Soil Improvement with a Hollow Core Aerator
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- čas přidán 11. 04. 2022
- 2 areas of soil improvement today including a patch on the lawn using a hollow core aerator which didn't go to plan!
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Amazon links to the tools and materials used in this video...
UK Links:
► Cheap, Hollow Core Aerator: amzn.to/3jt20zY
► Better Quality Aerator: amzn.to/3KN0tk8
US Links:
► Hollow Core Aerator: amzn.to/3E7ehDN
The Amazon links above are affiliate links. It doesn't cost you anything to click on them but I do earn a small commission if you do. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. - Jak na to + styl
The ‘sod removal’ interjection was pure class Stuart…..
I agree, made me chuckle
Thanks Patrick
@@chrisbarnett507 and me :)
@@ProperDIY please revist this as it's that time of year again. This was my comment a year ago..... Just cut the fronts off the tubes of the aerator so the soil cores fall out the front. I did that with my cheap aerator... works a treat.
You'll have buckets of cores if the soil isn't too wet. Steve
Perfectly timed as well
I'm someone who has watched and subscribed to many many DIY CZcamsrs. Yours are by far the most interesting, funny and frankly straight to the point. You've saved me a good few quid on doing things myself. Keep up the good work!
Have to agree,,, Stuart's videos are informative and interesting 👍
Thank you Mike
“ cheeky “ “ sod removal “ pure genius 😂🤣👏👏👏
Thank you!
Was waiting for Plan C - Dewalt combi drill + 10mm auger bit to pepper the lawn with holes in a similar fashion to how you planted the laurels last year
Exactly what I was expecting! haha
That actually sounds like a good plan :)
Great suggestion!
That's what I do!
This is a great idea and it works well too, I bought one of these hollow tine aerators years ago and it failed as described, so it still hangs in some dusty corner of the garage, I then dug out my trusty Black & Decker (corded in those days), armed it with an Auger bit, then proceeded to drill holes in the lawn. To this day this is my preferred method, albeit I have since upgraded to a cordless Makita 🙂
Instead of throwing it away, keep the 2 outside tines and the middle one and cut the other 2 off. Soak the area you want to work on the night before. 5 tines would be hard to push in, 3 obviously easier to use. Here in Australia I tend to aerate in winter/early spring when the ground is soft because I have clay to deal with. If you want a better tool look online at the Yard Butler, very good tool, although only 2 tines.
Yep, I have the yard butler iteration. Very good compared with others I've used.
I did that & it made a big difference, plus as it is used it polises the internals and makes it much better.
Better still, when I bought a Camon LA25 Aerator it was done quickly with much less effort. It just cost a bit.
This is up there with one of the best videos you have done.
The cheeky jump cut, the ease of which you went from metric to imperial measurements and that fantastic string line tip.
Definitely top three videos, maybe even number one!
I cut mine down to 2 tines and sharpened it but still not so good. Then noticed the paint was a thick coating that could be poked out with a thin chisel( with difficulty) .Use it now when the soil is soft and don't even have to jump on it
Before you throw it away, remove a couple of tines and have another go, it should go in the ground easier and therefore eject the cores more efficiently.
Another great video 👌
Not looked at all the comments but your attention to detail A++. The sound change when you take the ear plugs out. Nice little touch.
Great video and the cut between cheeky and sod removal was pure genius. I love your humour Stuart.
I was pleased to see your experience with this device. I had a very similar one from another brand and didn't get on with it. Sat in shed for years until we had a clear out and I tried it again with same results so it got recycled.
Loving the channel overall well done.
There are commercial aerators that you can rent that do a very good job in removing the cores. They are very heavy, use them like you would a lawnmower and. Aerate your entire lawn, rake the plugs off, top dress your lawn and finish off with your topsoil/compost using your spreader that you made, seed, water in if you like and put your feet up.
Although personally i would get a small garden tractor and drag a bigger topsoil spreader behind the tractor on that big lawn you have.
After years of doing all the hard stuff in the garden manually and recently had both knees and both shoulders replaced a garden tractor is more a necessity for me now... love your videos!
Have a similar hollow tine tool and had the same issue, but watching some vids on CZcams gave me an idea... cut ejection holes in the sides of each tine using metal cutting blade on angle grinder and dremel type tool to file sharp edges.. and I've just done my garden this week and it has worked very well... not perfect, but so much easier to prod the occasional sticking core out
Hi, I can symapthise completely as I have gone through the same struggles with the hollow tine fork as you have. I agree with Anthony B, my tool started to work much better when one tine broke off leaving only 4. I have filed and polished the inside of the other tines, and now it works perfectly.
