The Ultimate Guide To Lawn Aerators (With 8 Options For All Budgets)

There are few things more satisfying for a gardener than looking out over a lush, well kept and heathy looking lawn – however the reality is that our lawns end up looking sad and patchy without the right maintenance.

One way you can actively help your lawn be at its best is through lawn aeration.

What is lawn aeration?

Over time the soil beneath your lawn naturally compacts both through natural means, such as weather and mechanical means such as simply walking on your lawn. As the soil compacts this reduces the natural airflow around the plants roots.

Aerating your lawn helps to promote healthy growth which has the dual benefit of improving the overall aesthetic of the lawn (everyone loves a nice green lawn!) as well as making the plants more resilient to the bad weather and frosts that plague the UK during the autumn and winter seasons.

Aerating your lawn helps to improve the overall health of your garden by helping to release stale carbon dioxide from the roots and bring in fresh oxygen.

Lawn aerating is typically done by mechanical means and we’ve outlined some of the different types of equipment and techniques below:

What types of lawn aerators are there?

There are a number of different styles of lawn aerator available and the best one for you really does depend on the size of the lawn requiring maintenance.

So what types of lawn aeration tools are available? There are three main types of lawn aerator tools available depending on your budget; Aerator shoes, manual aerators and mechanical aerators. Each type has its benefits and drawbacks. Costs start at around £10 increasing to over £350 depending on your choice.

Aerator shoes

Aerator shoes really are exactly what they sound like, typically a set of spiked sandals that you attach to the bottom of your shoes. The one inch to one and a half inch spikes help to aerate your lawn as you walk around. 

One of the recommended methods of using these is to wear them while moving the lawn – this ensures that you can aerate the whole lawn at the same time as you mow.

One word of caution with aerator shoes – the spikes can easily puncture footwear, hosepipes and electrical cables if you are not careful.

Manual Lawn Aerators

Manual lawn aerators can consist of something as simple as a pitch fork, or be more complicated like a hollow tine aerator. Manual aerators allow for a more methodical approach to lawn aeration and have longer tines (around two inches) than aerator shoes. 

Manual aerators are suitable for smaller gardens or those with harder to reach areas.

Mechanical Lawn Aerator

Mechanical or machine lawn aerators are typically much more complex version of the manual aerators above. These are usually electrically powered, either by mains power or via removable battery or petrol driven via a small engine.

These are ideal if you have a larger garden or field that requires maintenance as you can cover more ground in the sale time, but these are far more expensive than the manual versions.

Recommended Equipment

There are plenty of choices of equipment to aerate your lawn and it really does come down to the space you need to work on and your available budget. We’ve checked out the reviews and made some recommendations of what we think are the best on the market.

Recommended Aerator Shoes

Aerator shoes are great if you don’t have the budget or the required space to purchase or store a larger tool.

One of the two options below uses plastic cross shaped spikes which are ideal for lawns on softer soils while the second uses more traditional steel spikes

Just a word of warning, make sure you take them off when you leave a grassy area, the spikes will do paving or tarmac’d areas no favours.

Lawn Spike Aerator Shoes/Sandals

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GRÜNTEK Lawn Aerator Shoes | Garden Grass Aerator Spiked Sandals

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Recommended Manual Aerators

The following manual aerators both work in the same way. The weighted roller is covered in solid tines that puncture the soils as you simply roll it around. Ideal for covering large areas quickly, these aerators offer a great balance of cost and performance.

Greenkey Garden and Home Ltd 700 Rolling Lawn Aerator

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COSTWAY Lawn Spike Aerators – Manual Grass Roller

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Oypla Hollow Tine 5 Spike Hand Lawn Grass Soil Aerator

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This manual, hollow tine aerator is probably the closest you’ll find to a traditional garden fork. Cheap and cheerful, this should do the job if you only have a small garden, or one with lighter, sandy soil.

If you have a larger garden, or one with compacted soil, then you may want to consider something with a bit more power.

Recommended Mechanical Aerators

If you have a larger lawn that requires maintenance then you might find that a mechanical aerator could be the tool for you..

Einhell RG-SA 1433 Electric Scarifier and Lawn Aerator

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If you don’t need the extended range of a cordless or petrol driven aerator, then this combined Scarifier and Aerator from Einhell could be the tool for you.

This unit also has the added bonus of catching the thatch in its 28L collection bag which means less clean up time with a rake.

Hyundai 210cc 400mm Petrol Lawn Scarifier & Aerator

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This powerful petrol driven aerator and scarifier from Hyundai is great if you have a large garden, field or paddock that needs maintenance.

The petrol motor provides the ultimate combination of cordless roaming and an extended duty cycle, but as with any petrol driven tools you’ll have an extra level of maintenance to keep your aerator / scarifier in tip top condition.

Einhell GE-SC 35 36 V Cordless Li-Ion Scarifier and Lawn Aerator 

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This cordless unit from Einhell is ideal if you already own tools using the companies x-change battery system as you won’t need to find an extra battery, simply reuse one that you already have.

However if you’ve not already bought into its cordless battery system then you’ll need the following to get up and running.

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How do lawn aerators work?

Regardless of the type of lawn aerator that you pick they all work in a similar way, either by using solid or hollow tines.

Solid tine lawn aeration

Solid tine lawn aerators drive holes into the soil to improve airflow. Because of the simple method of working they tend to be very cost effective to purchase and easy to use and maintain. The downside of solid tine aeration is that repeated use on a single area can cause earth compaction which can hinder healthy lawn growth.

Pros:

• Typically cheap to purchase
• Easy to use
• Easy to maintain

Cons:

• Can lead to soil compaction if used too often in the same area

Hollow tine lawn aeration

A hollow tine lawn aerator works in a similar way to the solid tine version however rather than pushing the soil away, the hollow tine extracts the plug of soil as part of the mechanism. Hollow tine aeration is more effective as it doesn’t impact the soil density but the aerators tend to be more expensive to purchase and are harder to maintain.

Pros:

• More effective than solid tine versions
• Doesn’t impact soil density

Cons:

• Typically more expensive to purchase
• Extra maintenance steps required

When should you aerate your lawn?

Lawns should be aerated in the spring before the start of the growing season – this allows the roots to recover fully from the process before their main growing phase takes place. 

Aerating before this will likely have little effect as the soil will likely recompact before the grass has a chance to benefit and aerating later will probably cause the lawns growth to stall as you could be damaging growing root stock.

Established lawns with stronger root structures typically require less aeration as they are naturally more robust and able to handle the full force of the British weather. 

Freshly laid lawns and those that are less mature will require aeration more frequently to promote healthy growth of the root stock.

Different Soil Types

The frequency of aeration also depends on the type of soil you have. Lighter, sandy soils may only require this type of maintenance every other year as they are naturally porous with good air circulation and are easily drained. 

Clay soils are far more dense and don’t allow air to circulate and water to drain as freely. For these types of soils we’d recommend aeriating at least once a year.

Tips for getting the most from your lawn aerator

1. Prepare the lawn before hand, mow the lawn and scarify the day before.
2. Water the lawn regularly after aeration, but avoid getting it saturated. 
3. If an area is heavily compacted, go over the area several times from different directions to ensure the whole area is adequately covered (this will help avoid a patchy lawn).
4. Once you have aerated, add a top dressing (a special lawn soil and fertiliser) to enhance lawn growth.