Lawn mower spike aerator. Lawn Aerator Shoes: Do They Really Work

Are aerator shoes actually effective? Here’s the scoop on lawn aerator shoes. pros, cons, how to use them when. Find out if you should get a pair or not!

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If you’re working to create a lush lawn, aerating can help. Aerating helps pave the way to a lawn that not only looks great, but can stand up to disease, drought and normal wear and tear.

Aerating is a process in which you make holes in the lawn, along with the soil underneath. It helps by allowing oxygen to reach turf roots, helping water soak into the soil more efficiently, loosening compacted soil and helping fertilizers come in contact with grass roots.

So is aerating as easy as strapping on a pair of lawn aerator shoes?

What are Lawn Aerator Shoes?

Lawn aerator shoes are basically shoes that have spikes on the bottom that—in theory—help to aerate the lawn while you walk around the lawn doing yard work or mowing. The shoes aren’t necessarily shoes, but more like sandals you strap over your existing shoes.

The Begleri lawn aerator spike shoes are a top seller on Amazon. They fit over most types of shoes for men and women and have six adjustable straps to ensure a tight fit that won’t slip when you wear them.

Do Lawn Aerator Shoes Really Work?

“Spiked shoes don’t work because they impact too small an area and further compact already compacted soil,” notes BioAdvanced, a company that focuses on science-based solutions for lawn care.

Since the spikes on lawn aerator shoes are solid opposed to being hollow, they tend to push the soil to the side and downward when they enter the lawn, compacting the soil even more.

“If you use lawn aerator shoes, you will not see the same turf benefits as when using a hollow aerator tool—you should only need to aerate in the spring and fall with hollow tines,” notes San Francisco Gate.

via amazon.com

What is the Best Time of Year to Aerate Your Lawn?

The best time to aerate your lawn is just before or during periods of high growth, according to yardcare.com, an informational website sponsored by the Toro Company.

“If you’re working with cool-season grasses, including bluegrass, fescue, and ryegrass, it’s best to aerate during the growth periods in the spring and fall. For warm-season grasses such as Bermudagrass, buffalograss, St. Augustine and zoysiagrass, aeration can take place during warm times of the year between late-spring and early-autumn,” the website states.

If you’re aerating in the spring, wait until you have mowed the lawn a few times to ensure the lawn is growing fast enough to recover. In the fall, aeration should be done early enough that the turf can recover before it goes dormant for the winter.

What is the Best Way to Aerate Your Lawn?

If you plan on aerating your lawn yourself, look for an aerator that has hollow spikes, such as the Yard Butler lawn coring aerator. The hollow spikes will reduce soil compaction and help create a pathway for moisture and fertilizer.

Scotts recommends doing the following when aerating:

• Apply 1 inch of water to the lawn the day before aerating to soften the soil.
• Mark any sprinkler heads, utility or septic lines so you can avoid these spots.
• For lightly compacted soil, go over your entire lawn once with the aerator.
• For seriously compacted soil, go over the lawn twice.
• Leave the plugs of soil that are removed with the aerator on the lawn. They will break down and add nutrients back into your soil.
• When you’re finished, water the lawn well.

via amazon.com

Best Aerator Shoes on the Market

As previously stated, aerating your lawn the old-fashioned way is the best option. But if you want to stomp around to aerate your lawn, check out some of these options:

Rachel Brougham lived through a major home renovation in 2019, knows the ups and downs of home improvement, and loves sharing tips with readers. A veteran journalist of both print and television, she’s won several awards for her writing and has covered everything from the environment and education to health care, politics and food. She’s written for several publications beyond newspapers including Bob Vila, Taste of Home and Minnesota Parent, and she currently writes a weekly syndicated newspaper column. Her memoir, Widowland, about the sudden loss of her husband, was published in 2022. She specializes in everything from home decor and design to lawn and garden, product reviews and pet care. When she’s not writing, you can usually find her tending to her garden (both vegetables and native plants), playing with her dog, watching sports with her family or getting some exercise. A native of Michigan, she currently lives in Minneapolis. An avid user of Instagram, you can follow her @RachBrougham.

