SPIKE AERATOR VS PLUG AERATOR MANUAL
SPIKE AERATOR VS PLUG AERATOR PATCH

When looking at a stretch of green, it’s easy to forget that there’s soil underneath, and that soil’s condition is crucial to the health of your lawn. Many home gardeners, however, aren’t familiar with that last task.Īt the most basic level, aeration means poking holes into the soil beneath your lawn so that water, nutrients, and oxygen can easily reach the roots. There are quite a few tasks required to maintain a healthy lawn, including watering, fertilizing, weeding, mowing, disease and pest control, and aerating. While most homeowners value a healthy, green lawn, the unfortunate fact is that most varieties of turf grass tend to be prima donnas, and keeping your lawn looking its best takes time, elbow grease, and even a bit of luck.

Key considerations Why does a lawn need aeration? Aeration helps restore the good health of your grass.

SPIKE AERATOR VS PLUG AERATOR MANUAL

There are a few different types of manual aerators available, so we’ve done the research for you and provided this handy guide to choosing and using the best manual lawn aerator for your needs, including some we think stand out from the crowd.Ĭompacted soil leads to a patchy, weak lawn. That results in a patchy, unhealthy lawn, even though you’re otherwise providing good turf care. Grass roots need to “breathe” for optimum health, but when soil becomes compacted, turf roots struggle to take in the nutrients, water, and oxygen required to support healthy, green grass.

SPIKE AERATOR VS PLUG AERATOR PATCH

And if your patch of grass isn’t too large, a manual aerator is enough to get the job done. Luckily, aerating your lawn isn’t difficult. If this scenario strikes a chord, the reason might well be a failure to aerate. Yet despite all your care, your neighbor’s turf looks greener and healthier than yours. You pull pesky weeds as soon as you spot them, and you routinely mow the grass once it’s a third above the desired height. You make sure your lawn gets the right amount of water weekly, whether from rain, a hose, or your sprinkler system. If you know fall and winter is coming your way, make sure to winterize your lawn properly by renting an aerator that suits your needs.Buying guide for best manual lawn aerators Renting during the wrong time of the year would be a waste of time and energy. The whole idea is to make sure you rent and aerate at the right time for your lawn. Any experienced gardener can tell you if you start too soon, you don’t quite make it, but if you start too late, you just might miss your goal altogether. These aerators can be rented from any lawn and garden rental warehouse or home improvement center. Don’t worry about the holes they will go away in time and so will the brown tint in your grass. The holes created by a plug aerator are typically 2-3 inches deep, about half an inch wide, and 2-3 inches apart from one another. If your lawn has gone through a dry summer and the end of the drought doesn’t seem to be in sight, then maybe a plug aerator is best for you to rent. However, some lawns may need certain areas to be compacted. Sometimes spike aerators can be less effective as they might cause additional compaction in the area of the lawns. Think about the current state of your lawn when you are looking to rent an aerator. Plug aerators operate by removing a plug of grass and soil from the lawn. With a spike aerator, you use a powerful tool that pokes holes into the ground with a fork or tine. There are two types of aerators to consider the spike aerator and a plug aerator. Breaking down and loosening up the compaction of the soil helps moisture get to the roots during this important time of growth. Cool season lawns need to be aerated this fall so that they return fuller and greener in the spring. If you’re looking to aerate your lawn this fall, now is the time to do so. These time periods would also be considered the peak growing times for those specific lawns. This is in part because warm season grasses recover more quickly before the heat comes and cool season lawns grow more rapidly in the fall. In general you should aerate your lawns in the early spring or fall if you have cool season grass, and late spring if you have a lawn filled with warm season grass. The best time to aerate your lawn is during the growing season when the grass can heal and fill in the open area left by the soil plugs being removed. It’s one of the best ways to dethatch your lawn since it puts less stress on it. Aerating your lawn loosens compacted soil and allows air and water to reach the roots of your lawn.

Spike aerator vs plug aerator