aerate burnt lawns

[peewee]

Since I have no grass to cut is there any point in going after customers for aereation? If september comes with no significant rainfall how can I make some money?

[lawnboy82]

why would you even want to try aerating if the grass is brown, and the soil is hard? as for what to do for money- try iron treatments, cleanups, trimming of shrubs, plantings or removals, mulching, landscape renovations, do your rip ups now if you are gonna be doing lots of new lawns. do some clearing. this is why its not good to put all of your eggs in one basket. diversify and you will have work.

[Guido]

Originally posted by lawnboy82
why would you even want to try aerating if the grass is brown, and the soil is hard?

I thought that was the purpose of Aeration, hard soil that is??

[lawnboy82]

what i meant by that goooweee-doh is that why would you even want to bother if you are not gonna get good plugs out? wait to get some rain. like that you will get better plugs.

[Guido]

laaaaawwwwwn booooooy!

I understand you will get better plugs when it starts raining again, but you know once it starts raining again, he'll start mowing non stop again. I think he's trying to fill in the time gap with the dry weather.

[lawnboy82]

then if he is gonna do aeration now he has to get the customers to give the lawn a good drenching the day before he goes over. because its not worth it to go and pull 1/2 inch plugs. if the lawns are nice and moist then you get nice plugs and good results.

[crazygator]

If the ground is hard, why aerate? You want to get down and pull a plug, not ride around on the top. It would be as if you ran it across the street. No sense. He might could get a spike aerator to work, to poke little holes all around, but not a plug type.

[Eric ELM]

I have also heard that a lawn should be actively growing when you aerate a lawn. 2 years ago it got real dry in the summer and the weather men were predicting all sorts of rain to be coming and by looking at the radar, I figured how could it miss us.

I got my home made aerator out and loaded it down with weight and it was pulling about a 1" plug which was not good enough. I went to Lesco and asked about their pull behind and they guaranteed it would pull plugs if I put on enough weight. They told me to try it for a week and if I didn't like it, bring it back and they would give me every penny back.

I put on 400 lbs. and away I went. It was pulling 2 to 3" plugs in the hardest spots on lawns that had. After one round I decided it was a keeper. I got 6 big lawns done before it started raining. Those 6 greened up much faster than the others since hard ground and pouring rain don't mix well. Most of it runs off and goes into all the lakes around there.

Since then, even if it is dry in the fall, I will go aerate dry hard lawns and I've had no problems.

[John DiMartino]

Im not saying I think its bad for the lawn,but you will get better results if the lawn is moist,and the aerator will last a lot longer and not be pounded to death from dry conditions,and lots of weight.

[Guido]

That the ideal soil to aerate is moist, but we have to work under the constraints of the weather. I would spray the yards down a bit with the hose, to try and moisten them up, or have the homeowner set the sprinkler out that morning, etc.

As long as you can get a good size plug out of it, you shouldn't let the weather stop you. Like Eric said, when you do finally get the rain you need, it will soak in and spruce up the lawn nicely.

[lawrence stone]

I waited for rain last nite to do a few small lawn renovation jobs today.

One is for a friend who helps me with my IT issues. It is a pro bono job.

The other one is for my girlfriend. It is a pro boner job.

[skipwatson]

:laugh: Stone strikes again!

[cantoo]

Stone, are you looking for a helper to do the girlfriend's lawn? Maybe someone with the right equipment? My equipment is new as compared to your old Toro's... :)

And best of all I start at 21" and can go up to 72" if needed.

[bobbygedd]

love it

[LAWNGODFATHER]

Ideal conditions would be most but as far as seeding you wan to put seed in the ground at approximately ½”. As far as aerafing
You will want to try and get 3” plugs but if you are not in some areas you will want to run over those areas reputedly to loosen up the soil more

This is a good time to aerafy

LGF:blob1: