Lawn Aerator

Usenet Rule No. 106: Those who publicly announce killfiling do not. Best to simply ignore the douchebags without comment.

Reply to
Brooklyn1
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Completely absurd.

A simple search of the effects of freeze-thaw cycles on soil quickly gave me this:

================== Secondary Frost Heave in Freezing Soils by Christopher Noon A thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy University of Oxford

1996

Frost heave is responsible for numerous environmental problems including damage to roads, pavements and the foundations of buildings. Other less obvious problems are caused by the weakening of ground when a frozen soil, especially one which has heaved, thaws. This occurs because frost heave and freezing of soil in general, induces a moisture flow up towards the freezing front thereby increasing its frozen water content and dramatically decreasing the frozen soil?s permeability due to a decrease in water fraction and the presence of ice lenses. Thawing occurs naturally from the soil surface downwards and hence the thawed soil can become saturated causing it to suffer a complete loss of strength.

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Anyone who lives in (at least) the northern 1/3 of the US and all of Canada knows that when walking on your lawn in April (or in May in Canada) when the last of the snow has melted from your front or back lawns knows how spongy the ground feels.

It is a complete crock of shit to think that aerating your lawn does anything to "break up" or "loosen" your soil under those conditions.

And take a look at this:

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====================== Myth #2: You Need to Aerate Your Lawn Every Year

Aerating is hard work that requires expensive machinery. Fortunately, you may not have to do it. Aeration is helpful when your lawn has a lot of foot traffic that compacts the soil. Also, if you have a lot of thatch, or if you need to amend the soil, you may want to aerate. If not, save yourself some time and money, not to mention an aching back.

Myth #3: Gypsum Aerates Your Lawn

Somebody made a lot of money with this one. If you spread gypsum on your lawn, you'll end up with some very nice pebbles, but not an aerated lawn. =======================

Thatch removal or management is frequently mentioned as a byproduct of core aeration. What is never mentioned is that if you always bag and remove your grass clippings, you'll never have a thatch problem (and all associated problems that come from harboring various turf insects and diseases).

And to some degree the raking of the plugs that happens by people who take more of an interest in lawn care and succumb to the placebo effect of thinking their lawns looks better after coring are really just seeing the effect of thatch removal which can make an early spring lawn look much better.

Reply to
HomeGuy

So you admit to being a morphing peice of shit troll. Got it, glad that you finally can admit for all to see POS

Reply to
ChairMan

You conveniently deleted where I said when it DRIES... you are a douchebag, an imbecile, and very dishonest.

Reply to
Brooklyn1

Grass roots don't really grow much below 2" anyways. Just look at rolls of sod. They certainly don't come 2" thick (with soil).

Lawns need almost daily watering when the daily high temp reaches 80 unless except on overcast days - then maybe you can go 4 days without water.

Forget aerating. Have a yard of black earth / top-soil delivered and rake it evenly all over, and throw in some grass seed while you're at it. THAT is by far the most accepted way to deal with poor sub-soil conditions without completely replacing the top 4" of soil.

And then you need to water.

But you haven't said anything about your ability to irrigate this patch of grass. What municipal water restrictions are you under currently - now and for the next few months?

Reply to
HomeGuy

On 7/20/2014 4:41 PM, Guv Bob wrote [in part]:

While it used to be quite common to plant ice plant on a slope, the recommendation today is very much against that. During a rain, ice plant takes up much water and becomes quite heavy. The roots tend to be shallow and not very extensive. The result is that the ice plant will often pull loose, slide down the hill, and take part of the hill with it.

I am very sensitive about proper planting of slopes since the hill in my back yard has slipped twice. The second time, the repair cost almost four times what I paid for my house; my grandchildren will make the last payment on the federal disaster loan. No, there is no such thing as insurance against a slope failing; and the repairs are never guaranteed.

Grape vines are very good on a hill; they have very tough, deep roots and generally do not care how poor is the soil. Alone, African daisies or ivy (English or Algerian) are not good because their roots tend to form a mat that can become a weak layer; African daisies and ivy mixed together, however, are excellent on a hill because those mats are at different depths and tend to be less concentrated.

According to the grading experts in my county's public works agency, trees on a hill can be bad. In a wind, they rock back and forth, breaking up the soil around the bases of the trunks. With a major rain storm, that becomes a path for a large amount of water to funnel down to the subsoil. Depending on their alignment, this can lubricate the boundary between soil and subsoil and trigger a slide. On the other hand, shrubs are okay.