Seven of the best lawn aerators, from manual to combination machines

A perfect lawn needs a bit of TLC. Read our comprehensive guide to lawn care and browse our pick of the very best aerators, from manual to electric.

What are the Greenkey Rolling Lawn Aerator’s main features?

This manual, rolling spike aerator is basic but efficient. It needs assembling, which is simple to do, and everything fits together well. although you’ll need a wrench or something similar, to attach the nylon-thread bolts. Should you get stuck putting it together, there’s also a short instructional video on their website. Featuring a T-bar grip, the shaft is adjustable to suit your height, which is a useful feature. Made from aluminium and plastic, it’s lightweight but sturdy, the drum is 30cm wide, which covers a lawn quickly and easily, and there are 30 x 4.5 cm spikes to ensure deep, even aeration.

What’s the Greenkey Rolling Lawn Aerator like to use?

Simple to manoeuvre, the spikes sink into soft ground with ease, but it requires a little more effort on dry, harder ground, where we found it best to lean on the shaft to apply gentle downward pressure to ensure the spikes were pushed in deeply enough. On uneven ground, the spikes don’t penetrate evenly – however, if you run it over your lawn several times in different directions it should address the issue. The T-bar grip doesn’t have any padding, which may become uncomfortable if you’re working on a large lawn.

Who is the Greenkey Rolling Lawn Aerator most useful for?

For those with a small- to medium-sized garden where the soil needs only a moderate amount of aeration. It’s also good if storage is an issue as it’s smaller than powered aerators, and if safety is a consideration, plastic caps are provided, which fit on the individual spikes when not in use.

Is the Greenkey Rolling Lawn Aerator good value for money?

It’s not the cheapest of its type (they range from £25 to £65), but the construction is sturdy, as are the spikes. It also comes with a two-year warranty, so we felt as an entry-level aerator, this was a perfectly good option.

Love your lawn? Check out our tests of the best lawn aerators and best lawn scarifiers, and while you’re at it, you might find our round up of the best cordless mowers and best robotic mowers useful. We’ve also put together expert tips on lawn care and Alan Titchmarsh shows the best way to scarify a lawn.

This review was last updated in October 2021. Unfortunately, change and things go out of stock so we apologise if anything has changed.A lush, green lawn is source of pride and joy for many gardeners but it’s often where all the action takes place in the garden. The focal point for gatherings with friends and family, it can suffer from overuse and too much wear and tear. Terrific turf needs a good lawn care regime to achieve it and while regular mowing and watering will take you so far, there are a couple of additional tasks for your to do list, which will help keep your lawn in tip-top condition.

Regardless of how often you cut your lawn, over time the soil underneath the turf becomes compacted, while above ground a thick, impenetrable layer of thatch and organic debris develops around the roots. This undesirable combination prevents air, water and nutrients from reaching deep down to the grass’ root system and ultimately weakens its growth, leaving the plant susceptible to pests and diseases. Scarifying your lawn will help remove thatch and debris, but if you need to relieve compacted soil underneath the turf, it’s best to aerate it. Aeration is the process of making air holes in the lawn to create ventilation. In small lawns a simple garden fork can be used, in either the spring or autumn, to push holes into the ground but you can also buy manual aerators, either solid or hollow tined, which require the same effort as a fork. However, if you have a lot of lawn and not much time, other types of aerator are probably the best option. Whether you’re pushing a roller covered in spikes, or using a powered machine, these aerators are a labour-saving version of the trusty garden fork, mechanically making a series of holes in the lawn.

The best time to aerate the lawn is after rainfall, when the ground is damp and soft, otherwise it can be quite hard work. While it sounds very hands on, doing it once or twice a year will make a big difference and help keep your lawn healthy.

We reviewed the most popular aerators on the market, putting them through their paces to bring you a list of the best aerators, both manual and powered.

