aerating my lawn

[347Mike]

How often do you aerate? One landscaper told me buying tire spikes for my lawn tractor is cheaper and easier but I was thinking the larger and deeper holes would be better, especially if you coupled the aeration with fertilizing.

Dan - you still interested in splitting?

You can aerate with a straw if you want but the point of CORE aeration is to break up compacted soil and allow more everything to get in there and help your lawn grow. I rented one from ACE Hardware a few weeks ago for (I want to say) $50 or so for 24 hours. It beat Home Depot by far.

I have been told and also read that it is good to aerate once a year (every fall, or every spring). I will be doing mine every Spring moving forward.

I aerated, fertilized, then threw down some seed. I don't think my seed took very well since it poured down rain afterwards and im sure it all washed away but my yard is a night and day difference. I had quite a few spots where the grass was thin like a putting green and now it is flush and even with the rest of my grass. I literally thought my front yard was dead and not going to return. After the aeration (except for a few spots) my yard is probably up there with the people who are outside everyday doing yard work. It is dark, green, and thick.

I let my neighbor use it and I don't think his took as well as mine did. He also didn't water for a week afterwards nor did he fertilize or seed.

[Frank]

sounds like what I need to do for my lawn. Its a thick black clay and though most is nice St Augustine, it has patches about the size of my hand where its mostly gone. I use grub worm killer. Anyone use those spike shoes? I wonder if they are effective. Doesn't the aerator take out like 1" plugs all over the place?

[miketyler]

Mike - What type of grass and soil do you have? We have Bermuda and the soil here is the crappy black gummy stuff.

Can you describe the type machine you rented? How deep and what size diameter holes did it leave? I dont have the confidence in the tiny diameter spikes that might leave a 1/8"dia hole. Probably better than nothing but if I am going to do this, I want the best results possible.

[347Mike]

Mike - What type of grass and soil do you have? We have Bermuda and the soil here is the crappy black gummy stuff.

Can you describe the type machine you rented? How deep and what size diameter holes did it leave? I dont have the confidence in the tiny diameter spikes that might leave a 1/8"dia hole. Probably better than nothing but if I am going to do this, I want the best results possible.

The cores are about the size of your thumb, length and width size. As far as what it looks like, I dunno, google it. lol It is a big machine with about 30 spikes on it. It comes with additional weights and the whole thing weighted down is probably 200 lbs.

I have Bermuda as for the soil I am not sure. It is black/brown and a lighter color after a few inches.

I wouldn't waste your time with 1/8". Those don't sound like 'cores' that pull the dirt out. If you just use a stick, it compacts the dirt, not take it out to loosen the soil.

[347Mike]

Look at this link: http://ravenscourt.us/services/core-aeration/

It shows you what aerating does and it has a picture of an aerator.

[miketyler]

Got it, just want to be sure I'm on the same page. Any damage to sprinkler heads? Or maybe I should flag all the heads before I do it. Will post up my findings

[347Mike]

Got it, just want to be sure I'm on the same page. Any damage to sprinkler heads? Or maybe I should flag all the heads before I do it. Will post up my findings

I would recommend flagging them. I didn't and I realized afterwards I probably should have. They don't go deep enough to hit the line but they can definitely hit the head. I ran over tree roots with the one I rented and it tore it the fuck up! Those spikes are no joke!

[miketyler]

I am going to rent one this weekend. I have an acre lot with a lot of lawn area. Do these things move pretty quick? Like mowing the yard with conventional mower?

[miketyler]

Did it two weeks ago and am already seeing improvement.

For best results, and in gummy soil as mine you probably should water daily for a week before renting the tool. Did my entire acre lot within the 4 hr rental, so was $67. They had two models and the deluxe was the Bluebird. It had adjustable depth and had one more set of tines than the other model which provided more holes per pass.

Moisture content is key in proper penetration of the tines. The thing is a bear to handle and really only likes to go in a straight line. I had fertilized a week prior to aeration so not sure how much of this is from the fertilizer.

I will say when we have fertilzed the yard in the past, the grass responds immediately and within a week we have to raise the mower height. Not so this time as we are seeing the improved growth now three weeks after fertilizing so I believe much of what we are seeing is from aeration.

Heres an article on aeration

http://www.dannylipford.com/adventures-in-aeration/

[347Mike]

Good deal! You sould have gone to ACE though! Screw $67 (rushing) for 4 hours.

[miketyler]

Irving was too far to drive for us. Also, my mistake on pricing; it was only $48 + $5 for the ramps. And you are right, I was rushing to get it cleaned and on the truck and back to them in time.

[stinginstang]

I've used that same one before. It's a workout - as you said it wants to go in a straight line so the turns require a lot of work.

[347Mike]

I've used that same one before. It's a workout - as you said it wants to go in a straight line so the turns require a lot of work.

Lift the spikes and it is just like a lawn mower..

[Randy]

i have a question... i live in NFTW and the land here is nothing less than shit..... i cant even stick a small spike in the ground w/o hitting rocks and im talking like maybe an inch into the ground..... how tough are the spikes on this thing?? Will it handle the rocks or am i screwed?

[lowthreeohz]

I have a pretty rough yard as well, but no real rocks to speak of. it didn't even hiccup on my dry ass soil, so i wouldn't think it'd be too much of a problem as long as they're not large rocks. I'm in Hurst fwiw, so i would assume the ground is similar.