Question
Actually my soil is very much a clay soil.  The
did spread top soil when they put in the new
lawn but I do not know how thick it is.

Regarding aeration... Do you have thoughts on
the new "liquid aeration" products ?  Such as:
http://www.outsidepride.com/store/catalog/Liquid-Soil-Aerator-p-17903.html

Considering the cost and work involved with the
mechanical aerators... I was thinking that it
might at least be worth a try.  Almost seems
too good to be true but...

If I have to go mechanical aeration (rent), I
will but did not want to overlook an easier
cheaper solution.  Any thoughts/experience
with this alternative ?
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Followup To

Question -
Home/yard is about two years old.  Grass in backyard gets sun most of the day.  It reacts
to fertilize quite well.. it darkens up and grows real heavy (tall fescue).  The problem I
have is that once the fertilizer wears out,
the grass goes lighter green and is not as
hardy.  Is there a way for me to improve the
quality of the soil so that the grass is no so
dependent on fertilizer ?

Answer -
Try to core aerate in spring or fall (fall is preferred) and if possible spread thin (1/2 - 1") layer of well shredded compost over the lawn. This will help improve the quality of the soil. This can improve quality of the lawn. However, this can be very back breaking work and can also be expensive if you have to pay for the compost.

You can make some other relatively minor changes which will likely give good result, too:

I suspect your soil is relatively sandy (will typically leach fertilizer nutrients fast). Try to buy fertilizer which has 50% or more of the Nitrogen in a slow release form. This is typically listed as IBDU, SULPHUR COATED, or simply as "WIN" (Water Insoluble Nitrogen) etc.

E.g. the lable will typically look like this:

GUARANTEED ANALYSIS

Total Nitrogen (N)...  29%
    10% Ammoniacal Nitrogen
    6% Urea Nitrogen
    9% Water Insoluble Nitrogen
    4% (some other type of Nitrogen)
    Note: the numbers above must add up to the total N.
Available Phosphate (P2O5)... 4%
Soluble Potash (K2O)... 3%

In above example, Ammoniacal and Urea Nitrogen are both fast release. So are "other forms" unless specifically adviced differently. In the above example only the 9% Water Insoluble Nitrogen is slow release. This means that the package contain 9% / 29% = 31% of the Nitrogen in Slow release form.


Some packages may have part of the UREA in "WIN" form (coated urea). The lable will tell you.

For example

GUARANTEED ANALYSIS

Total Nitrogen (N)...  29%
    1.2% Ammoniacal Nitrogen
    27.8% Urea Nitrogen (*)
    Note: the numbers above must add up to the total N.
    (*) Contains 5% slowly available urea nitrogen from coated urea.

Available Phosphate (P2O5)... 4%
Soluble Potash (K2O)... 3%

In this case 5%/29% = 17% of the fertilizer is in slow release form.

Take a look at a few fertilizer packages and ask the garden center to see a few with high levels of slow release nitrogen (double check the package lable yourself as above). Remember your target of 50% of the Nitrogen should be in a slowly available form.

The more slow release fertilizer there is, the longer the fertilizer will last and the longer your lawn will stay green.


You can also consider using organic fertilizers, which in most cases will have similar effect. E.g. Ringer Lawnrestorer, Espoma Organic Lawn Fertilizer, Milorganite, etc are all fine examples.

Apply fertilizer in late spring, early fall and late fall. Avoid applying fertilizers in summer, even if the lawn turns yellow. You can temporarily green up a lawn with an application of IRON such as IRONITE in summer if you need to (short lived). However, using slow release fertilizer, especially in late spring is preferred.

In late fall, apply a quick release fertilizer (i/o slow release fertilizer) due to short window available.

Answer
The reason I recommended aeration was to provide holes for the compost to fill into.

If you are not going to add compost (and admittedly this is a very cumbersome and potentially expensive proposition) then you do not need aeration.

You certainly not need any liquid kind. The "liquid aerators" are typically surfacants which allow water and nutrients to be absorbed easier in very hard soils, such as dense clay soils. However, this is nothing you can not duplicate by adding 1 tbsp of dishwashing detergent to a gallon of water and using this as "aerator". This does nothing for your specific lawn, however, because you do not need aeration (your soil is very light as it is).

My recommendation is to fertilize at the right times of the year for your grass type and use slow release fertilizers.

You do not need mechanical aeration.