Lawn aerator: description, models

Watering and mowing is not enough to care for your lawn. In addition, it is necessary to regularly carry out the aeration procedure. This is necessary for the earth to "breathe". The article will talk about what such a procedure is, and what features are available for different types of aerators.

What is aeration

It takes a lot of work to make your lawn look good. For this, in particular, it is necessary:

1. Fight weeds.
2. Restore damaged or trampled areas of turf.
3. Water the grass regularly.
4. If necessary, you need to mow.
5. The grass needs regular fertilizing.
6. Carry out scarification to clean the surface of the lawn.
7. It is necessary to carry out aeration.

Lawn aerator

Most people are well aware of the need to perform these types of work in order for the lawn to be healthy and looking good. However, carrying out aeration can raise questions, because not everyone knows what it is, and why such a procedure should be carried out.

Lawn aeration - what is it? This is a soil cultivation procedure to create better conditions for grass growth.

Over time, the soil on which the lawn grows gradually settles, becoming denser. This destroys the natural holes through which water and air penetrate into the ground. This degrades the growth conditions needed by the plants.

This leads to:

1. Moisture does not penetrate well to plant roots.
2. It becomes more difficult for them to breathe.
3. Dense soil inhibits root growth.
4. The activity of soil microorganisms decreases.
5. Remnants of last year's leaves and grass are gradually caking up and form a strong crust, which blocks access to the grass roots. Because of this, carbon dioxide accumulates in the soil, and deadwood and bald spots form in the grass.
6. Dense soil prevents excess moisture from evaporating and can lead to rotting plants, as well as to the activation of pathogenic bacteria.
7. The applied fertilizers hardly penetrate to the plant roots.

Motor cultivator

In order to prevent this, the earth is aerated. For sandy soils, it is enough to carry out processing once during the season, for heavy clay soils - at least twice during such a period.

Lawn aerator, what is it? It is used in this processing procedure. It consists in the fact that the soil is pierced with metal thorns having a length of 10 cm. Sometimes, for this purpose, piercers are used not solid, but tubular thorns. During the procedure, the ground passes through them and remains on the surface of the lawn. After that, you will need to clean it.

Multifunctional devices with a higher efficiency rating can be used. One of them is the verticutter. It is a lawn scarifier aerator. Additionally, it removes debris that remains on the surface (these can be clippings of grass or its roots, pieces of earth).

Scarifiers carry out garbage collection and grass combing without performing soil aeration. A comb is a metal rod that passes when moving along the surface of the ground.

Such multifunctional devices usually move on four wheels, operate on the basis of the use of gasoline or electricity.

Scarifier

Lawn aerators

Aerators can be classified into the following main types: hand, foot or mechanized. The first two are only suitable for small areas. Mechanized are designed for situations where processing must be carried out over a large area.

In practice, the following options for aeration devices are used:

1. The simplest lawn aerator is a pitchfork. They can be used to aerate a small area. The advantage of this method is its low cost and simplicity. However, this method is not suitable if we are talking about a large area or about clay soil.
2. Foot lawn aerator, made in the form of ordinary sandals with spikes attached to the bottom. You can make them yourself. Sandals for lawn aeration are a plank from which spikes stick out downward, from 5 to 10 cm long. It is attached to the legs with special straps. For aeration, they put on these sandals on their feet and walk in them over the entire area of ​​the lawn.
3. A spiked roller that is rolled on the ground. It is the most efficient manual lawn scarifier.
4. An electric motor-cultivator will allow you to cultivate plots of land with a large area. There are many different models of these lawn aerators. They have a number of advantages over a gasoline aerator. These devices are quieter, easier to use and more environmentally friendly. Their main disadvantage is the need for frequent recharging, which is not always possible.
5. The gasoline aerator is more powerful and is especially beneficial for large areas. This device is convenient to use where there is dense turf or heavy clay soil. Typically, the weight of such aerators is significant.

Gasoline aerator

DIY aerator

To make aerator sandals, you need to prepare a thin wooden board. Next, you need to perform the following operations:

1. Outline your foot with a pencil, leaving an additional 1 or 1.5 cm.
2. Next, you need to cut out parts of the specified shape. This can be done, for example, using a jigsaw.
3. You need to drive in about 15-20 nails so that they point down. The length of their protruding part should be from 5 to 10 cm. Instead of nails, you can use self-tapping screws.
4. Holes for the straps must be cut at the edge.
5. Now you need to insert these straps.

The spiked lawn shoes are ready.

There is the possibility of self-manufacturing a mechanical aerator:

Self-made mechanical aerator

1. To do this, you need to prepare a piece of pipe, the length of which should be about 1 meter.
2. Bearings must be installed in the pipe through which the metal axis must be threaded.
3. Metal spikes are welded to the surface, which must be installed vertically in relation to the surface of the roller.
4. A frame is welded to the ends of the metal axle for ease of work.

Aeration shoes

Such a device for carrying out aeration work can be purchased at a specialized store or made yourself. Aerator sandals can only be used on small areas.

The cost when buying for various options is about 875 to 1400 rubles.

DIY non-standard models

For this purpose, a horizontal roller can be used, on which studs are welded. It is attached to a rectangular frame, the top of which is held by the worker.When processing, the device is rolled on the ground over the entire area of ​​the lawn. Various types of thorns can be used here: sharp, tubular or made in the form of sharp triangles.

Roller aerator - rake. They are equipped with blades that cut the topsoil. The rollers facilitate the movement of the tool during work.

Roller aerator

Another non-standard option is a pitchfork-like tool that uses tubular spikes. During operation, the earth gets inside the tubes and then remains on the surface of the earth in the form of debris. It will subsequently need to be removed.

The use of hand aerators is justified in small areas and where the grass cover and soil are not dense and tough. In other situations, it makes sense to purchase more powerful aeration devices.