What is a lawn aerator?
A lawn aerator is a garden tool with spikes which creates holes in compacted soil to allow water, air, fertiliser, and nutrients reach the grass roots. These are effective because they break up compacted soil to help the grass roots to breathe easily.
What does a lawn aerator do for your lawn?
The increased circulation of nutrients, water and air into the turf assists in growing healthier drought and heat resistant grass with stronger roots. A lawn aerator ensures water and fertiliser efficiently reaches the roots and can help removing an excess of thatch and debris underneath the surface of the grass.
What is an aerator used for?
Lawn aerators are used for creating small holes in tough soil to allow greater exposure to the grass roots for air, water, nutrients and fertiliser.
Do you need a lawn aerator?
You will need a lawn aerator if you have an area of lawn with high foot traffic, if the ground has become compacted, if your lawn is brittle or the colour is not a luscious green then. You can quickly test how hard your soil is by attempting to press a screwdriver in the ground, if you struggle then your lawn will need an aerator.
How do lawn aerators work?
A wheel with extruding spikes called tines is pushed and dragged over an area of lawn and heavy weights push the spikes in to penetrate the ground. As the wheel is rotated the spikes move out and extract plugs of soil leaving small holes ideal for air, water, nutrients, and fertiliser to reach the grass roots more efficiently.
Types of lawn aerator
What are the different types of lawn aerators?
Lawn aerators can be divided into 3 different types starting with manual mechanical aerators which require physical exertion. These include lawn aerator rakes, lawn aerator shoes and units which are pushed across the lawn.
Automatic powered aerators are quicker to use and require less effort because they are driven by gasoline or electricity, these are typically more expensive and require a larger area to store.
Finally, there are tow-behind plug aerators which are accessories that can be attached to tractors or ATVs, these are then towed behind the vehicle around the area of the lawn and more suited for larger areas.
The spikes used on different models will vary, with different shapes made in either lighter plastic or stronger metal. The design of some solid spikes may push and compress the soil further, whereas hollow tines are designed to pull plugs of soil out of the ground.
What is a tow-behind plug aerator?
A tow-behind plug aerator is attachment for a lawn tractor or ATV that can be tugged around the lawn, these are more suited for those with much larger areas of grass.
What is liquid lawn aerator?
Liquid lawn aerator is liquid alternative to using a manual spike-based aerator that is sprayed onto the lawn and aims to break down the dense particles from the soil forming channels for aeration. Although spraying a lawn can quickly create greater coverage, the results from a liquid lawn aerator might not as fast as spike aeration.
Do lawn aerators really work?
Lawn aerators have been proven to work, especially on areas of lawn where the grass and soil has been compressed due to people walking on it.
How does a lawn aerator work?
Aerator spikes enter the ground to create small holes around 2 to 4 inches deep. These holes allow water, air, nutrients, and fertiliser to reach deeper into the ground more effectively and alleviate soil compaction.
Sources
- goodhousekeeping.com – What Is a Lawn Aerator, and Do I Need One? – Lawn aerators are a great tool if you have cool-season grass, but may be best outsourced to save time and hassle. 23rd January 2016.
- smilinggardener.com – Aerating A Lawn With A Lawn Core Aerator? – Just like lawn dethatching and lawn rolling, I can see why people might think aerating a lawn with a lawn core aerator is necessary on an annual basis. 2nd July 2020.
- housemethod.com – What You Need to Know About Lawn Aerators – When watering, mowing, and edging are not enough to keep your lawn healthy, using a lawn aerator can inject new life into tired and worn grass. 2nd July 2020.
