I am wanting to buy a core aerator. Corriher has the 60'' one I think I am going to settle for. How much benefit can I expect to see in my yard? Will it have a significant impact on the quality of my turf? My yard starts to turn brown with the slighest of dry spells. The soil quality is not the best, but is improving because of topdressing and overseeding. The yard is in it's 3rd summer now, still a lot of thin spots and clumpy fescue. Can anyone who aerates regularly advise me.
Core Aerator
- Thread starter danboy
- Start date
- Views: 1509
Darren
Veteran Member
- Joined
- Feb 16, 2002
- Messages
- 1,038
- Location
- WVa
- Tractor
- Kubota L3710, Ford 5600, Case MB4/94, Kubota B6200
I wouldn't expect a lot of improvement if you don't have a lawn to start with. An aerator isn't going to improve your soil in the nutrient or organic material sense. You haven't filled out the location info in your profile, so I couldn't start to guess what type of soil you're dealing with.
You didn't mention what you're using to top dress. If you're trying to build top soil, I'd check to see if there's a local composting facility. Get a load of that for top dressing. The fact your grass drys out could be due to a number of factors. What kind of soil do you have?
You didn't mention what you're using to top dress. If you're trying to build top soil, I'd check to see if there's a local composting facility. Get a load of that for top dressing. The fact your grass drys out could be due to a number of factors. What kind of soil do you have?
The type of soil I have can best be described as a sandy clay mixture. I can push in a shovel and pull out a section to examine in the spring and fall several inches deep. Maybe around 8''. After about a week of no rain in June, the same shovel will penetrate maybe 1/2 ", tops. It is unbelievable to me how hard it can get in such a short period of time. When it is wet it appears in color as dark gray. I live in sw Missouri.
Darren
Veteran Member
- Joined
- Feb 16, 2002
- Messages
- 1,038
- Location
- WVa
- Tractor
- Kubota L3710, Ford 5600, Case MB4/94, Kubota B6200
It sounds like you're working with more clay than sand. I've got a lawn of sorts with a similar soil. To fix your problem long term you need to add organic material to the soil one way or another. No matter how much fertilizer, lime, etc. it's still going to harden up on you without the organic material when it's dry. If you've got a huge yard and you want to try an experiment, pick a spot off somewhere and plant buckwheat. Let it get 6 to 8" high and cut it. Plant it again. Do that every 4 to 5 weeks. After a year you'll be amazed at how much the soil has changed.
Around here compost goes for $20 a ton plus trucking. Compared to what you can buy in a bag, it's a real bargain. If you want to top dress, that's my other suggestion. Once you've built up the soil, the grass won't turn brown as fast when it's dry.
Around here compost goes for $20 a ton plus trucking. Compared to what you can buy in a bag, it's a real bargain. If you want to top dress, that's my other suggestion. Once you've built up the soil, the grass won't turn brown as fast when it's dry.
JP11
Silver Member
Good advice-
I have bad soil as well. I bought a cheapie pull behind aerator. You need to get organics into your soil. Best thing to hold water would be peat moss, but that's a little pricey. wouldnt take much to top dress though.
Compost is a good choice.. but be carefull of where it comes from, some of that stuff can be full of weed seeds.
I did the aeration on my lawn and threw out some seed. Took a section of chain link fence as a drag and dragged over the core pieces.
I was amazed at how the grass seed took hold inside all of the aerator holes.
It's not a overnight fix, but a lot cheaper than tearing out your lawn and starting over with a couple grand worth of topsoil.
JP
I have bad soil as well. I bought a cheapie pull behind aerator. You need to get organics into your soil. Best thing to hold water would be peat moss, but that's a little pricey. wouldnt take much to top dress though.
Compost is a good choice.. but be carefull of where it comes from, some of that stuff can be full of weed seeds.
I did the aeration on my lawn and threw out some seed. Took a section of chain link fence as a drag and dragged over the core pieces.
I was amazed at how the grass seed took hold inside all of the aerator holes.
It's not a overnight fix, but a lot cheaper than tearing out your lawn and starting over with a couple grand worth of topsoil.
JP
You will find some advantage with aeration. Water will get in better, and any amendments will get closer to the roots. However, a lot of experts are talking about being careful with top dressing these days because if all your "good" is only on the top, you won't promote deeper roots as they will want to stay up close to the top to take advantage of the richer top soil. Maybe a better idea would be to add tons of leaves and other organic matter by turning it into the soil, getting it at least 5-6" deep. In my opinion, aeration is even more important in the type of soil you have as when it's dry, new rains would have a harder time getting into the soil without aeration. If you want a really good book on all kinds of solutions to many different lawn/garden problems, get Jerry Baker's Backyard Problem Solver. It has great recipes for solutions that will help create a better lawn. John
Loges1
Silver Member
danboy,
What you have is clay, and under that clay is rocks, and under those rocks are more rocks. No body knows what is under those rocks because in S.W. Missouri no one has been able to dig a hole that deep /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif. I just let mine turn brown. It's easier on me and my mower that way.
BTW where in S.W. Mo. are you?
What you have is clay, and under that clay is rocks, and under those rocks are more rocks. No body knows what is under those rocks because in S.W. Missouri no one has been able to dig a hole that deep /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif. I just let mine turn brown. It's easier on me and my mower that way.
BTW where in S.W. Mo. are you?
I am 10 miles west of Bolivar. I've been experimenting with tilling in different materials into small plots. 1 plot with peat, 1 with enriched topsoil from Wal-Mart, 1 with manure and rotted hay. They are all doing about the same. I have been piling up manure and trampled hay and turning it occasionally. I am going to top dress this fall and overseed. I plan on core aerating first. Does this sound like a good plan? Last fall I tilled up the area closest to the house, about 10' out, mixed peat with it and it has held up well. I used an old garden tiller, alot of hard work. I bought a KK 5' tiller for my tractor this spring, really works great. I added lime and fertilizer as the soil test said last fall. It also said it lacked organic matter. I don't really know how much would be enough, though. Maybe someone could tell me. Also what would be a good method to spread it? I have access to plenty of manure and hay. I am going to keep working at it until we have a great yard.
As for spreading the organic matter, if you have a big pile of leaves, drag them with a box blade or landscape rake, carry them in the loader and drop them while backing up. What I would do is to cover the area well with the organics and then till it all in good. Of course, if you have grass you already like, you don't want to till it all under. If you can get shredded leaves, just spread them all over the top and then run your aerator. John
Junkman
Super Member
If you can get wall board scraps from new house building projects they are very good for helping the soil. You spread them out like a blanket on the ground and drive the tractor over them to break the board up into small pieces. Keep doing this till it separates from the paper. Remove paper as best as you can, and then till into the soil. Wall board is compress gypsum and gypsum is a mineral that works well to promote drainage in clay soils and is better for growing. If you have a wood chipper, you could run it through there, but the stuff is dusty. When I did it, I left it out in the rain for a day or two spread on the ground. That made it easier to till in.
