Anybody know where to get an aerator that's basically a 20-gallon barrel with a row of aerator tubes fastened around each head? The one I'm looking for is pulled by hand. I have too much area to cover for the foot-stomper type, but don't need to get a motorized version.
I meant to say.... you fill the barrel up with water. Ends up weighing around 200 pounds.
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with a row of aerator tubes fastened around each head? The one I'm looking for is pulled by hand. I have too much area to cover for the foot-stompe r type, but don't need to get a motorized version.
round 200 pounds.
I just rent a motorized one for about $60 if I need it. Local rental shop or HD. I can't imagine trying to pull a barrel filled with water that' s poking holes in the ground around by hand. Even the motorized ones are a bitch to turn around. You sure what you think is for use by hand isn't meant to be pulled by a tractor?
I seriously doubt you are physically capable of moving that type of aerator by hand unless it's always downhill and then it will aerate you.
Another difference is that barrel tow type doesn't cut plugs out, it looks like it just puts blades into the ground. The rental ones actually cut plugs out. I never paid much attention to how it works, but presumably there must be something that forces the plug of dirt out as it cycles around. You wind up with holes in the turf and plugs about
3/4" x 2" of soil.
Worms will do that for you unless you've poisoned the ground with chemical insecticides .
Lawn aeration is a crock.
There are VERY FEW situations where aeration is really called for and the mechanical alteration of soil is necessary to improve turf health.
Those few situations are mostly sports fields, golf courses, etc. And the aeration they perform uses spikes that do not core out plugs of turf.
Why do you think your residential front or back yard needs plugs of turf to be removed from it?
What type of soil do you have in Long Beach?
Spike aerators do more damage than they correct. They compact the soil around the holes they create.
Plugging aerators loosen the soil by removing plugs. Where the soil is heavy clay, this can be a great benefit. The holes permit water to penetrate the surface, carrying nutrients towards roots. Believe it or not, roots also benefit from the increase in oxygen reaching them. Spike aerators prevent all this instead of permitting it.
Aeration can be important wherever there is foot traffic across a planted area.
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.
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.
PS - This is out near the desert - not anywhere close to Long Beach.
I suggest you apply a thin layer of gypsum over the area and dampen it. Then, over the next 2-3 weeks, slowly rinse it into the soil. This will start to break up the clay so that however you aerate it, you will get good results.
Yes, I am a big fan of gypsum. No, I do not have any direct investment in any company that mines, processes, or sells gypsum.
This coming from the genius that buys ready-to-use Roundup on sale for $20 a gallon and thinks he got a great deal. And is equally clueless about how to apply it. Yes folks, listen to him for lawn and garden advice.....
Which answers te question I was going to ask. We are quite rightly called "Clay Township" and even aerating once a year for 5 years and twice for the last 3 haven't made any noticable improvement in problem areas. Gypsum now and then aerate in the fall?
I'd do the gypsum right after aerating. With open holes, some of the gypsum will make it a few inches into the soil.
In my area, rain (if it ever falls again :( ) is in the winter. I apply gypsum in November. Not having small children any more to run across my small lawn, I do not need to mechanically aerate. (Visits from grandchildren are an occasional treat.) When I had a larger lawn and small children, I would mechanically aerate about two weeks after applying gypsum. This would mean that I maximized the penetration of rain.
The answer to your question thus depends on your climate.
You guys (particularly you Oren) are full of so much shit on this topic it's beyond belief.
Your ideas especially about oxygen are pulled straight out of your ass.
You have absolutely no idea what the gas permeability is of soil, especially given all the different conditions you're going to encounter.
This guy (Bob) lives in what is becoming a desert (California, Long Beach). His soil will be very dry and porous and this is not an issue of getting more atmospheric gas in contact with roots.
The accepted treatment for patchy lawns growing in clay is to top-dress frequently with top soil and throw in grass seed and fertilizer.
AND LOTS OF WATER - something the OP will not be able to do.
There are con artists that troll neighborhoods in the spring with aerators they rent from Home Despot. I garantee you they do not bring top soil or gypsum with them to rake into the holes as part of their con jobs. And they set their plugs to barely reach 1.5 or 2" so they don't cut any in-ground infrastructure (irrigation lines, telephone or RG-6 coax cable).
The OP has primarily a water problem, and either too much or too little shade for his lawn to thrive. Throwing down a good amount of fertilizer and water can do amazing things for a lawn, even in clay.
I live in the middle of the great lakes - this is clay central. My own property is in an area that was once dug up decades ago for clay to make bricks. I have never once aerated my lawn in 15 years of ownership. My grass does very well in the areas I bother to take care of it.
And here I will give you one expert who is basically saying that adding gypsum after the fact to an established lawn is full of shit:
============== We often get this question about how to improve the structure of a soil after plants or in your case a lawn has been installed. It is not easy and often there is not a very efficient way of doing this because you don't want to start over. Ideally we like to see soil improvement done before planting and the best way is to incorporate a lot of organic matter into the soil.
Many people think that gypsum is the magic cure for clay soils. While gypsum is often suggested to help loosen up clay soil by getting between the particles and helping to floculate or open up the soil for better air and ater movement it often takes time and if a plant is there again it can't be incorporated the way it should be.
The only way I think you can help a tight clay soil under sod is to do vigorous core cultivation. This means using a machine that puts holes into the ground that are at least 4 inches deep and about 1/2 to 3/4 inch in diameter with the holes being no more than 2 inches apart.
After that you can topdress with good soil that is worked into the holes and allows air and water to start moving down and supporting good root structure. Gypsum could be added but it isn't going to do the job as well as if it were to be fully incorporated. Doing this coring regularly will eventually start to "replace" the soil one core at a time allowing a better soil environment for root development. ================
FOUR inches deep. Take note of that. Half inch to 3/4 diam, NO MORE THAN 2 INCHES APART.
Your lawn is going to look like swiss cheese after that.
If you're going to do that, you might as well rototill the whole thing, and ADD SAND. Playground or brick sand. That will probably work better (and cheaper) than gypsum.
"Doing this coring regularly ..."
Who the hell wants to break their back doing that "regularly" ?
Either just top-dress once or twice a year, or rototill the whole dam lawn, truck a good amount of the clay away and replace with some good black earth and load it with some good grass seed and fertilize.
But again, maybe you're just wasting your time since you're in the middle of a drought and who knows when it will end. Probably not a good time (or a good decade) to try to do any lawn rehabilitation in California.
Hi,
+1, specially when area to cover is large.
You -- HomeGuy -- have just joined Todd in my filter system. Good-bye.
Hi, Not really, depends on where you live due to difference in soil condition. I admire people talking in definitive and subjective terms. When I lived in ON. I never used aerator.
Hi,
+1. Definitely beneficial for healthy lawn in our locale.HomeOwnersHub website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.