It's actually great to show tools that don't work. That way we know what to avoid, saving us money and sweat! thanks for that.
I also had problems with a similar aerator. I gave up and replaced it with a Walensee Lawn Coring Aerator. This works really well. Get the occasional blockage, but clears out easily.
I bought a 2 core 'Yard Butler' aerator from Amazon US store and imported to the UK. Didn't work out too expensive and is absolutely brilliant! No clogging at all, as long as you use it on wet ground.
Highly recommended!
I'm currently revamping our garden, shed, fences and decor but I've got a novel, painless sweatfree method of improving the lawn which doesn't involve backbreaking physical effort.
I'm getting someone in to do it...
I have a 3 tine aerator and had a similar problem. I eventually figured out that the main problem is where the tines are welded onto the frame warps the inside of the tine making the inside diameter smaller. After dremmeling the inside smooth, it worked much better.
Great video, top tip about how to tie the string line! Thanks for showing your failures with modifying the tool, I thought you were invincible but now realise you are only nearly invincible! 😀
Thank you !!! You have just saved me some money, I was on the verge of buying the same tool
Glad I could help
I love the honesty. You’re right, these manual tools just don’t work. Experienced exactly the same thing myself
Really pleased you showed this one. I have often thought of getting one of these but after this? No way! As an aside, may I congratulate you on your patience and perseverance? I'd have given up long before you finished.
Thank you
Top man Stuart! I'm a total novice at DIY at the grand old age of 45 but learning loads everyday 😁😁
Wow, thank you for this video. You taught me a few really good and interesting tips that I hadn't anticipated for aerating the lawn!
Glad it was helpful!
After watching your lawn leveling lute and deciding I was going to build my own one and weld it together, I also have been drawing up plans to build a hollow core aerator along the lines of the swardman professional aerator that has the plug ejection holes.
My wife walked into the room at roughly 15:35 into this vid...
"Get out, you f****......"
She said "sounds like you babe", rolled her eyes and walked back out! 🤣🤣
Thank you Stuart for another great slice of advice. 👍
I've been away and I've missed this!
Hope all is well mate. 🇬🇧🇺🇦
really useful. I have a big garden and thought to get a manual aerator , which sounds simple in theory, but your video make great sense of the main problem being the plugs...!
I just bought the Walensee one for £30. Although it only makes two holes it’s really fast, really easy to use, has a nice big section you can put your foot on to push it into the ground and so far no blocking at all.
I love your channel, please keep the content coming. One thing I would say having used my lawn master hollow tine aerator is dont throw the plugs away, let them dry naturally and rake them up. These are great for compost - or if you have a rotary mower, they make free top dressing. I learnt this off lawnsmith channel.
Liked the muffled ear plug bit...nice touch!
love this channel, not only for the actual, usable, and useful information, but also your sense of humour. You cheeky...sod :)
Thanks for the view
Had same problem. Sent tool back. Got better one. THEN REALISED... supposed to work on sopping wet ground. Drenched lawn with hose. Worked fine
Loved the video Stuart: the frustration when things just don't pan out was refreshing to watch.
Thanks
sod it all Stuart. your doing a great job of your home.
So glad I found this video was considering getting one of these tools they look a good idea but now can see id do better saving my money. Thank you for sharing.
15:24 Love your frustrated honesty 😂
Wonderful saga of frustration... and loved the "sod"...
Thanks Harry
Had one of those aerators myself and broke the handle off trying to force it into the ground. Very frustrating! Enjoyed the video 👍🏼
I have just purchased the Swardman 3 prong aerator and shared the cost with my daughter and her partner. It's working absolutely fine. Most of the time the soil plugs are ejected neatly out of the front ejector. My soil is damp and firm at the moment, but not soggy. The aerator is definitely built like a panzer tank, i. e. solid! It's the first time I've ever done lawn aeration. Speaking petsonally I'm very pleased with the purchase.
Yup, too bad so many are still buying the non-Swardman-type cheap style of aerator that simply don't work (I was one of them), when there is the Swardman that always works perfectly, the Swardman, having only three pipes, means your weight will press the hole length of the pipes all the way down into the soil, if it is damp (halfway otherwise). They have sharp edges, sharpened from the outside, not the inside, as it should be, in order to not pinch the plugs of soil to be removed. Having opening slots/chutes in the cylinders, it eject the soil plugs early, before they start to jam up and bind in the pipes. On top of that, the pipes are made of stainless steel instead of painted "rusting" steel. There is simply no comparison. One works, always, the other one, never. Choose carefully. A heavy 130 kg motorized aerator is probably a lot better, but I have never tried one. The 3-pipe stainless Swardman I have tried, and the non-working cheap 5 pipe as well.
