Lawn Aerator Rentals 50% off at HD next Tues, Wed, Thurs

[deep]

I just called enquiring about aerator rentals, and they will be 50% off their regular price of $56/4hrs next Tues, Wed, and Thursday.

[cantara]

Nice! Any idea if this is a local promotion?

Grab one and offer to do your neighbours lawn for $10. Find 3 or four neighbours that'll do this and you get the thing paid for and you're only out your time...I think I paid $60 to the kid in the spring.

[deep]

I forgot to ask if this was local (Oakville location) or store wide....so you'd better ask your local HD before banking on this one. Unless someone would like to confirm?

[Frankie3s]

Wouldn't you aerate the lawn in the spring?

[goodyear7909]

this home depot?

[bandit373]

Wouldn't you aerate the lawn in the spring? yes, or fall or both.

If you could only pick one season, fall would actually be your best option because the upcoming cold season wards off weeds and insects (due to soil exposure from the aeration).

[Nraja]

if i wanetd to aerate my lawn..do i have to do anything besides drive the aerator over my grass!? like special fertilizer or seed, or watering or anything??

never done it before...dont really even know the benefits of it..i think it helps ur fertilizer breath better and stay fresher?!

any help?

[bandit373]

if i wanetd to aerate my lawn..do i have to do anything besides drive the aerator over my grass!? like special fertilizer or seed, or watering or anything??

never done it before...dont really even know the benefits of it..i think it helps ur fertilizer breath better and stay fresher?!

any help?

Anything special? No, not really, however, depending how dry the lawn is, you may want to water the lawn the night before. It helps get better cores out of the ground.

As to the benefits.... they're huge. Breaks up soil compaction. Helps eliminate thatch layers. Helps improve plant root/soil penetration.
Environmentally friendly process (in the eyes of those concerned about fertilizer and/or weed control applications).
If you could only do one lawn care trick...aeration would be it (in my opinion), in terms of producing a well-rooted healthy lawn.
Overseeding would be next (helps eliminate the need for weed control products simply by having a thick lawn. Less room for weeds).
Fertilization would come after that

It's a very straight forward process and the home depot rental guy will show you how it works.

I'd suggest on the first run keep the throttle at about half speed. It takes some getting used to, as the machine will jump forward when you engage the clutch.

Make sure the lawn is free of obstacles.
Stake out any sprinkler heads.

Best approach is to do a strip, lift the tines, turn the machine around drop the tines,proceed back the opposite way.

Don't rake up the cores....they break down in about 4-7 days or so.

Now's a good time to overseed as well FYI.


One more thing, take a buddy with you to pick it up (you'll need a truck or trailer) because the machine is very heavy and muscling the machine single handedly is very hard to do (you put your back in a compromised position by youself).

Remember to take the weights out before you try to lift it....it makes a huge difference ;)

that's all I can think of right now.

Definitely canvas your neighbors, you can get your investment back pretty quick on the 4 hour if you are simply doing neighbors lawns. They'll be more into it if you offer to do all the hard stuff (unless they really want to). If they have a lot of crap on the lawn or sprinkler heads though I'd suggest not doing their lawn...insist they do their own.

[Jay-c]

Remember to take the weights out before you try to lift it....it makes a huge difference ;)

It also makes a huge difference when you remember to put the weights BACK in the machine after getting it out of the truck/trailer (yes, I did a pass with it and wondered what the heck was the problem!!) It doesn't work all that well without them :twisted:

but yeah, definitely take them out when lifting.. and bring a buddy... sometimes they'll help you lift it up, sometimes you have to put up with their complaining if you ask them to help..

BTW, this is not a local deal, it's like this at every home depot I've ever been to in Ontario.. they do it in the spring as well...