"Plugr' aerator

The price ranges from $1700 to $2700. $1700 for the 22 inch with 4 tines and there is a 6 and 8 tine 30 inch. The 8 tine 30 inch is $2700.

Reply to
Jay & Mary Julson
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Well, I have ten acres or so or low maintainence lawn and I drag a cheap roller aerator from Lowes and it works fine. However, I have about half an acre of nice lawn around the house that is impossible to get the 'drag behind' into. These areas are high traffic and suffer from compaction and I'd love to punch them a couple times a year. I'm weighing owning vs renting. Owning is expensive and comes with maintainence issues but renting is a pain for me for a couple of reasons.

HtH

Reply to
Heidi the Horrible

Buy a Ryan.

Reply to
Steveo

Do you have a rental place near-by? You can rent one for relatively cheap for those tight areas.

Reply to
Steveo

Just curious how much weight you strap onto that drag behind to get it to do a decent job? And is it a core or spike type?

Thanks in advance.

Joe

Reply to
JoeT

A few serious questions Stevo et al.

I too, am considering an aerator. I own a 10,000 sq ft world class croquet lawn, Tif Eagle Hybrid Bermuda turf grown on a 12" sand base with 6"gravel subsoil drainage layer. I need to aerate 3+ times a year.

Please feel free to fill in any gaps in my logic on this important purchase decision

As of now, these are the pros and cons. (IMHO)

The Pluger is cheap: ~$1600 to $2800 (Brand New) depending on model. . New Ryan Greensaire? ~$12000+. Used: maybe $1500 to $3000 depending on condition, ~ 8+ years old.

My biggest concern is surface disruption. Depending on stress, summer months my court is normally cut between 0.125" (1/8 inch) to 0.140" (9/64 inch) with my 1994 TORO 3100 Triplex. The entire playing surface was laser leveled within 1/4 inch. I don't need an aerator that will leave mounds around each hole which will dull my mower reels in about 10 seconds. I'm not so sure the Plugr will fit my needs on this I tried a Ryan rotary aerator. It was terrible. It cost me an expensive reel grind on my mower and took months of top dressing to become level again. (we drag a 12 ft ladder diagonally behind a mower while topdressing)

OTOH a very old borrowed Ryan Greesaire was exceptional, my court was level with only one heavy topdressing. It comes with small (1/4"??) tines and larger (5/8"?) tines. Disadvantages: It was heavy, bulky and could not aerate while negotiating curves or hills . I was admonished: "use it only on my sandy court, never on my other lawns" (clay) which might have an occasional stray piece of gravel or "it would sustain SERIOUS DAMAGE". Is this really true? If so, that would severely limit its use as far as most homeowners/lawn professionals are concerned.

It would be a bonus to have an aerator I wouln't have to baby. The Plugr website

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(of course) says it is vey durable, the second best thing to a Ginsu knife (VBG) It says you can use in on any soil, around curves, and across slopes without concern.

Lastly Stevo, I agree Ryan (and my personal favorite: Toro) make great greens aerators , but new they are >$12,000. Most used ones are in need of costly repairs. The Plugr is new, I'm not buying someone else's problem machine. Other than owning one, do you have any other reasons to buy a Ryan? More importantly, have you ever seen (or used) a Plugr in action? If so, will it fit my needs? I sure would like an inexpensive (non used) alternative to Ryan/Toro. Can you provide specific reasons not to buy a Plugr?

Dr. J

snipped-for-privacy@crokay.com

Reply to
<dochuff

Sorry, dochuff, Bermuda is something I know almost nothing about here in Ohio. Good luck with your decision.

Reply to
Steveo

A few serious questions Stevo et al.

I too, am considering an aerator. I own a 10,000 sq ft world class croquet lawn, Tif Eagle Hybrid Bermuda turf grown on a 12" sand base with 6"gravel subsoil drainage layer. I need to aerate 3+ times a year.

Please feel free to fill in any gaps in my logic on this important purchase decision

As of now, these are the pros and cons. (IMHO)

The Pluger is cheap: ~$1600 to $2800 (Brand New) depending on model. . New Ryan Greensaire? ~$12000+. Used: maybe $1500 to $3000 depending on condition, ~ 8+ years old.

