Lawn Aerator

Sawdust said:

See a difference?

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Of course! Gotta pay more for green paint!


But seriously, I think these little spike aerators are a waste of you money. You really need a heavy core style unit to be of any value to your lawn.

Kennyd said:

Of course! Gotta pay more for green paint!


But seriously, I think these little spike aerators are a waste of you money. You really need a heavy core style unit to be of any value to your lawn.

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These are actutaly core aerators.

I have one that my father paid 450 for and got sick of storing it. Its a core areator, and I will say, it needs to be very, very wet for me to use it in my heavy ground. Weighted up or not. If you had lighter ground it would be good.

I can take pictures of what I have for comparison if needed. Or you can ask anything you want.

I have a Agri-Fab core aerator. It works well for its price point. My main complaint is there are no bearings on the points only plastic bushings. I am pleasently surprised how long they have lasted though. I loaned it to a friend who tried to pull too much weights up his hill. Now it is not a pull behind. The FIL built bracket and made it 3 pt for my 4310. Seems to be better. I really like being able to lift it out of the ground on the go.

MFreund1 said:

I have a Agri-Fab core aerator. It works well for its price point. My main complaint is there are no bearings on the points only plastic bushings. I am pleasently surprised how long they have lasted though. I loaned it to a friend who tried to pull too much weights up his hill. Now it is not a pull behind. The FIL built bracket and made it 3 pt for my 4310. Seems to be better. I really like being able to lift it out of the ground on the go.

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Thanks for the great reply. I would love to see a picture of it
Turned into a 3 pt attachment. Can defiantly see myself doing that.

As luck would have it, I was in lowes last night and they had one on clearance for $130 can. For that price I will give it a try.

Sawdust-

I have an Agri-Fab unit that I pull behind my LA105 and it gets the job done. I make a cross-hatching pattern over the lawn with it every spring and fall. I pull about 80lbs of weight (cinder blocks bungeed down) on it to get decent depth with it. My recommendation is to water the lawn beforehand, or while the turf is still moist and soft from rainfall.

I am a lawn fanatic and it works for me. A month doesn't go by without some sort of product (either organic or synthetic) being applied. The aerator seems to work really well as a compliment to overseeding and topdressing. I have it for 8 or so years and its still ticking!

Good luck!

Hi All,

I presently have a 3pt core aerator which is about as monstrous a machine as I care to have. That thing must kill thousands of earthworms in a day. I believe I posted a thread about this unit somewhere on here last summer. I formerly had a tow behind core aerator, which I didn't care much for but it did an ok job. It was laden with concrete blocks poured to just the right size for maximum allowable weight or else it wouldn't work well. I can't remember the brand. It was black.

3pt pros:

Easy to drop when you are ready to work, easy to lift when needing to turn around, etc
No problem transporting from place to place
Larger size - heavier weight - deeper penetration
Ruggedly built so I can run large concrete blocks and suitcase weights to help penetration
Larger diameter and replaceable spoons

3pt cons:

Rigidly coupled to machine yaw axis so turning past 10-20 degrees off center requires lifting up or else it becomes a rototiller
Hard to install and uninstall on the 3pt hitch

Tow behind pros:

Inexpensive
Easier to store
Can be used without a 3pt hitch

Tow behind cons:

Too lightweight to get deep cores
Flimsy, cheap construction (plastic bearings)
With concrete weights added, the axle permanently bowed
Pain in the butt when going over pavement or other surfaces as the spoons could still reach the ground (and get mashed) with the wheels lowered
Cheap small diameter spoons easily plugged, easily dulled or deformed tips

I now think the ideal machine would be a large well built (pivoting) tow behind with provisions to be lifted by the 3pt hitch instead of using retractable wheels. If I ever get around to it, I'm going to make this happen but it's not that easy being so wide and heavy out at the rear but mounted at a single point in the front. I fiddled around with the idea once but it proved precarious so I put it off for another day.

Great write up guys, appreciate the pro and cons of the different versions.

I did find this unit on clearance for $130. ultimately I would have loved a 3pt unit, but $1500 for something that is used once maybe twice per year, at this point was a little overkill. Will give this unit a try and worst case I am sure I could sell it for at least what i paid for it.

Seems like its a bit of a redesign with the handle now in the middle.

mjncad said:

I've seen my neighbor use one. He has it loaded down with concrete blocks, and then has his thin wife sit on it for another 120 pounds or so of weight.

I have no idea how well it works though.

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How does the neighbors lawn look?
I have always wanted to use one in our horse pasture but could never find the money to buy one or find one to rent or borrow.... Wait a minute I did however buy a new tractor...Whoa!

Ensoll said:

Gizmo,

Are you referring to the aerator or the wife?

Sorry, couldn't resist...:laugh:

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I guess that would depend. Let me get back to ya on that.

ralphtt said:

Brian . . . I would really like to see a picture of your core aerator . . .

Thanks in advance!

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Sorry, i missed this. I also see someone found this same one on sale for 130. That's a good deal compared to what my father has in this.

Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk

mjncad said:

Their lawn looks quite good; but they also enjoy gardening.

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The local Cooperative Extension here has been tell me for years to aerate my pastures. It is suppose to be one of the best things to do for grass growth. Now after all these years, we only have one horse and she has plenty to eat without doing it. Sure glad we don't have 4 or 5 horses like we did for years.