Choosing a Lawn Aerator

Soils become compacted over time, either as a result of desiccation (drying out), or from the weight of overlying earth. This reduces the amount of open space between soil particles, known as the pore space, and leaves less room available for water and air. Not only does this make it more difficult for soil to hold water, it also prevents grass roots from properly absorbing the nutrients needed to feed shoots on the surface.

Regular aeration is an important part of cultivating a healthy and attractive lawn. In summer, the hot and dry weather can quickly dry out and brown the grass. Once a lawn has browned, aerating the affected area delivers much needed water to the roots and the grass plants will rapidly become green again, even without watering. In the fall and winter months, soil can become sealed due to an increase in compaction brought on by the changing weather. Aeration breaks up sealed soil and water is able to again move freely through the earth, preventing it from pooling at the surface. Regular aeration helps to combat the effects of the seasons, ensuring a lawn is at its best no matter what the climatic conditions.

A common method of aeration is solid tining, or spiking, which can be done using a garden fork or a spike lawn aerator. A mechanical or electric lawn aerator is suggested for larger areas, as using a fork is extremely strenuous. However, spiking is not the best method to increase soil drainage overall, as it compresses the soil rather than removing it.

An alternative to spiking is to use a hollow tiner. Hollow tining, also known as coring, removes cores of soil from a lawn by forcing a hollow steel prong into the ground. When the tine is pulled up, a small core of soil is removed, creating holes for water and air to move through. A hollow tined lawn aerator is recommended over a solid core tiner, as the removal of individual soil cores creates space for air and water to permeate more freely through the earth. It is worth noting that hollow tined aerators leave small cores on a lawn surface, and as well as being unattractive, these need to be raked up as they can contain weed seeds that will germinate if left unattended. They can also become plugged with earth and have to be cleared out a number of times while aerating a lawn. That being said, hollow tining helps to break up thatch, a matted layer of decaying grass roots that can deprive a lawn of oxygen, much more easily than solid or spike tining.