Each model has a detailed list of pros and cons for clarity and has been rated according to ease of use, handling, performance, and value for money. Each aerator has scored a minimum of four out of five stars, so you can buy with confidence.

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Best lawn aerators to buy at a glance

Time to show your lawn some TLC? Check out our round up of the best lawn scarifiers and expert tips on how to improve your lawn in 12 weeks. You can also keep edges looking neat with our pick of the best lawn edging.

In additoin to aerators and scarifiers, we’ve tested a range of lawn mowers, including the best cordless lawn mowers, the best robotic lawn mowers and the best electric lawn mowers. For those with small lawns, our guide to the best hand push mowers will be helpful. For other help with lawn care, take a look at our reviews of the best strimmers and the best aerators, or check out our guide to the best lawn edging.

What is a lawn aerator and what does it do?

Aerating your lawn is part of a spring and autumn lawn care regime and there are two different methods of aerating your lawn:

• Spiking – this involves using solid spikes to create holes in the lawn, which are a couple of millimetres in width and several centimetres deep, to help relieve compacted soil.
• Hollow tining – as it sounds, hollow tines are pushed into the ground to remove cylindrical plugs of turf, around a centimetre wide and a few centimetres deep. Depending on the soil type, you may wish to fill these holes with a sandy mix or leave them to let the soil expand and close the holes, which helps with waterlogged clay soil.

Types of lawn aerators: the different ways to aerate your lawn

There are four types of aerator, each with their own pros and cons:

• Spike shoes. these are cheap and easy to use and most effective on soft – but not soggy. ground in small gardens.
• Manual aerators. although these are useful tools, which can do specific jobs (see above), using them requires a lot of effort as it gets tiring, even on a small lawn. But they’re cheap, and a great idea if you’re after a workout.
• Manual Rolling Drum Aerators – these are time and labour saving, as you simply walk across the lawn pushing the roller
• Powered Aerators – the obvious advantage of using these is that they’re labour saving. They’re also almost always available as part of a 2-in-1 combination machine that scarifies as well, so you get two jobs done for the price of one. However, it’s important to note these mechanical aerators don’t aerate in the same way that a manual aerator does. they use metal blades rather than spikes or tines. These blades create shallow slits rather than deep holes, and although they will help maintain a healthy lawn, by allowing air and water to move through this top layer of soil, they won’t improve your lawn if it’s compacted or you have heavy clay. Mechanical aerators are quite an investment too, as you’re using them twice a year at the most. even if they’re a 2-in-1 combination of aerator and scarifier – and they require more space to store than the other alternatives.

When it comes to choosing whether you go for an electric, cordless or petrol aerator, consider the pros and cons that are associated with each type:

Electric corded aerators: Lightweight, quiet and often at the budget-end, these are best suited to small and medium-sized gardens with a power supply. Most come with a collection box, which is a useful, time-saving feature, but the cord length can be restrictive as well as potentially hazardous.

How to choose the best lawn aerator

Depending on the type of aerator you’re going to choose, there are several key features to look for:

• Manual hollow tine – look out for strong, solid tines that will cope with compacted turf, a decent tread to prevent your foot from slipping, and a soft-grip handle for comfort.
• Manual rolling drum – ideally you want a good number of metal spikes on the drum to create plenty of holes – as a guide, 27 spikes will give you about 180 spikes per square metre. The spikes should also be at least 5cm long to ensure they penetrate the ground deeply.
• Mechanical aerator – go for strong, good-sized blades and a collection box. If storage space is an issue look for handles that fold down and a collapsible collection box rather than a solid one.

Browse our review of the best lawn aerators below.

