Keeping the turf on your lawn requires more than water and sunlight to stay healthy. In order to thrive, grassroots will be needing ample amounts of air, water, and nutrients. Getting these needs under the grass is usually prevented when the soil becomes compacted due to pressure from the activities done on the grass and ground surface including stepping.
Lawn aerators help the grass attain its basic needs. But the process of aerating your lawn requires understanding when, how, and why you should do it. There are also different types of aeration equipment you choose from.
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Best for Clay Soil
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Best Electric Cordless Aerator
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Best Value
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3.5
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3.5
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3.5
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£134.99 (£134.99 / 1)
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£115.30 (£10.98 / count)
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£19.98
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12/17/2022 12:56 am GMT
Swardman Professional Stainless Steel Hollow Tine Fork Aerator
The Swardman hollow tine garden lawn aerator is a well-built, best-quality tool that is designed for keen lawn care garden enthusiasts and professional gardeners. Constructed entirely from stainless steel with scratch-resistant paint, this tough tool ensures perfect aeration resulting in deeper root growth and thickened grass on your lawn.
This lawn aerator is equipped with 3 hollow replaceable hollow tines by screws that are 90 mm apart. Each hollow tine is 130 mm long with an internal diameter of 16 mm. This fork aerator is best used for lawns that are under stress such as corners of your pathway or patio around your yard.
- Sturdy construct with high-grade material
- Replaceable hollow tine
- Best for heavy clay soil
- The handle is a bit short in length
Greenworks Cordless Aerator G40DT35
The Greenworks G40DT35 aerator stimulates your lawn growth by helping it absorb water, light, and nutrients without hindrance to improve your garden lawn. Battery-powered aerators will significantly save you time to finish your lawn work. You just need to put the 40 V Li-Ion battery in the machine to start immediately without getting tangled up with a power cord. The batteries used for this aerator is compatible with other Greenworks product.
To penetrate the ground, this aerator is equipped with 20 flexible and spring-loaded steel tines with a depth of 1 cm. It runs with a speed of 3600 RPM enabling it to remove moss, lawn felt, and weeds including its roots. This quiet gardening tool is equipped with a 20-litre grass bag and an ergonomically shaped and retractable guide bar. This aerator has a central working height adjustment in 3 levels from -10 to 5 cm to accommodate your preference.
This electrically charged garden tool is best for small to medium-sized lawns. It weighs 8.5 kilograms without the battery and offers space-saving storage by folding the handlebar.
- Works as an aerator and scarifier at the same time
- Lightweight
- Quiet operation and eco-friendly
- Battery and charger are sold separately
GRÜNTEK Lawn Aerator Shoes
Using a pair of spike shoes is one of the easiest and efficient ways of aerating your lawn. It is also budget-friendly compared to other aerator products. Aerator shoes when used on your lawn surface will loosen the soil to allow the penetration of water. The GRÜNTEK aerator shoes are made of 9 mm heavy-duty plastic with an anti-skid insole surface to prevent the feet from sliding off. The shoe size is universal but reinforced with adjustable Velcro straps for top comfort and to adapt to your shoe fit.
Each shoe consists of 13 aerator spikes 5.9 cm long. These safe steel nails are made of heavy-duty metal to ensure reliability when drilled into the earth to open air passages in compacted soil – making your lawns lose, creating porous soil to store more air, and seep water faster. The GRÜNTEK aerator shoes are practical and lightweight to use on your garden lawn without having the need to spend too much money.
- Best budget
- Sturdy straps
- Easy to assemble and comes with the tools and spare spikes
- The plastic base has limited weight support
Einhell RG-SA 1433 Electric Scarifier and Lawn Aerator
The Einhell RG-SA 1433 is a 3-in-1 combination tool for scarifying, aerating and catching for your lawn maintenance. This high-quality, efficient and reliable electric garden tool is ideal for one of the most demanding tasks for a gardener who wants to produce healthy and weed-free lawns through scarifying and aerating. This machine is equipped with a ball-bearing spike drum with 20 stainless steel blades to take on weeds, moss, and roots effectively. While the ball-bearing roller aerator with 48 claws works on achieving the best aerating results on the soil.
