Plug Aerators - How do they work?

[ceyko]

I now have a need to buy a pull behind aerator and am thinking about the ones that do plugs as opposed to just poking holes in the ground.

My biggest concern about the plugs, is where do they go? It would seem logical that they are just dropped back on the grass - and that's okay. My biggest concern is removing too much fill and having the get a landscaper/etc in sooner than needed to regrade/fix things.

I have not had much luck finding one local to see what happens, and the answers are not online - so I figured I'd see if anyone knew. Appreciate the help.

[juiceweezl]

That's what you see most golf courses using. They pull the plugs up as they rotate. When it goes back in the ground the next time, the core in the tine is pushed out and just left laying on the ground. Some people mow/bag them while others just leave them. Eventually they'll bust apart and go back in the ground. The proper thing to do is core aerate the yard and then top dress with sand (bermuda grass I'm assuming). The holes give it room to really grow. Oh, and wait until spring to do it when the grass is really coming active. The holes will allow water, oxygen, etc. to get to the roots of the grass better.


When I've rented them in the past, I just leave the plugs in the yard. They get trampled down, picked up or crushed by the mower, etc. It does look like I got bombed by geese though for a while.

[ceyko]

haha, I could see that. I did happen to see one in Home Depot today and saw that it would just leave them bend. Sensible and appreciate the tips.

[miketyler]

The holes will allow water, oxygen, etc. to get to the roots of the grass better.

This is the best reason for it. I did this last year before the drought hit and believe it did make a difference initally. Good to time this just prior to a fertilzer treatment. Theres a thread around here on this somewhere.

The plugs lay on top of the lawn just as your grass clippings do to return vital nutrients back to your lawn.

[Lone Sailor]

Maybe I should have picked up an aerator instead of a dethatcher.

[zemog]

not sure the ones you can rent at homedepot are the same as the ones on the golf course, the one i own is hydraulacally driven and cost in the 20k range and i dont and wont use it on home lawns just because theres too much unknown and the tines are driven into the ground and if something is there, concrete, tree roots or whatever it wont stop just cause it hits it, but it will break a bunch of parts, (ask me how i know , that said it isnt something that i have done much of on our lawns simply cause most of ours are on the river, i do use it on the greens once per year though, just to help out with compaction

[Lone Sailor]

not sure the ones you can rent at homedepot are the same as the ones on the golf course, the one i own is hydraulacally driven and cost in the 20k range and i dont and wont use it on home lawns just because theres too much unknown and the tines are driven into the ground and if something is there, concrete, tree roots or whatever it wont stop just cause it hits it, but it will break a bunch of parts, (ask me how i know , that said it isnt something that i have done much of on our lawns simply cause most of ours are on the river, i do use it on the greens once per year though, just to help out with compaction

The house we bought last year has a yard that had been neglected for at least 5 years, probably more like 10. Not only is the top soil compacted to a rock hard state, but there is inches, INCHES, worth of matted down dead grass and weeds over the top of ground. I spent the last 2 months running the detatcher through the front yard trying to get it cleaned up some so I could try to do some late season over seeding, but since I had to stop every 30 seconds and clean it out it not only made it very time consuming and tedious but I didn't get enough of it up to bother with seeding it. I did get a little bit in the back done, but the main objective was for the front. I guess maybe I should have just had someone come in a cut this shit out and put down some sod.

[zemog]

can you not just scalp the crap out of it in spring and bag all of the dead up, then drag it with the dethatcher to break up the surface

[Lone Sailor]

can you not just scalp the crap out of it in spring and bag all of the dead up, then drag it with the dethatcher to break up the surface

That's the thing, I have scalped it, but because there was already such a high thicket underneath I had to try and get that all up before I can get to the bare soil. It's a real bitch.

[zemog]

skip the dethachter and get a field ripper, we have one at the ranch thats like a giant bed of spikes that rips the fields pretty good.