Seven of the best lawn aerators

Kent Stowe 4 prong lawn aerator

Our rating: 4.3 out of 5

Awarded a BBC Gardeners’ World Magazine Best Buy for Manual Hollow Tined Aerating, this simple aerator from Kent Stowe works well. The smooth, FSC-grade ash handle is comfortable, lightweight and doesn’t rub, even after using it for a while. The handle runs into a single-riveted steel socket above wide steel treads and these treads are great for striking and pushing into soil. However, the 9cm, stainless steel tines don’t go in smoothly every time, despite being pointed. Its best feature is that it produces good, solid plugs of soil that are great for breaking down and reusing as topsoil.

Greenkey Lawn Aerator

RRP: £45.99Our rating: 4.5 out of 5

• Adjustable height
• Easy to use
• Lightweight
• Good for storage
• Plastic caps to cover the spikes when not in use
• Needs assembling – though it’s straightforward
• Hard work, so best suited to small gardens

Awarded a BBC Gardeners’ World Magazine Best Buy for Manual Aerating, the Greenkey Rolling Lawn Aerator is basic but does the job well. Lightweight with sturdy spikes, it’s just the tool if your small lawn needs aeration. Made from aluminium and plastic, it’s lightweight but feels substantial and features a T-bar grip as well as an adjustable shaft to suit different height users. The drum is 30cm wide, which covers a lawn quickly and easily, and there are 30 x 4.5 cm spikes to ensure deep, even aeration. It comes with a two year warranty.

Powerbase 1400W Electric Lawn Rake Scarifier

RRP £89Our rating: 4.5 out of 5

• Easy to manoeuvre
• Lightweight
• Compact
• Folding handles and removable collection box for storage
• Dual start system for safety
• Four depth settings
• Plastic collection box cover catches on handles
• Noisy at 103dB
• The collection box doesn’t pick up all the debris

Awarded a BBC Gardeners’ World Magazine Best Budget Buy, the Powerbase 1400W Electric Lawn Rake Scarifier is a 2-in-1 combination machine that’s light and compact but fairly noisy, reaching 104dB. The interchangeable drums are easy to attach and remove with the allen key provided, and feature blades for shallow aeration, designed to help improve lawn health, rather than relieve compacted soil or open the structure of heavy clay and spring tines for scarification. It has a dual start system for safety with a working width of 32cm wide and four depth settings. The body is made from plastic, which feels sturdy, and it has a generous 40L collection bag, plus the handles fold for easy storage. It comes with a 10m cable and is only £24.02 more than the Wolf Garten Multi-Change® Roller Moss Removal Rake that we tested, so it’s a great, labour-saving alternative. It comes with a two-year warranty.

Vonhaus 1800W 2-in-1 scarifier

Our rating: 4.3 out of 5

• Easy to manoeuvre
• Lightweight
• Folding handles and removable collection box for storage
• Interchangeable drums are easy to remove and install
• Dual start system for safety
• Five depth settings

The Vonhaus 1800W 2-in-1 Scarifier is a sturdy, combination machine, with a robust but lightweight plastic body, which weighs 16.1kg. Powered with a 1800W motor, it’s a little noisy at 104dB, but removes moss, thatch and other organic lawn debris very efficiently with its 38cm working width. It has two interchangeable drums: one with metal blades that slit the top layer of ground to aerate and help improve the health of the lawn, (rather than deep holes to relieve compacted or heavy clay soil) and one with spring tines for scarification. It has folding handles for easy storage, a dual start system for safety, and a built-in thermal cut out if it overheats. There are five depth settings, ranging from.12mm.9mm.3mm and 6mm – although we found the lowest setting made the lawn look quite ravaged. At 60cm wide it’s one of the largest machines we tested, but is still easy to manoeuvre and comes with a 10m cable. The generously-sized 55L collection bag is moderately efficient, but misses some debris as there is a gap between the box and the blades. It comes with a two-year warranty.