This electric aerator is built with a robust housing made of a high-grade, impact-resistant plastic body which covers the 1400 Watt powerful series-wound motor that provides the high torque of the machine to progress easily and produce consistent results. The working depth can be adjusted to three different levels of 3, 7, and 9 mm. It has an operating width of 330mm best for a small to medium-sized garden of about 400 square metres.
This aerator and scarifier tool feature an adjustable tool height handle, large wheels for effortless operation and less stress on the lawn, and a large 28-litre catch bag to collect the lawn grass. For safekeeping, it has a parking position option to protect the blades and the standing surface. Designed with a folding handle and practical wall bracket, this garden aerator is ready for compact storage.
- Easy and convenient to use
- Lightweight and easy to manoeuvre
- Sturdy
- The collection box is small
Yard Butler ID-6C Manual Lawn Coring Aerator
This simple-looking tool can do so much for aerating your lawn. The Yard Butler Lawn Coring aerator is just one of the best gardening tools from its manufacturer to beautify your yard. This manual plug aerator and dethatcher reduce compaction and thatch to let the water, air, and fertilizer down to the root zone by removing the two, 3 inches long plugs to revitalize your old lawns. At the same time, this manual tool stimulates root growth by clipping the roots.
This lawn coring aerator is efficiently designed with cushioned grips for comfortable handling, practical 37 inches in height to reduce back stress, a two-tine fork shape to break down thatch and reduces run-off, and a foot bar for extra leverage when pushing down the aerator. The material is made of durable steel perfect to work your garden for a long period of time.
- Top-quality product
- Practical design
- Easy to use
- Not suitable for hard and rocky surface
Yard Butler IM-7C Multi Spike Lawn Aerator
The Yard Butler IM-7C spike aerator is 37 inches long with 4 durable lawn aeration 3-inch spikes that can penetrate and loosen compacted soil to allow water, air, and fertilizer to reach the grassroots. Spike aeration also presents an advantage of stimulating root growth by separating the roots from each other. This spike aerator works brilliantly in rocky, heavy compacted, root bound, and very sticky soil.
- Sturdy aerator
- Great quality
- Works in any hard soil as long as watered beforehand
- This tool would take time to finish the job
Draper 83983 Rolling Lawn Aerator
The Draper 83983 is a hand-pushed spike aerator fitted with a galvanized steel drum holding the 27 spikes to pierce through the soil creating the holes for aeration. Just like all the Draper brand products, this lawn aerator is designed durable and reliable at a more affordable price. This roller spike aerator weighs light at 3.92 kilograms making it easier for you to use around your lawn.
- Lightweight
- Reasonable price
- Easy to use
- Soil penetration is shallow
Hecht Petrol Lawn Aerator and Scarifier
The best aerator may come in different power and size. The Hecht aerator and scarifier is a petrol-powered tool with an 87 cc 4-stroke engine producing 3.5 Horsepower running at 3600 RPM torque. This type of lawn aerator is heavy-duty to take on lawn challenges such as moss, lawn thatch, or any heavy organic debris buried under the grass surface that deprives your lawn of its needed water, air, and nutrients to reach the roots.
The aerator’s working width is 38 cm with a maximum cutting depth of 12 mm – ideal for areas up to 1400 square metres. The height of the blades can be set from +10 mm to -12 mm to adapt to your lawn’s condition. This best lawn aerator and scarifier are built with a steel chassis holding the 18 knives and the collection box.
- Best for a small to medium-sized garden
- Solid and sturdy
- Works as a scarifier aside from being an aerator
- Assembly and operating instructions are difficult to understand
Darlac DP888 Telescopic Lawn Grass Aerator and Moss Scarifier
Removing moss and debris is just as important in making your lawn breathe to get proper nutrients from water, air, and fertilizer to get to the soil and roots. The Darlac lawn aerator and scarifier improve your lawn quality by clearing thatch, moss, and leaf build-up on the lawn. It’s easy to use with its built-in wheels for convenient rolling of the tool on your lawn.
This lawn aerator is equipped with 11 sharp blades that will scrape off the debris to allow light to penetrate through the grass and soil. Designed with an adjustable telescopic handle, the height can be set from 97 cm to 1.5 cm using a twist-lock mechanism. The angle of the handle is also adjustable to alter the depth of the blades. To ensure long-lasting use, the handle is made from powder-coated steel.
- Sturdy and reliable
- Convenient
- Reasonable price
- Not recommended for large lawn areas
Greenkey Garden and Home Ltd 700 Rolling Lawn Aerator
Roller spike aerators are considered to be more convenient to use because of their structure and design. A roller with 30 pieces of 45 mm steel spikes can easily punch deep holes for effective aeration. The Greenkey 30 cm rolling aerator keeps your lawn aerated by creating drainage helping the lawn to breathe and take in water, air and fertiliser to be seeped by the roots.
This aerator is best used as part of your lawn maintenance routine in the spring and autumn seasons. It is designed with nylon locking nuts to keep the spikes tightly in place during use. The easy to grip T handle is comfortable to use which enables the user to push the aerator firmly ahead. Greenlock rolling spike aerator has available spare parts sold separately in case you need part replacement.
- Reasonable price
- Sharp spike edges
- Spikes are easy to fit
- Requires more weight for improved soil penetration
How to Choose the Best Lawn Aerator
Lawn aerators could be a literal lifesaver of your wilting grass lawn. However, the process of aeration is not as simple as it seems. But with the best lawn aerator and with proper guidance, it could make your garden maintenance easier for you.
Lawn aerators are used to spike a hole into the lawn surface to allow your ground to breathe and create drainage enabling the required nutrients, water, and air to reach the roots. These holes created by the aerator also helps in preventing the soil from becoming compacted. Compacted lawn soil can result in too much water or lack thereof on the surface which keeps your grass unhealthy.
Soil Condition
Not all soil is the same. It is best to check the condition of your lawn before jumping off to choose the first lawn aerator you come across. Hard, compacted, and dry soil will be difficult to pierce through. It is advisable to soak the lawn first with water to help the aerator to penetrate the hard soil. Getting rid of unwanted debris, moss and fallen leaves on the lawn is necessary to achieve the best aeration result. There are aerators that are doubled with a scarifier to help you rake this lawn debris.
Type of Aerator
There are different types of lawn aerators. The best lawn aerator of choice would be the type that can well adapt to your lawn needs.
Core or Plug Aerator
A plug aerator has a hollow tine design that removes the soil plugs. This type is usually made as manual lawn aerators.
Spike Aerator
Spike aerators are designed with sharp tines. This type is used on lawn aerator shoes and rolling lawn aerators. The equipped tines have sharp edges to poke a hole down into the soil which enables aeration.
Slicing Aerator
Slicing aerators can be found on electric and petrol aerators, as well as on lawn scarifiers. They are equipped with rotating blades that cut the grass and thatches the soil.
Power
Lawn aerators can be run with various power sources. But mostly, this gardening tool is powered by manual labor. Electric-powered aerators might help to reduce fatigue while working on your lawn but these machines may not be as adaptable as manual aerators. The petrol-powered aerators are mostly heavy duty and cost more than the two models. It would also require fuel and periodic maintenance to serve its purpose.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do you really need to aerate your lawn?
Lawn aeration keeps your lawn healthy. It really helps in making your soil loose and prevents hardening.
Should I pick up plugs after aerating?
The removed plugs after aeration can be decomposed to be returned on the lawn after filtering.
Can you aerate too much?
Aeration is only done only once in one to three years. Too much aerating can damage your soil and ruin your lawn