Topdress Your Lawn with Biochar

In the St. Louis area, early fall is the ideal time to topdress cool-season lawns like fescue and bluegrass. This timing allows the grass to actively grow and incorporate the compost, improving soil, boosting nutrients, and strengthening roots before winter arrives.

Our recommendation is to aerate, regardless of the color of the turf and to apply a measure of SuperCHAR Compost right after aeration. The cores taken out of the soil by the aerator let compost in below the surface and help improve the soil conditions in the most important place of all, the root zone.

An application of SuperCHAR helps boost soil nutrient levels, improves soil texture, and helps the soil manage rainfall and irrigation water better to ensure healthier turf. You can rent an aerator or hire a lawn company to provide this service.

AERATION

On aeration day, we recommend first cutting the grass fairly short. Cutting the grass short lets

the aerator work better and makes spreading seed and compost easier. Aerate as normal, taking care to give a little extra treatment to areas that have obvious compaction like walkways and pet habit trails.

For smaller lawn areas, you can use a wheelbarrow and shovel to lightly apply compost. For larger areas, we recommend renting a compost spreader.

OVERSEEDING AND TOPDRESSING

Apply fresh grass seed in areas needing reseeding by hand or with a spreader. Next, spread a layer of SuperCHAR, a compost and biochar blend, over the entire area. We usually recommend about a quarter to a half-inch deep application of the compost with each aeration. Lightly rake the area to ensure that compost drops into the aeration cores and gently water the area.

Areas that are in need of extensive repair and re-seeding might benefit from the application of a starter fertilizer at this time as well.

Improving the soil beneath your turf grass is a great way to help keep your lawn healthy and growing, even in more typical, hot and dry summers. SuperCHAR provides organic matter, healthy soil microbes, and carbon to improve root zones and soil structure. Healthy root zones make for healthy lawns!

TOPDRESSING OPTIONS:

Product	Screening	Key Benefits	Best For
Field & Turf Enhancer	Standard screen	Adds nutrients, improves soil, breaks up clay	Budget-friendly topdressing; OK if a few larger particles aren’t an issue
Premium Field & Turf Enhancer	Very fine screen	Adds organic matter, boosts nutrients, improves water retention, smooth finish	Long-term lawn improvement & faster blending
SuperCHAR	Fine screen + biochar	Maximum nutrient boost, best water retention, improves soil structure	Ultimate results & drought resilience