Reply to
David E. Ross

Below 1-2 inches, it's hard-packed clay in this particular spot. This was just an idea. Water won't penetrate it. Trying to avoid roto-tilling. It's level and rolling a 200 pound barrel on a rock-hard surface like this is pretty easy. I have rolled a 55 gal drum of liquid on the same place -- that's where I got the idea.

This is a small area - about 10 x 30 ft. Would be nice to have grass there, but being dirt is OK, and not worth renting anything. A few years ago I had to put ground cover on a bare compacted clay hill. I ended up getting a 5/8-inch masonry bit and drilling 4-inch holes about

6-8 inches apart, dropping red apple ice plant pieces in and filling with good soil. Nearly all survived and within a year the hill was covered.
Reply to
Guv Bob

guaranteed.

Good to know, David. Grapes sounds like a great idea. Any particular varieties to get or stay away from? Or other types of plants on a slope?

Reply to
Guv Bob

When I was testing the soil, grass roots in the good areas went down at least 4 inches. I'm inland in So Calif and we got less than 4 inches of rain last year. Where the grass is established, I seldom have to water more than once every 7-10 days. Over the years, I have watched to see which grass dies and which will go without water, and tried to expand the more drought tolerant. Seat of the pants method, but it works for me.

Reply to
Guv Bob

Thanks, HG. Only restrictions so far are what I do anyway - no watering between 9am-5pm or hose down sideways, etc. Unfortunately, the talk is that the cut back will be 20% less than we used 12 months previous. So folks like us who are very conservative with water will likely end up paying penalties. Meanwhile the swimming pool crowd down the street will only have to stop pumping so much overflow into the gutter.

Reply to
Guv Bob

Almost any variety of grape is okay. Choose something you will use. Just be sure you have sturdy supports since grape vines -- even without fruit -- can be quite heavy. See my for how I support my grape vines. Also, ground cover is still necessary to prevent surface erosion.

Also, do not overplant. Last year, I filled a very large pail in one picking from only one vine.

The first time my hill failed, I had a single grape vine in the middle. While the hill slid on both sides, the vine and the part of the hill below it did not move. Unfortunately, the vine had to be removed to repair the hill. I then planted two grape vines. The hill failed again

13 years later, between the vines. Now I have three grape vines. If the hill ever fails again, my house goes up for sale "as is".
Reply to
David E. Ross

You, Higgs Boson, and I are all in southern California. Higgs is coastal (near Santa Monica Bay), and I am in what the National Weather Service calls a coastal valley (near Thousand Oaks and the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area). Where are you?

Reply to
David E. Ross

I've already told you where he lives.

Long Beach.

Reply to
HomeGuy

N. San Diego County, about 15 miles inland.

Reply to
Guv Bob

Why did you guess Long Beach?

Reply to
Guv Bob

Long Beach CA is not northern Canada by a long shot.

?-)

Reply to
josephkk

Anybody know where to get an aerator that's basically a 20-gallon barrel filled with water with a row of aerator tubes fastened around each head pulled by hand? Less than 1000 sq ft and too hard for foot-stomper aerator.

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how about a Tommy Gun?

Reply to
Pico Rico

Now that we have all the comments and theories about aeration......

Anybody know where to get an aerator that's basically a 20-gallon barrel filled with water with a row of aerator tubes fastened around each head pulled by hand? Less than 1000 sq ft and too hard for foot-stomper aerator.

Reply to
Guv Bob

Reply to
Brooklyn1

That tiny area, what a wuss. I have a Mantis tiller, greatest gardening tool out there... get the aerating attachment.

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I use mine to till my 50' X 50' vegetable garden, in fact I used it yesterday to aerate around my vegetable plants... don't let its size fool you. it's got plenty of power yet any 80 pound wuss can handle it. The Mantis won't till never tilled land, too many roots n' rocks, but once it's tilled the Mantis can handle all your gardening chores. I had a 7 HP monster tiller but once I got the Mantis I never used it so I sold that behemouth... I love that Mantis because my wife can use it for her flower beds and I don't need to deal with them. Anyone needs to till raw land rent a monster tiller, then buy a Mantis. I even had a giant tiller I could attach to my tractor's 3 point hitch and would till a 5' swarth, sold that to the same guy who bought my 7 HP Simplicity tiller... he had dreams of growing several acres of pumpkins. For aerating under 1000 sq ft and I was a cheap bastard like you I'd poke holes with this, wouldn't take me more than 2 hours:
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Reply to
Brooklyn1

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