Stiga Essential SV 213E Electric Lawn Scarifier

RRP £139Our rating: 4.3 out of 5

• Buy now from: Mowers Online, (£139)

• Easy to use
• Lightweight and compact
• Folding handles and removable collection box for storage
• Interchangeable drums are easy to remove and install
• Dual start system for safety
• Four depth settings
• Quiet at 91dB

The Stiga Essential SV 213E Electric Lawn Scarifier is light, compact and efficient when it comes to tackling moss and thatch in the lawn. It has two interchangeable drums, one with spring tines for scarification and the other with blades for shallow aeration, which is designed to help improve lawn health, rather than relieve compacted soil or open the structure of heavy clay. It also has a dual start safety system and can be adjusted to four depths, ranging from.6mm to 4mm, which is shallower than the other models we tested. We found that the 40L collection bag left some debris behind and the 15m cable – the longest in the group we tested – is an additional cost of £21.71. It’s compact and easy to fold the handles for storage, and comes with a two year warranty.

STIHL RLA 240 Cordless Lawn Scarifier

Our score: 4.5 out of 5

• Buy now from Just Lawnmowers, (£219)

Awarded a BBC Gardeners’ World Magazine Best Buy for safety, this combination machine is powered by a 36v, 4.8Ah battery. It takes 205 minutes to charge, but is easy to plug in and has a helpful charge indicator, although this is faint in daylight. The battery also has great safety features – it won’t work without a safety key, and there’s a lock on the powerbar for an effective dead-man switch. and it lasts long enough to cover a 250m2 lawn, about the size of a tennis court. Thanks to smooth, high-quality wheels, it feels lightweight and easy to manoeuvre, which is surprising given that it weighs 15kg. Powerful aerating blades cut through the top layer of soil well, to help improve lawn health, rather than relieve compacted soil or open the structure of heavy clay, and in doing so, also tackle most of the thatch and moss in the lawn. The scarifying drum attachment was effective on moss too, though not as efficient with thatch. However, this machine struggles with inclines. If your lawn isn’t level, it catches on the soil and shuts itself off. Fortunately, this isn’t too much of a problem, because you can easily adjust the heights – 7.5 mm to.9.5 mm – to avoid this problem, and this automatic shutdown is also a great safety feature.

Cobra S3840V Cordless Scarifier

Our score: 4 out of 5

The Cobra S3840V Cordless Scarifier handles well. It’s big, and the wheels are prone to being a little stiff, but it’s lightweight and has a soft-grip handle, which makes it comfortable to use. At 92dB, it’s relatively quiet, too. The 40V 5Ah battery charges quickly in just 90 minutes, and offers 40 minutes’ use. The machine itself is easy to use, and we loved being able to see the charge indicator through the transparent window. The aeration blades and spring tine scarifying drum can be set at five heights, which range from.10mm to 5mm. Unfortunately, the instructions are poor, so it takes a while to get this machine up and running. On the plus side, at 38cm wide, it covers a large area of lawn, reducing how long you spend on the job, but its size makes this combination machine very bulky and difficult to store.

How we tested lawn aerators

To see how well lawn aerators perform, the GW reviews team tested a range of models across a range of garden situations – creating holes and slits in different turf and ground conditions. Before we started, we checked for any wildlife in the grass and organic debris on the lawn surface. The lawn aerators were compared, and the following criteria used to calculate the scores, with equal weight given to each:

• Set-up storage: We looked at the assembly needed, ease and clarity of instructions, any storage features and, where relevant, the cable length.
• Handling: We assessed ease of use, weight, noise levels, comfort and safety features.
• Performance: Considered the strength of the tines or blades, as well as how well they created holes and slits in the lawn. For the 2-in-1 machines, we also evaluated how well the spring tines removed moss and thatch in the scarifying mode.
• Value for money: We reviewed all of the above, plus quality and design, the RRP and the length of warranty.

For more information on our testing process see How we Review

This review was last updated in April 2022. Unfortunately, change and things go out of stock so we apologise if anything has changed.

The Best Aerator Spikes for Your Lawn

Many people take pride in their lawns, and it’s not hard to understand why. Not only is your lawn the first thing many people see when they drive past your house or pull up outside, but it’s also one of the things you see every day when you look out the Windows or walk to your car.

