Lawn Spikers and Aerators

Like all plants, lawn grass needs air, water and nutrient from the soil. Too often these resources are lost to the grass as a lawn gets compacted by walking and playing on the lawn.
Water runs off compacted ground and doesn’t soak in. Air is crushed out and worms that would help aerate the soil are not tolerated. Soil can become sour and lacking in nutrient despite seasonal fertilizers.

Treatment with Spikers

• One solution is to spike the grass as you walk on it wearing the shoes as shown in this picture.
• Hollow tyned forks are good for removing a core of soil to leave a short tunnel for water and air to penetrate the soil.
• Professionals have special aerators for large areas like sports fields and bowling greens.
• Amazon have a range of Aerators from the shoes to the wheeled roll up and down types.

Comment and Warnings

• It is hard work to penetrate compacted soil
• Select a time when the ground is as soft as possible then the comment above is still valid
• Remove excess ‘thatch’ and any soil that is pushed to the surface by the spiking
• A wide spike is better than a narrow spike. Narrow holes fill up quickly.

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