- Is your grass starting to dry out, and it’s spreading all over the lawn?
- Tried out different methods?
- But still can’t find out the culprit behind it?
Table of contents
Why aerate the lawn?
First, the reasons behind it are insufficient watering, fertilizing, or the lawn is not breathing fully. If you are doing all the needed lawn care from your side, there are chances that the lawn can’t fully get advantages from it.
But how could it be possible? At that time, the culprit is the yard’s soil compaction or the thatch layer. To overcome these problems, you must aerate your lawn. For this, you need to know about aerate lawn tools.
Now, let’s have a quick look at what is soil compaction and thatch layer.
Soil compaction and thatch layer
Soil compaction happens when soil particles press together, reducing pore space between the particles and making the soil hard. Compacted soil has reduced the rate of water infiltration, less fertilization uptake, and restricted breathability. This issue can cause severely dull lawns.
The thatch layer is a spongy, organic layer between the grass and soil. It is the combination of dead stems, leaves, and roots. When you water your lawn, thatch layer holds the water in it and does not let it absorb deeper into soil and grassroots to flourish. Suppose you plug out a lawn area with thatch layer and dip it in water. You can squeeze water out of the thatch layer like a sponge.
Now, to choose the aerate lawn tools, you need to know the aeration methods first. So, you can select a tool depending on your preferred aeration method.
If you want to know more about what lawn aeration is and when and why you should aerate your lawn.
Lawn aeration methods
There are two commonly used aeration methods: spike aeration and plug aeration. You can do each method depending on the situation of soil compaction and the thickness of the thatch layer.
Tine or spike aeration
Spike aeration, as the name suggests, is a method of puncturing or putting deep cuts in the soil.
Spike aeration is less expensive to implement than plug aeration. But the spike aeration’s effects are not long-lasting as plug aeration. Therefore, one needs to use spike aerate lawn tools more frequently than the plug aeration method.
Moreover, you can do spike aeration many times a year. Some lawn care experts say that you can use spike aerate lawn tools any time or any season of the year.
Spike aeration is best for sandy soil because it helps with drainage by opening up the soil.
Core or plug aeration
Core or plug aeration is a method to take out a 10 centimeters deep plug of grass and soil once at the distance of 10 centimeters throughout the lawn.
It is considered to be an effective method than spike aeration because it does not make the cuts in the yard’s soil but plug out the piece that makes a direct way for water, air, and fertilization to reach the grassroots directly.
For clay soil, plug aerate tools are best because spike aeration can compress the clay soil around the cut.
Types of lawn aerator tools
Choosing the best aerate lawn tools will guarantee to revive your sickly-looking lawn. Furthermore, its selection depends on the aeration method you prefer, the size of your lawn, and the physical work you are willing to do.
Lawn aerator with wheels
If your lawn is small and has obstacles in it, like trees or playsets, then lawn aerators with wheels or push aerators are best.
These types of aerating lawn tools have no hollow tines but have spikes, so they are best for the surface with less compaction. Aerate lawn tools with wheels need force to a spike in the soil and are categorized as manual aeration tools.
Hand-held tools for aerating the lawn
Lawn aerators without wheels or hand-held tools for aerating the lawn are available with both pegs and perforated pipes. These tools have a handle and a place to put your foot on so you can push the air sticks or perforated pipes into the ground with your body weight. You need to repeat this process repeatedly to aerate the entire lawn. Something that is strenuous and takes time, especially if the tool is equipped with perforated pipes.
Rear-mounted accessories
If you have a larger lawn to aerate and have access to a riding lawnmower, you can install a rear-mounted accessory that aerates the lawn. Mount the accessory on the back of the riding lawnmower and drive back and forth over the lawn to get it ventilated. If necessary, you can put weights on the implement to bring the pins down to a depth of about 10 centimeters. This is something that may be needed if the soil is compact.
Mechanical solid spike and hallow corers aerator
When we at TrädgårdSmart aerate our customers’ lawns, when they have hired us to renovate their lawn, we use a machine, Tracmaster LA25, which knocks down spears or hole pipes depending on the type of soil in the ground. It is a very powerful machine that works fantastically well whether it is dry or compact.
How To Choose One of The Best Aerate Lawn Tools?
Below are some factors that you should consider buying the aerate lawn tools that suit you and your lawn.
Weight and mobility
The tool must be heavy to be able to make sufficiently deep holes in the ground. If, on the other hand, the aeration tool is too light, it means that the sticks do not penetrate deep enough into the soil. Extra weights of up to 50 kg may be needed on a rear-mounted accessory to lower the perforated pipes into the ground.
Lawn size
Hand-held tools and aerators on wheels work best for smaller areas or for repairing smaller areas on a larger lawn. Ideally, the soil should be rich in mulch if you use solid sticks.
On the other hand, a rear-mounted or a mechanical aerator is best for larger lawns and if the soil is compact.
Material
Aerate lawn tools must be made of materials that are rustless and durable so that they can serve you for years. For this purpose, focus on having an aeration tool made of galvanized, stainless steel, or heat-treated steel.
Handle shape
The handle of the lawn aerator must be ergonomic which provides efficiency, comfort and to avoid accidents.
Spike length
The ideal spike or length for aerate lawn tools is 10 centimeters. Longer spikes than 10 centimeters do not aerate more efficiently but make the process difficult.
Questions and answers
Use what you have left of your existing lawn but make a retake of the lawn. This gives the lawn a restart. Read how to proceed point by point in our article on lawn renovation.
Airing and vertically cutting the lawn are two completely different treatments. In the article, you have learned about why you should aerate the lawn.
Vertically cut the lawn is done with a machine that tears up moss and dead grass with knives while the grass roots are separated.
The knives are usually let go into the soil layer only a few millimeters, which means that no air holes are created.
Absolutely, you can spot treat the lawn with aeration, for example in areas where the grass is difficult to grow. This may be because some areas of the lawn are compacted after something heavy has been lying there. As mentioned earlier in the post, the soil has been packed, which makes it difficult for air, water and nutrients to get down to the grass roots.
The lawn aerator that we sell is completely adapted to how deep the grass roots go into the ground. The height of the pegs is 100 mm.
More reading on aerating the lawn
Read our other articles if you want to know more about how to aerate a lawn and why it is good to do so.
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- Published
- April 10, 2022
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