A beautiful, well-maintained lawn adds so much to the aesthetic of any property, and one of the best ways to look after your lawn is to aerate it with aeration spikes and aerator tools.

Aerator spikes penetrate the soil, poking holes into the ground and allowing air, water, and nutrients to pass through the soil and reach the roots of the grass. This can lead to a stronger and better-looking lawn with incredible growth and none of those brown patches or barren spots.

So, which aerator is right for you? Read on to find out more about some of the quality aerator spikes for 2023.

Buyer’s Guide: Finding Your Great Aerator Spikes

Aerator spikes are essential lawn care tools to help your grass grow stronger and healthier, but how do these tools work, and what is the right way to use them? Read on to learn more about aerating your lawn.

What Do Aerator Spikes Do?

Aerator spikes and aerator tools are necessary for the aeration process, which is when small holes are pierced into the ground to let air and water reach deeper into the soil. This helps to provide the best growing conditions for grass, allowing the blades to grow thicker, stronger, and greener.

Aerator spikes are also useful for dealing with soil compaction. Compaction is when the soil clumps together, blocking air and water from flowing through. It’s common to have compacted soil in areas where the lawn is in regular use and in certain regions.

Do I Need to Use Aerator Spikes?

So, should you be aerating your lawn with aerator spikes? Aeration could make all the difference if you have any issues with your grass not growing strong and healthy or problems with soil compaction. Here are some situations when aerators are necessary:

• If your lawn gets heavy use. For example, if you have children who often play on the lawn or pts that run around on it.
• If your home is relatively new, it’s also likely that your soil could require aeration, as topsoils on new construction sites tend to be quite compact.
• If your lawn feels like it dries out quickly or feels spongy to the touch. This could be due to a thatch issue, and aerator spikes will help to clear it up.
• If the grass on your lawn grows in patches and looks weaker or drier in certain areas. There are multiple causes of this, and soil compaction is one of them.

When To Use Aerator Spikes?

You don’t need to aerate your lawn too often, but it should be done at least once a year, and it’s important to get the timing right. You should aerate your lawn during the growing season when the grass is active and able to recover from any damages or disruption caused by the use of aerator spikes.

What To Look for in Aerator Spikes

Here are a few key factors to FOCUS on when buying an aerator:

Size

Most spike aerators measure between 34 and 37 inches in length, with spikes between 3 and 4 inches. Try to find one that is a good fit for your height.

Materials

Due to its strength and durability, steel is one of the best materials to look for in aerator spikes. Look for heavy-duty materials that are tough enough to last for years of use.

Shape

Check out the shape and design of each model, too. Most aerators look like shovels, but some have more unique designs to help people who have bad backs.

Why, When and How to Aerate Your Lawn

Simple, regular maintenance tasks go a long way in creating a thicker, healthier lawn. But jobs typically reserved for once a year can play a significant role in supporting smaller steps taken across the months. For many homeowners, aerating lawns to relieve soil compaction and enhance grass growth is a regular annual task. Almost any lawn can benefit from aeration when it’s timed well and done properly.

Why Aerating Helps Lawns

Grass roots need air, water and nutrients to grow thick, deep and strong. When soil becomes compacted, even slightly, it inhibit the flow of the essentials that support thicker, healthier turf growth. A layer of compacted soil just 1/4 to 1/2 inches thick can make a significant difference in the health and beauty of your lawn.1 Aeration creates holes down into the soil to alleviate compaction so air, water and nutrients can reach grass roots.

Deprived of their basic needs by compacted soil, lawn grasses struggle in stressful situations, such as heat and low rainfall, and lose their healthy, rich color. Grasses gradually thin and eventually die out completely, for lack of the oxygen, water and nutrients available just inches away. Even a single aeration session can open the avenue for these essentials to reach their mark and put your lawn back on an upward trend.

Core aerators pull small plugs of soil to the surface.

