Owner Support. Register Product. Locate Model Number. Dealer Locator. Maintenance How-To. Warranty Information. Vocational Education. Your lawn is probably a good candidate for aeration if it: Gets heavy use, such as serving as the neighborhood playground or racetrack.
Children and pets running around the yard contribute to soil compaction. Was established as part of a newly constructed home. Often, the topsoil of newly constructed lawns is stripped or buried, and the grass established on subsoil has been compacted by construction traffic. Dries out easily and has a spongy feel.
This might mean your lawn has an excessive thatch problem. Take a shovel and remove a slice of lawn about four inches deep. If the thatch layer is greater than one-half inch, aeration is recommended. Was established by sod, and soil layering exists. Soil layering means that soil of finer texture, which comes with imported sod, is layered over the existing coarser soil. This layering disrupts drainage, as water is held in the finer-textured soil.
This leads to compacted conditions and poor root development. Aerating breaks up the layering, allowing water to flow through the soil more easily and reach the roots. Core aerators, with the larger holes created, permit grass clippings, grass seed if overseeding in conjunction with aeration , fertilizer, top dressings etc.
If core aeration is appealing to you, you will have to decide if you want to buy and maintain the implement, or rent one for a day's use. A spike or slit aerator, on the other hand, is cheap enough that you can buy one and aerate as often as you want. Here is a link that might be useful: Aerate lawn. The plug aerator leaves little turds plugs on the lawn and therefore may temporarily offend you depending on your sensibilities. However, if you are going organic or low chemical these little turds will help cause bio-activity at the top level.
This will serve to reduce thatch build up and promote healthy growth. Thanks guys. I'll opt for the plug aerator. I think a 48inch from JD, Brinley and Agri-fab run about Plug is best.
The dirt turds disappear after a week or so unless you decide to use your lawn roller after you aerate in hopes it will hasten the disappearing process.
Trust me - it doesn't. Another thing to consider, Plug aerators require a more substantial tractor to pull because of the resistance caused by the weight necessary to penetrate the soil. I use lbs of weight on my Brinley aerator on clay soil.
Is it even worth it to use a spike aerator? Might want to check if your lawn tractor is capable of handling a 48" core aerator. Adding the extra weight along with the core aerator itself could damage your tractor. Made enough money in two days to pay for it plus some profit. Only service on my Brinley has been a set of tines I wore out. By aerating, water penetration is improved, thereby watering roots deeper. Fertilizer moves more effectively to the deeper root base, and oxygen and carbon dioxide exchange becomes more efficient.
The results of aerating lawns are healthier, brighter and greener lawns. Plug aerators, also called core aerators, remove a solid core about 1 inch in diameter and a length of anywhere between one to six inches in depth, and two to four inches apart, depending upon the aerator. The lawn can therefore re-oxygenate and fertilizer can move deeper into the root base. Plug aerators require specific conditions in order to function properly.
The best time to use a plug aerator is when the soil is moist but not saturated with water. During dry conditions the soil crumbles inside of the tines, preventing the plug aerator from removing the plugs from the ground. During wet conditions the soil lodges inside the tines. This prevents the aerator from removing the soil and causes the spikes to compact the soil instead of loosening it.
Plug aerators remove part of the soil from the root zone of your lawn. This process improves the structure of your soil in the long run but puts stress on your grass in the short term.
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