Aerating is one of the best things you can do for your lawn. Like a sort of deep tissue massage for your yard, breaking up the soil this way creates extra room for oxygen and water. Since lawns tend to get more and more compacted as time goes on, aerating is a process that can be done up to once every year. Doing it annually is a good idea for people with hard or clay soil.
As far as how to go about aerating, there are a ton of different options. Here, I’m going to talk a bit about aerating your lawn with just a pair of special shoes on your feet. But, do lawn aerator shoes work, and what exactly are they anyways? Let’s dig into it.
What Are Lawn Aerator Shoes + How Do They Work?
Although people make lawn aerator shoes out of a bunch of different materials, the structure is always pretty much the same. Imagine a pair of sandals with a ton of spikes on the bottom of them. Homemade versions of lawn aerator shoes can be as simple as pieces of plywood with nails punched through them, but manufactured models typically are made of lightweight plastic bottoms with metal spikes and nylon straps. In either case, they’re meant to dig into the ground, aerate the turf while you walk, and are fastened over whatever sneakers or work boots you have.
The idea behind these shoes is that you can aerate your lawn without needing to buy a big piece of equipment that you won’t use all that often. Whether you make a DIY version or buy a pair of lawn aerator shoes, they’re meant to be simple to use and inexpensive. The theory of how they work suggests that every small spike on the sandal should help loosen the soil as you walk and create channels for air and water to enter the ground.
So…Do Aerator Shoes Really Work?
Well, I’ve tried using lawn aerator shoes once, and I can tell you that I would never use them again. After spending a ton of time walking around my yard I didn’t end up with any kind of noticeable result. In fact, I found my soil to be even harder than it was before I tried using the lawn aerator shoes. I also never noticed any improvements in the health of my grass during the rest of the season. It seemed like a good idea at the time, but now I’m convinced that they won’t work for any lawn.
Still wondering, do aerator shoes work? My experience and what I’ve read have told me no. The reason I think aerator shoes don’t work is because they don’t make a big enough impact on the soil. While you might use enough force to make small, temporary holes in the ground as you walk, no material is removed and not enough space is created. Because of this, as you poke a million little holes in your yard you’re really just worsening the issue that you were trying to solve. In other words, the topsoil will quickly return to its original state and the deeper soil will become more compacted than it was before.
Are There Any Pros to Aerator Shoes?
When it comes to the perks of using aerator shoes, there are only a couple. One is that they’re cheap. You can make lawn aerator shoes like the ones that are sold fairly easily with scraps you have lying around your garage, but even the manufactured ones are inexpensive. Still, you get what you pay for in either case.
The other pro that aerator shoes offer is that they take up a very small amount of garage space. If you’re hoping to save some money and some storage space (as I often am) these are some very alluring benefits. However, when it comes to the actual use of aerator shoes and the benefits they offer your lawn, I’m not a fan.
What I Recommend You Use Instead
Do aerator shoes work? No. Are there alternatives that I would recommend? Yes. Maybe not every property owner would suggest aerating their lawn the same way as me, but I will say one thing: if you want to properly aerate your grass, you need a tool that uses hollow tines to remove material from the ground. Unfortunately doing this is a good deal more complicated than repeatedly stabbing the ground with spikes. My recommendations are to:
- Rent or buy a manual lawn plug aerator.
- Hire a professional company.
- Buy an aerator attachment for your riding mower (if you have one).
- Do it by hand.
Investing in an aerator is a great choice if you have space to store it, but renting is another really good option. A high-quality lawn aerator could cost a few hundred dollars, but renting usually runs closer to fifty bucks.
If you’d like to save a bit of time or can’t transport an aerator, using a professional company works really well. You’ll also have a great opportunity to spread extra seed when you aerate and the pros can be quite helpful with that.
For those of you with larger yards and riding mowers, there are some pretty great aerator attachments out there. These also require a good deal of storage space but are super effective.
When it comes down to handheld plug aerators, I’d only recommend coring your lawn this way if it’s tiny. It’s no easy task digging up hundreds of lawn cores and you’ll wish you spent a bit more on one of the other options if your yard has much size to it.
Summary
To be clear, I would definitely not recommend that anybody tries to use lawn aerator shoes. Though you might not be wasting too much money on them, you’ll waste a ton of time and energy. Plus, walking around with big spikes under your feet isn’t exactly the easiest thing to get used to. I’d hate for an innocent garden hose to fall victim to a lawn care gimmick like aerator shoes. As far as the best way to aerate your lawn goes, stick with tools that will remove cores from your turf. This does a way better job of clearing out thatch and boosting the health of your grass.
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