You need a manual core aerator with non-clogging tines (they have a section removed from the body of the tines so that there is nowhere for soil to get stuck). You can also buy the tines separately and weld them onto your existing aerator as a replacement for the supplied tines.
Thanks for the video. I had the same issues with the Draper version of your tool, looks like the same junk I have. I tried sharpening the ends but no luck. A soil probe with a cut out in the tube works great, but as it is a single tube will take forever.
Great video; it's nice to see a video that shows that not everything goes to plan, and even experts like yourself don't know everything. I prefer to use a wetting agent, which is cheaper than renting an aerator and less effort than doing it manually.
That's a video that brings back painful memories of been there - if you're in the Midlands area and you want to borrow my powered hollow tine aerator - you are more than welcome
The traditional way with a garden fork seems a lot less hassle. Your videos always seem to contain a helpful tip like today's tip about the string line so please keep them coming! Regards Keith
Re the aerator: been there, done that. In the end I brought a 1 inch auger bit, 2 feet long, and, using an electric drill, I easily drill 1 inch holes in the lawn where required. The downside is it leaves the earthy swarf on the lawn (and it can get a bit hard on the wrists, but my lawn is small.) But it works, and quickly. Cheers!
Yep bought an auger bit from toolstation…going to give this a whirl this weekend whilst my neighbours will definitely think I’ve lost my mind 🤣
That is a coincidence as I was doing the same job myself today (just the edging and not the holes in the grass). I am also adding wooden planks as edging, which makes the job even more protracted. BTW, those high spots could well be ant nests. If they are, to make matters worse the soil tends to be harder where the ants are active.
Loving your videos Stewart very informative, I have one of those 5 prong aerators and I use an old 12mm masonry bit to help clear the hollow tines, and that's after the sharpening polava, again it's OK on reasonably small areas but would not want to do a large area.
After thinking about it Stewart, if it's just a small area, then use your drill and garden auger you used for the Laurels up back in the review given in Jan, drill down and replace with better soil, I think this would be good for a small area.
I love your video but on the hollow core aerator, you are using a 5-tine manual aerator. That takes a lot of work and weight to get into the soil. Try using a dual tine manual aerator and you'll find it works a lot better and easier. Also make sure that you have semi wet soil in order to use it. That allows the tines to go in easier. Just a thought.
I grabbed one from Amazon which was useless as it had some crap rubber coating on it and even inside the corer itself so I got the angle grinder out and ground it off at the tips and sharpened them, then it worked a treat 👍🏻 also to add I cut prongs 2 and 4 off so there was only 3 requiring less weight to push through the soil
On your aerator, the section that is smaller diameter on the cutting end should be a bit longer before it is enlarged toward the ejecting end, more like a quarter or a third of the tube length. I have a butler tool where it is designed a little better that way but only has 2 tubes. I've found sharpening them like you did helped to penetrate the ground, but also carbide burr grinding off the weld blob inside the tubes and polishing the whole inside smooth and round really helped a lot.
After the tool was working more consistently and was producing nice 3-4" plug cores, then in really compacted areas or when I hit a rock, I was boring with a 12" x 5/8" masonry drill down into the same holes, a full foot deep. I back filled the holes with a humic acid & biochar granules from the Andersons called Humic DG Charx, then even poured a shot of 2-0-2 Neptune's Fish & Kelp Turf liquid fertilizer into each hole, then watered it all down.
It was horrendously time consuming, taking me 4 hrs to do this to just 100 sq ft, but rewarding at the same time, and better and deeper than most machines can do except for those drill & fill machines that can drill 60 x 5/8" holes 18" down simultaneously in a 5" spaced grid in seconds.
I have the same aerator and it does work if you change your technique. Use it at approx 30-45 angle to the grass instead of straight up, and you need to use some momentum to get the tool to easily enter the grass and push the previous plugs out. Hold the tool to your foot above the grass and drive it in starting about 30cm in the air. Might take a bit of practise but it does work for small gardens. When you get into a rhythm you can plunge it over and over without stopping and cover ground quite quickly.
Mine is 3 tines and still same experience. Those areas that are hydrophobic and compacted are very hard to work and extract core plugs from, even after a heavy watering. I resigned myself to just spiking them with the same tool and using a surfactant... I must also add compost to make that spot settle lower. I think a single tine 1 inch internal diameter is what I need for these compacted spots.
Swardman is expensive but certainly does the job. The cut away lets the cores tip out easily. I have used it a few times now and have had no problems
Very enjoyable tale of the turf, I see Murphy's Law doesn't just visit on my tools and projects. Have a good week mate.
