Aerating the lawn

[kingr]

Which method, "plug" or "spike", would you prefer to aerate the lawn? We bought a house last summer and while the grass is in fairly good shape, the yard is very uneven, needs to be thatched, and I beleive needs to be aerated.

Thanks,

[fishattacker]

I would use a plug aerator. Plug aerators will help a lot more with compaction.

[CJH]

Plug is better.

[LunkerCity]

It all depends on your soil and what you want to achieve, There is a little more work involved with plugs since you have to either drag them to bust em up or rake and shovel them up...

[kingr]

Thanks,

That's what I was leaning towards. Lunker, yes I know it's a little more work but hopefully a well timed rain and a couple mowings will help remove the extra mess the plugs create.

[CJH]

It all depends on your soil and what you want to achieve, There is a little more work involved with plugs since you have to either drag them to bust em up or rake and shovel them up...

I've never done any of that. They breakdown by themselves in a relatively short time.

[Shammy]

I went through this whole process las spring with my lawn. The spike method is worthless in from the research I've done. It will actually in some cases make things worse. Since it doesn't remove a plug it actually packs your lawn together and makes less oxygen and your fertalizer more likely to penetrate the soil. I rented an areter and did it myself and then seeded after that then did a little quick hand raking to break up the plugs over the seed and hurry the process of them decomposing. It is also recommended that you fertalize when this is completed with a fertalizer that is just fertalizer no weed killer or crab grass killer in it so the seeds have an extra push to grow. Next step is to wait until your lawn is fairly long and let it grow and try to avoid trafic on your lawn. After this process my lawn bounced back great.

Remember you also dont want to thatch your lawn right now when it is still somewhat dormant. Wait until it is alive and green and it can handle it.

[kingr]

Thanks Tim,

I'm thinking I'm going to aerate it, break up the plugs some what, and then put down some weed-n-feed with crabgrass control for now.

Then this summer I'll hit it with straight weed killer plus crabgrass and then through fertilizer on it this fall.

[otterman91105]

I aerate my lawn every couple of years and i have never had to break up or rake the plugs up. They have always broken up on there own.

[Jared_P]

Plug style has worked much better than spikes...I like to have the ground pretty moist so it pulls up a good plug...never had to break up plugs in all my years of doing it. They break up and dissolve back into the ground themselfs.

Also, weed and feed is usually separate from crabgrass control...I usually run crabgrass/fertilizer as first application and then when/if the broad leafs are popping up I will hit them on a nice dewy morning before work and whatch them die.

JP

[Tom7227]

I have used the plug rigs. The whole process is hard work. The rig seems to have a life of it's own and you end up nearly chasing it across the yard. You have to keep the engine running fast enough to keep it going and once you get going it really takes off. My yard has a slop to it and there is no thing as a straight line while going sideways. I just sort of let it curve and then I try to run it the opposite direction going up hill as best I can. The yard looks like a mess right after you finish, as if hundreds of geese have spent a long time checking it out. But good seed and some starter fertilizer and in a couple of weeks the lawn looks great.

[CANOPY SAM]

Hows about using a pull behind plugger instead of a machine? I'm hoping to do some aerating this spring, but my yard is huge. I'll probably only do maybe a couple acres around the house, and am hoping to find an implement I can pull behind an ATV that will pull plugs efficiently. Anybody ever use something like this?

We have a few high traffic areas in our yard that are packed pretty hard. Suppose I should run over these areas several times???

[Shammy]

Breaking up the plugs is only nessessary if you are overseeding and you want to get it going a little faster. In high traffic areas you can just plug the chit out of it over seed it, fertalize it and try to stay away from it for a couple of weeks and it will come back fast.

[kingr]

Thanks for all the information. I think my plan is after I have a couple trees taken down the week of the 20th, I'll rent a plug aerator and then throw the weedkiller down followed by fertilizer a couple days after.

[Surface Tension]

Sam, I manage 3 soccer fields and one baseball field for a small township.

Small budget too so I use a pull behind plug aerator. They work OK but the ground will need to moist and you'll max it out with weight to get any penetration.

[CANOPY SAM]

Yea, our rental shop in town has a pull behind unit, but the guy that owns and runs the place won't even let anyone rent the unit unless we've seen recent significant rainfall.

You're absolutely right Frank. The ground will have to be pretty soft to make this work, so I'm just going to have to wait for the right conditions. No way I'm going to kill myself trying to run one of those wildly possessed plugging machines around 2 acres of hillside property.

Thanks for the heads up though, and thanks for committing your time to the local diamonds! Hope the locals appreciate your hard work!