My biggest concern is surface disruption. Depending on stress, summer months my court is normally cut between 0.125" (1/8 inch) to 0.140" (9/64 inch) with my 1994 TORO 3100 Triplex. The entire playing surface was laser leveled within 1/4 inch. I don't need an aerator that will leave mounds around each hole which will dull my mower reels in about 10 seconds. I'm not so sure the Plugr will fit my needs on this I tried a Ryan rotary aerator. It was terrible. It cost me an expensive reel grind on my mower and took months of top dressing to become level again. (we drag a 12 ft ladder diagonally behind a mower while topdressing)

OTOH a very old borrowed Ryan Greesaire was exceptional, my court was level with only one heavy topdressing. It comes with small (1/4"??) tines and larger (5/8"?) tines. Disadvantages: It was heavy, bulky and could not aerate while negotiating curves or hills . I was admonished: "use it only on my sandy court, never on my other lawns" (clay) which might have an occasional stray piece of gravel or "it would sustain SERIOUS DAMAGE". Is this really true? If so, that would severely limit its use as far as most homeowners/lawn professionals are concerned.

It would be a bonus to have an aerator I wouln't have to baby. The Plugr website

formatting link
(of course) says it is vey durable, the second best thing to a Ginsu knife (VBG) It says you can use in on any soil, around curves, and across slopes without concern.

Lastly Stevo, I agree Ryan (and my personal favorite: Toro) make great greens aerators , but new they are >$12,000. Most used ones are in need of costly repairs. The Plugr is new, I'm not buying someone else's problem machine. Other than owning one, do you have any other reasons to buy a Ryan? More importantly, have you ever seen (or used) a Plugr in action? If so, will it fit my needs? I sure would like an inexpensive (non used) alternative to Ryan/Toro. Can you provide specific reasons not to buy a Plugr?

Dr. J

snipped-for-privacy@crokay.com

Reply to
redrover

I have a core aerator I bought from Lowes. I strap four cement blocks on there and pull it behind the 4-wheeler (faster than the mower). I punch when the grass is dry but the soil is moist. If the ground is dry, then it doesn't dig deep enough and if the ground is too wet it is a muddy mess and if the grass is wet, then I can't get good traction with all the weight.

I totally trashed the thing after about five seasons of rough use but they are fairly cheap and I'll just get another.

HtH

Reply to
Heidi the Horrible

Hey, Dr. J.

Check out this guy....

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has an awesome court.

You could ask him what he does maintainence-wise. When I saw his court, it was awesome. snipped-for-privacy@CS.com

HtH

Reply to
Heidi the Horrible

Thanks Heidi, I've been thinking of getting one but seeing people write about them tearing up turf made me a bit shy about it. I don't have a 4 wheeler just a 15.5 horse lawn tractor but I can live with goin slow, it's a small area and maybe with a little less than four cinder blocks so I don't end up simply spinning the tires. lol My lawn is almost devoid of anything resembling an actually level area. I'd rent one as I used to but now have a lower back problem that prevents me from even using a self propelled push mower so a rental aerator is out of the question.

Joe

Reply to
JoeT

Mine doesn't tear up the turf other than the expected holes and loose plugs. I usually punch and fertilize before a good rain is coming and the yard looks completely normal a couple of days later.

It can be tough on the lower back though because I load on the cement blocks and bungee them down and I get stuck once in a while when I get too greedy on a turn. All this takes lifting and pushing and an occasional call for help from a big, hairy man who should be doing this in the first place.

HtH

Reply to
Heidi the Horrible

I bought the Plugr and tried it out yesterday. It works very well, especially around corners. Because the tines travel in a straight line, it disrupt the ground nearly as much as a RYAN rotary aerator. (unless you try to go up a really steep hill)

Dr. J

Reply to
redrover

it does disrupt the ground like a rotary areator?

Reply to
joe

They look like junk.

Reply to
Steveo

No it doesn't disrupt the ground. And a note to Stevo, just cause you haven't seen one up close doesn't make it junk.

Dr. J

Reply to
redrover

I seen enough here to know I don't want one.

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Reply to
Steveo

turf when the tines pop out of the ground like the aerators that roll, which takes the grass longer to grow back over the damaged areas. Not only do you get the benefit of areation but without the damage. A better mousetrap?

Reply to
joe

Yea, especially with how easy it loads.

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I've never seen one in my 28 years of professional lawncare. The OP said he was going to use it on his own lawn, I suppose it may be ok for that.

Reply to
Steveo

I especially like the helper. ;) Have you got a helper like that, Steveo?

Reply to
joe

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