We are asked this question repeatedly every spring and our answer is always the same…no. Why not you ask? Especially when it seems to make so much sense.
The main reason we do not perform this service and do not recommend it is that rolling a heavy object over your lawn, sometimes repeatedly, unnecessarily compacts your soil. This is especially true because rolling is usually done early in the spring time when the soil is wet.
Keep in mind that the natural undulations you see as winter fades away and your turf has not yet begun to flourish are probably always there. They are just masked most of the year by flourishing turf that is nicely mowed. During early spring we also see night crawler mounds or middens. These middens store food and protect their burrow openings. They can be substantial enough to give the lawn a bumpy appearance. The worms build them by dragging plant material and adding it to their casts. The middens are present whenever the soil is warm enough to encourage worm activity but once again, when the turf is actively growing they not are very noticeable. Despite their mounds, earthworms are awesome. Their casts are 5 times richer in available nitrogen, 7 times richer in available phosphates and 11 times richer in available potassium. These are the three macronutrients listed on a bag of fertilizer. Each worm can live up to 6 years and of course they loosen and help to aerate the soil.
So perhaps we should not harass the earthworm by rolling them! At Heritage, we care about earthworms and everything else in every ecosystem.
For more information, call us today at (717) 292-9994 or email info@heritagelawn.net.