Proper Areation ???'s

[dezertryno]

Hi guys, I live in Southern California, it gets to be 100+ for most of the summer, mild winters. When should I be areating, and what should I be using for it? Is there any product made for mower wheels, etc that will work? Putting a thousand holes in 1k sq ft of lawn is not appealing to me.

[Charlie MV]

We aerate spring and fall. I've got a spike aerator I tow behind a lawn tractor. I think there are pushables you can buy but I bet they aren't very good for much. You should be able to rent a power aerator for about $50 for 4 hours but on this side of the country, the mow and blowers will aerate for about what you can rent the machine.

[Bestlawn]

When to aerate depends on the type of grass you have. In Southern California, I expect you are growing warm season grass, which should be aerated in early summer just as or just before the grass goes into its growing season. In case you are growing a cool season type (like fescue, bluegrass, or ryegrass), the time to aerate is either early-mid April or late August/early September.

What type of aeration is required depends on the type of soil you have. Spike aeration is for sandy soils. Core aeration is for clay soils. Since you're not interested in mechanical methods, you can cheat and try a liquid aeration product like Nitron A-35 or Aerify. If you use liquid aeration, you can apply it anytime you water lawn according to label instructions.

[hendi_alex]

I've always had very sandy soil. Years ago I bought one of those pull behind the lawn tractor aerators. It consisted of a top tray for weights and a series of spiked discs mounted on a horizontal shaft. The discs looked like those throwing star eastern weapons except about ten or twelve inch diameter. This arrangement looked great. The only problem was the device rolled right over the lawn and never penetrated anything. Even when stacked with concrete blocks in the tray, same result. If I ever bought another aerator, it would be the drum type that can be filled with water to give it lots of weight so that the spikes actually peirce the ground.