Thanks Dean
Good video !! thanks
Thanks
I had similar issues with getting our laurels to take. Planted in March time and 6 months later leaves were all brown:yellow and basically a disaster. A combination of replanting a bit closer together (we went with 50cm from the original 100cm), covering the soil with multiple bags of compost plus this special tomato plant fertiliser liquid that absolutely stunk, finally got them to take. Got a lovely fast growing hedge now 2 and a bit years later.
Thank you Chris - good advice
This sped up like 5x speed would remind me of those British comedy shows, think they were called Monty python? Lol
My wife bought me one of those gadgets as a birthday present about 10 years ago. I gave up after a couple of attempts and it's been hanging up in the shed ever since, just in case...... You are prompting me to get it out and dispose of it.
11:00 nice bit of sound editing there Stuart :-) I agree with your observations as I have one of these. I was expecting you to cut I slot down the top length of the tube. Then knock in a wedge to open up the tubes from about a 3rd of the way up ;to make them cone shaped).
that was first class
Haha. I had exactly the same jurnay last summer🤗 great video
Just do it when it's wet. Works a treat then.
Great video - shame the sharpening didn’t improve the tool - so I invested in a “yard butler” - heavy lawn aerator with just 2 hollow times - used it last year ( dry spray food safe silicone spray on the inside of the tines ) and managed to cover 1/2 the lawn and seems to have improved this year following the first cut….
I've found that if you really water log the soil the hollow tine will sink in much easier. It might be a bit tricky to waterlog a high spot but perhaps by just leaving a hose on a trickle or using drip irrigation on that spot it will work
Soak area night before always worked when I did gardening for my late father plus he put a 45° grind on the plugger to help
The best hollow tine tools have a cut out half way up the tube to help release the soil plugs
Yes. I bought 2 of these and joined them together. Put cuts in the tubes and it work great
Those aerators are a bit dire, I use a garden auger bit (like the one you planted the Laurel hedge with) in the impact driver. You can get smaller diameter ones and they make perfect holes and even pull the big stones out, then seed and top dress. Top tip with string line. 👍👍
Good idea Andy, will give it a try,,, have to agree, those aerators are rubbish
There is a very expensive hollow tine aerator by Swardman (only available by import in the UK) which apparently works well. The difference is it's only 3 tubes and has cut-aways on the front of the tubes to eject the cores much more easily
I'll have a look
@@ProperDIY they’re about £140
Stainless steel, think another youtube channel had one. Still had similar issues if I recall. The openings still clogged as clay bulks or expands easily with air
Brought swardman just over a month ago. Best 140 pound well spent. However the size of your lawn really could do with hollow tine machine.
There's another UK lawn channel and he used a bladed scarifier on a lawn, 2 pass, 1 pass at 45 degree, then raked in a dry topsoil to reseed. I only have a lawn rake, black and decker. But the bladed scarifier seems to work well for uk lawns, the hollow time is best for golf clubs
I’ve been struggling with the same aerator. in the end I cut off spikes “2” and “4” leaving the outers and centre. it works a lot better now.
oh man, I thought you were going to show a working tool at the end. It feels like potentially it needs some kind of easy sliding mechanism to lock it in to place and align the bolts with the tubes and a leveraged plunger to push the cores out. Or cut out half the tubes so the cores aren't stuck inside. So the cutting ring with a half tube attached to it so that the cores have less surface area to adhere to.
You're right
I got one of those aerators given. after removing the paint from where paint should not be and running a file round the business end to sharpen the tips and a round file sorted the insides of tubes where they had distorted due to the welding. it worked as intended but the soil moisture content has to be just right. If you want to get soil into narrow holes try drying it then use drill with a plaster mixing tool to mix the dry soil into powder.
Mate I just bought one and had EXACTLY the same issue. I’m glad you confirmed I’m not the only loser in the crap aeration tool game!
I'm not alone then!
I had to do this and the local old guy said to waterlog the grass so I basically made it a bog and it worked perfectly. He did say it helps if the soil is quite clay style like mine was as its "slippy"
Cheeky…. Sod removal. Love it. Sprayed my tea!
