"JoeT" noway@today wrote in message
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"Heidi the Horrible" wrote in message
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"JoeT" noway@today wrote in message
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"Heidi the Horrible" wrote in message
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"Steveo" wrote in message
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"Heidi the Horrible" wrote:
How much do they cost ? This isn't clear from the discussions above.

Thanks

HtH

Hi Heidi.

How big an area are you going to aerate?

Well, I have ten acres or so or low maintainence lawn and I drag a
cheap roller aerator from Lowes and it works fine. However, I have
about half an acre of nice lawn around the house that is impossible to
get the 'drag behind' into. These areas are high traffic and suffer
from compaction and I'd love to punch them a couple times a year. I'm
weighing owning vs renting. Owning is expensive and comes with
maintainence issues but renting is a pain for me for a couple of
reasons.

HtH



Just curious how much weight you strap onto that drag behind to get it
to do a decent job? And is it a core or spike type?

Thanks in advance.

Joe


I have a core aerator I bought from Lowes. I strap four cement blocks on
there and pull it behind the 4-wheeler (faster than the mower). I punch
when the grass is dry but the soil is moist. If the ground is dry, then
it doesn't dig deep enough and if the ground is too wet it is a muddy
mess and if the grass is wet, then I can't get good traction with all the
weight.

I totally trashed the thing after about five seasons of rough use but
they are fairly cheap and I'll just get another.

HtH


Thanks Heidi, I've been thinking of getting one but seeing people write
about them tearing up turf made me a bit shy about it. I don't have a 4
wheeler just a 15.5 horse lawn tractor but I can live with goin slow, it's
a small area and maybe with a little less than four cinder blocks so I
don't end up simply spinning the tires. lol My lawn is almost devoid of
anything resembling an actually level area. I'd rent one as I used to but
now have a lower back problem that prevents me from even using a self
propelled push mower so a rental aerator is out of the question.

Joe


Mine doesn't tear up the turf other than the expected holes and loose plugs.
I usually punch and fertilize before a good rain is coming and the yard
looks completely normal a couple of days later.

It can be tough on the lower back though because I load on the cement blocks
and bungee them down and I get stuck once in a while when I get too greedy
on a turn. All this takes lifting and pushing and an occasional call for
help from a big, hairy man who should be doing this in the first place.

HtH