surface. So, the surface soil will improve first, and little by little the clay will change deeper.

A Faster Solution For Lawn Clay

Lawns growing in dense clays are often poor color, thin and weedy. Adding organic matter or compost to the top of such a lawn may eventually improve the lawn clay, but it takes a lot of patience. The whole process can be speeded up by creating temporary pores and channels in the clay with Aerify PLUS –Liquid Soil Aerator and Bioactivator.

Aerify PLUS breaks apart clay bonds to create microscopic airspace deep into the clay. Each application can work deeper. It also helps generate and feed beneficial soil microbes (including mycorrhizae) at the same time. It helps improve drainage in your lawn clay, encourages deeper rooting, frees up nutrients and water in the root zone and helps move organic matter deeper into the soil.

Once your lawn clay begins to open up, the soil becomes healthier and earthworms will start to appear in your soil in greater numbers. Earthworms will enhance and speed up the soil improvement process because they aerate the soil as the tunnel up and down. They also digest thatch and other organic matter in the soil and convert it into humus and rich, fertile castings

FYI - I treated my own lawn organically for many years and top dressed with compost as well. Though the top 4-5 inches improved quite a bit, the clay underneath remained gray and sticky. It took a few years of treating with Aerify Plus, but today my lawn clay soil is dark and crumbly more than 1 ½ feet deep, and earthworms abound.

If your lawn is growing in a poor lawn clay soil, it will always be prone to the problems that come with clay - compaction, poor drainage, fungus, moss, weeds, poor nutrient availability and color, root-stress and a host of other undesirable conditions. Improve the lawn clay and you will improve the lawn. It is as simple as that.

*See Working With Wet Clay Soils in the Garden