I have the 2-prong fiskars core aerator and it's great. 5 holes probably makes it much trickier
After watching your scaifing mower video youtube recommended another lawn renovation video (lawnright) and he confirms what your showing here. The better quality manual plug cutters have fewer tubes and after about 3" the tube goes from being solid to windowed to allow plug ejection. Maybe angle grinder time, cannot break something already broken. (Swardman Professional Stainless Steel Hollow Tine Garden Fork Lawn Aerator)
I cut the front half of the tube off leaving bottom half of tube closed to leave it open above at the front and a 3mm channel down the length of each time with a stihl saw, let’s the soil plug pop out the front, same idea as the Swardman
Another suggestion I have for your core aerator, is to cut a slit from about a half inch above the bottom opening all the way to the top so that you could easily slip a screwdriver into it in order to help clear the various tines. I believe it would also make it easier for the course to be ejected on their own.
For the past couple of seasons I’ve rented a hollow tine aerator from a tool hire company. Takes about 30mins to do a 100 sqM lawn. I share the cost with a couple of neighbours who use it once I’m done.
‘Sod Removal’. Very clever editing. 😂
Try cutting an aperture in each plug to reduce the friction and mimic the front or side plug ejector types !
It would be interesting to see a video of you surveying your garden to try and predict the areas this issue will occur at. I've seen a couple of surveying methods from using standard equipment to using a laser level and measuring the high change on a large bit of wood
Some surveying on the way
There is a company here in Aus that makes after market tines for the cheap coring tools, they literally slide into the existing tines as a direct fit and are much larger.
I was equally as ready to throw the coring tool over the fence until I found the better tines that you just weld on in place.
Still get bunged up but nowhere near as often and they side eject.
The tines look like the Swardman ones mentioned in the other comment.
Best cut ever :D
Thanks
Saved me from buying one ! With the size of my lawn, I would have gone mad!!!
Yup a hollow tine aerator with ejection holes is what you need.
try using a 25mm auger drill bit, on your drill, works well for me, easy to do small areas
We need a hollow core aerator shoot out. Maybe speedy the snail can help out.
Get yourself a Irish pattern digging spade. Spear and Jackson used to make them, if you can find one
Well that’s saved me buying one, so I’ll carry on using a garden fork.
So use a 19mm spiral wood drill in a cordless drill on fast speed your whole lawn will take around an hour to put holes in and the plugs just spin out not leaving any debrie
Stuart, try using vegetable or sunflower oil for the lubrication. I copied you almost exactly with the same tool, I had a wide bucket with vegetable oil in it and just dipped the tool in every second go, I also watered my lawn the day before I used the tool, it worked a treat and the oil is harmless to the garden. I also use vegetable oil lubricant timber mouldings for concreting ie a mow edge moulding.
I enjoyed your pain! Well, sorry. But those of us that have as many failures as successes know this happens but no one documents frustration. So thanks for that and it gives me hope that if your frustrated that I shouldn't be any more frustrated than you and can more easily come to terms with it.
It's very therapeutic!
Very realistic review. I found these are worse than useless if you have clay, stoney, or soil with tree roots. I've resorted to using a drill with masonry bit in parts of my lawn, as it's the only thing that will make an impact. The type of lawn this tool would work on would have to perfect, and therefore not compacted to begin with.
What a great video Stuart you cant always win with garden tools, you may want to put some bark on that bare soil saves a lot of weeding in the future as we have learnt in the last two seasons
Glad you enjoyed it.
The Samsung joke made me laugh out loud. Had to show my partner too. I appreciate your humour 😆
The 5-prong aerator is more suitable for putting greens, while 3 prongs work better for less sandy topsoil.
Instead of using half moon turf cutter for this sort of job I’ve found that using a sharp knife against a timber straight edge is much quicker and produces a straighter edge. To overcome the knife edge getting blunt I use the snap off blades which can easily be replaced and are fairly cheap
Got to admit I hired one....heck of a machine. Be good (if you got chance) to design and make a garden work station/storage/potting bench to your standards of robustness, preferably with barrow wheels on. Thought about it for years but now your here I could copy the design 😁 Anyway thanks for another video, well presented and always entertaining.
you wouldn't want to hire one for 1 square metre
I bought the exact same core aerator ages ago and had exactly the same issue! I also ended up sharpening the tips just like you with no improvement. I DID GET IT TO WORK IN THE END AND IT was by shoving some steel wool back and forth through the tubes which I think smoothed the insides and got rid of the dirt stuck to the sides. It did get stuck from time to time but not as bad as ever second use and I could use it for about 30 mins before 1 tube got stuck again and I'd just use the steel wool again and worked fine again. Hope this helps salvage the the bloody thing.
By coincidence, I discovered the exact same thing! I let the steel wool get “wadded up” to the end of a long auger bit, and then shoved the whole thing down the length of the tyne, and spun it on a high speed, which had the effect of smoothing the surface of the inner core and facilitating the passage of the plugs dramatically!
@@christopherzimmer another account of this method working! Glad to hear it's not just a one off thing.