aerator

whelan1

we have an aerator , my dad bought it about 17 years ago , we used it for a few years and didnt use it since... does anyone use one now, was thinking of doing a few paddocks, is this the right time of year or would it be better in the spring

simx

whelan1 wrote: »

we have an aerator , my dad bought it about 17 years ago , we used it for a few years and didnt use it since... does anyone use one now, was thinking of doing a few paddocks, is this the right time of year or would it be better in the spring

we bought one this year,wouldnt imagine this time of year be a good idea,id say do a few paddocks in spring and spread slurry on them straight after

dar31

have used them at times, in theory they should work well, in practice its hard to see.
id imagine the benifits are marginally better than the cost.
what ever you do dont use it on soft ground, the blades/spikes will make a smooth walled hole that will fill with water, it will do more damage than good.

best time would be august time or so when the ground is rock solid, put as much weight as you safely can on to it to push blades into ground.
in dry ground this will help break open the soil and allow air in, water drain, and help reduce compaction.

reilig

dar31 wrote: »

the blades/spikes will make a smooth walled hole that will fill with water,.

Isn't that the idea?

Doesn't it allow water on the top to permiate the soil faster rather than sitting on top and scalding the grass?

Have no experience of using one on my land, but have seen the job that one did on our local football pitch which was very wet at the time. It cleared the surface water that consistantly sat on top, left the ground a lot drier, and allowed for better and thicker grass growth.

dar31

reilig wrote: »

Isn't that the idea?

Doesn't it allow water on the top to permiate the soil faster rather than sitting on top and scalding the grass?

Have no experience of using one on my land, but have seen the job that one did on our local football pitch which was very wet at the time. It cleared the surface water that consistantly sat on top, left the ground a lot drier, and allowed for better and thicker grass growth.

what the local club done, was spike the pitch to let off excess water.

an aerator is meant to break/ shatter the pan of the soil and let air down into it to let the soil breath. if you were to dig a sod out of compacted soil, it would be void of air and life, no texture, no worms,.. no use.

at least that my understanding of it, open to correction though.

reilig

dar31 wrote: »

what the local club done, was spike the pitch to let off excess water.

an aerator is meant to break/ shatter the pan of the soil and let air down into it to let the soil breath. if you were to dig a sod out of compacted soil, it would be void of air and life, no texture, no worms,.. no use.

at least that my understanding of it, open to correction though.

I thoight the subsoiler was used to break or shatter the pan?

Aerator is used to decompact the topsoil that has been compacted by traffic (Football boots in the case of the club or cattle and machines in whelan's case)

I think whelan is referring to a spiker as opposed to a subsoiler??

http://farmdeal.ie/ads/aerator-sisis-uk-import/

whelan1

ours is not like the one in that picture, it does have aload of concrete blocks on top of it to weigh it down , it has smaller spikes than that one in the picture iykwim, someone wanted to buy it off me during the summer but i didnt sell it

lakill Farm

i bought one last week, out of season special price

Plan on using it in feb before slurry and again in april before fertilizer.
(us hobby farmers love driving around fields burning diesel )

Then when im not using it i plan on renting it out for 100 euro a day.
I believe a 10ft one will do approx 2 - 3 acres an hour :rolleyes:.

If it does well i might buy the attachement for grass seed stitching

kboc

lakill Farm wrote: »

i bought one last week, out of season special price

Plan on using it in feb before slurry and again in april before fertilizer.
(us hobby farmers love driving around fields burning diesel )

Then when im not using it i plan on renting it out for 100 euro a day.
I believe a 10ft one will do approx 2 - 3 acres an hour :rolleyes:.

If it does well i might buy the attachement for grass seed stitching

what make?

lakill Farm

it was built by AQ engineerin in the north and is galvanised

lakill Farm

lakill Farm wrote: »

it was built by AQ engineerin in the north and is galvanised

Picked up my new toy last Friday night and did one 4 runs up one field. Almost patch testing . The ground was wet when i used it and it seems to hae done a good job so far.