Looking to purchase a 60" Core Aerator

[LHS Inc]

I'd like to hear from anyone using a 3pt Core Aerator. I'd like to purchase one for the 2011 lawn care season. I'll be hooking it to my JD 3520 37 HP tractor.
Thanks

[jeffinsgf]

I have a 48" Turfco. It will outlive me, since I don't use it commercially. If you haven't looked at Turfco, I would highly recommend that you do. Great company to deal with. I bought an old Turfco Mete-R-Matic topdresser on eBay that was a hunk of rusting junk. The customer service department at Turfco was very supportive as I worked through tearing it down and rebuilding it.

[jeffinsgf]

Oh, one more thing...

I would suggest you consider a smaller aerator and a garden tractor. Big aerators and big tractors (compared to a lawn) mean more time spent with an expensive walk-behind aerator to work in all the tight spots. With my 455 and a 48" aerator, I have been able to skip the walk-behind altogether.

[sweettractors]

We have the 60 inch Tarter Core aerator for $1195 with weight frame on top.. Made in the USA. Ken Sweet

[LHS Inc]

Oh, one more thing...

I would suggest you consider a smaller aerator and a garden tractor. Big aerators and big tractors (compared to a lawn) mean more time spent with an expensive walk-behind aerator to work in all the tight spots. With my 455 and a 48" aerator, I have been able to skip the walk-behind altogether.

Thanks for the info. Yes I've thought about not being able to get tighter spots with the bigger tractor but with my current client list I can get to everything with my 60 " zero turn with room to spare so it shouldn't be too much of a problem. With new business coming in I'm sure to run into the problem so for now I'll rent a walk behind to get it done. When I rent something that I don't have I try to have several jobs to do to offset the rental charge. I can't afford to have another tractor and I'm trying to get away from gas engines as much as possible so a lawn tractor isn't going to happen.
I'm currently looking at the 2350.00 Woods, 2690.00 Landpride, and 2250.00Befco models. All three are the HD. Can't go wrong with any of them. I haven't worked them down on price yet so I we'll see which one is the better deal.
Thanks again for your reply. I'm always open to advice.

[JeffinNE]

All 3 you're looking at are excellent choices. You may also consider the Frontier CA1060.

Check with your local dealers to see if any in stock already. My local JD guy had 3 CA1060's a year ago priced at $2200 each (before negotiating at all). If already in stock you'd likely get a better deal.

[LHS Inc]

All 3 you're looking at are excellent choices. You may also consider the Frontier CA1060.

Check with your local dealers to see if any in stock already. My local JD guy had 3 CA1060's a year ago priced at $2200 each (before negotiating at all). If already in stock you'd likely get a better deal.

I found a Frontier CA2060 at the local JD dealer. Someone bought it and didn't even put it in the ground before he decided it was too big for his properties. It looks brand new. Its the lighter of the 60" models with 6 spoons per disc instead of the 8 on the HD models. Not as heavy a frame as the HD models either. They want 1300 for it which is about 400-500 cheaper than a new one and 1000 cheaper than a HD model. Since they are selling it used I'm going to try it out and see what it does. If its too light I'll forget about it but hopefully with enough weight it will be ok for me. You almost have to have weight on all of them because even the HD isn't heavy enough just by itself. If I like it I'm going to try and get a warranty out of them at their price or my price and no warranty. I'll let you know what happens. Thanks for your reply.

[jenkinsph]

LHS,

I am thinking of buying an aerator too, I put in tall fescue on most lawns how much will a core aerator help with this type grass? I have a sandy loam/light clay soil.

[LHS Inc]

LHS,

I am thinking of buying an aerator too, I put in tall fescue on most lawns how much will a core aerator help with this type grass? I have a sandy loam/light clay soil.

It does great on Tall Fesue which is all I plant as well and its in all the lawns I service. Of course some soils compact more than others so the need to aerate would be more determined by the soil than anything else. With your light clay soil I'd do it. Stick a screw driver in the ground in several places and see if you have to use much force to push it in and if so than you should aerate, its an old way of checking. Either way if a lawn has never been done before or its been along time I'd aerate. What really makes the difference is when you're overseeding. The plugs of soil on top of the lawn give you greater seed to soil contact plus it breaks up the plugs right away. I'll post my findings on this aerator I'm trying out.

[LHS Inc]

LHS,

I am thinking of buying an aerator too, I put in tall fescue on most lawns how much will a core aerator help with this type grass? I have a sandy loam/light clay soil.

What do you do to get your equipment list to come up each time you post? I wouldn't think you' have to write all that down each time. Also how do you post pictures? Thanks