When Lawns Need Aeration

It may not seem your lawn could get compacted, but it happens easier than you may think. Vehicles or small equipment driven on lawns are more obvious offenders, but even outdoor entertaining or yard play by kids and pets can leave all or part of your lawn compacted. If you live where heavy clay soil is the norm, annual aeration is probably needed to keep your lawn from becoming thin and weak.

Dethatching and aerating are two different tasks, but they often go hand in hand. Thatch is the layer of decomposing organic matter that forms right at the lawn surface, between soil and grass. When thatch gets more than 1/2 inch thick, it works like compaction to prevent the flow of air, water and nutrients grasses need. Aggressive spreading grasses, such as Kentucky bluegrass in northern lawns and Bermudagrass down south, form more thatch than many other grass types. Aeration helps penetrate and reduce thatch buildup or prep it for removal through dethatching.

If your grass often looks stressed and your soil is hard to the touch or rainwater puddles up where it used to be absorbed, you may have compaction problems. Confirm your suspicions with a simple screwdriver test. Take a regular screwdriver and stick it into your lawn’s soil by hand. It should slide in fairly easily. If you meet resistance, your soil is compacted, and aeration can help.

When to Aerate Your Lawn

As with most larger lawn projects, such as planting grass seed, it’s best to aerate during or right before the time your grasses reach their peak time for natural growth. Aeration is good for lawns, but it can stress grass if timed improperly. Never aerate dormant lawns.

For cool-season grasses common in northern lawns, early fall or early spring are the best times for aerating. For warm-season grasses common to southern lawns, the best time for aerating is late spring or very early summer. When aeration coincides with active growth, grasses recover quickly and fill in areas where aerator equipment exposes soil.

Aerating is easiest on you (or your equipment operator) and your lawn when your soil is moist from irrigation or rainfall the day before. Overly dry soil can be tough to aerate, so moisture eases the process. Never aerate overly wet lawns; wait a few days instead.

Slicing aerators slice through lawns and leave soil in place.

How to Aerate Your Lawn

Aerating equipment comes in three main types, from small manual versions to larger tractor-like or pull-behind machinery:

• Spike aerators simply poke a hole down into the soil with a solid, spike-like tine. Some homeowners wear spiked aerator “sandals strapped to their shoes to aerate as they do yard work. While these can help on a small scale, spike machines can make compaction worse by pressing soil together around the holes. 1
• Slicing aerators have rotating blades that cut or slice through grass and thatch and down into soil. Like spike aerators, slicing aerators leave soil in the ground, but they create pathways for air, water and nutrients without causing more compaction.
• Core or plug aerators, typically preferred by lawn professionals, use rows of hollow tines that remove plugs of soil from your lawn and deposit them on top, where they break down. The size of the plugs and the holes they create vary in width and depth, depending on the machine used.

You can hire a lawn service to aerate for you or do it yourself like a pro. Equipment rental companies and lawn and garden stores often rent aerator machines and provide basic operating instructions for the model you choose. Aerating is a lot like mowing as you work back and forth across your lawn. Concentrate on any known problem areas, like pet runs or backyard baseball diamonds. Make several passes in different directions to help ensure optimal coverage and benefits.

What to Do After Aeration

After you finish aerating your lawn, let soil plugs or extra soil dry where they fall. They’ll break down in rain or crumble the next time you mow, adding beneficial soil and organic matter to your lawn surface.

Right after aeration is a perfect time to overseed with premium Pennington Smart Seed and fertilize your lawn or do simple lawn repairs. Seeds and nutrients have direct contact with soil through the openings your aerator created and roots have fresh pathways for the things they need. The combination can help put your lawn on the fast track for quick seed establishment and thicker, lusher growth.

By adding aeration to your annual task list or doing regular compaction tests to check for need, you help ensure your lawn can reach its full potential for thickness, health and beauty. Pennington is committed to providing you with the finest in grass seed and lawn care products to help you achieve your lawn goals.

Pennington and Smart Seed are trademarks of Pennington Seed, Inc.