$9 Vs $70,000 Lawn Aerator

[@TheAustralianLawnGardenP-ki2hj]

Hi all, there is an audio issues that wasn't noticeable during editing. Unfortunately, I can't fix the issue without re uploading the whole video. If you are watching your phone you probably wont notice, if you are watching on TV or using headphones you may notice certain sections being quieter or louder.

[@Lobotomy2901]

I think the one big thing that your experiment has missed is time. When you take a plug with a coring machine, the surrounding soil hasn’t been affected at all, unlike with a pitchfork when you leverage it back and forth, which immediately loosens the surrounding soil. I would be interested to see you take a compaction measurement after a few days. As the surrounding soil from where the plugs were taken from, should start to loosen and fall apart, filling the void left behind and therefore loosening the surrounding soil.

[@TheAustralianLawnGardenP-ki2hj]

I agree, this is a school oval so we don't have the ability to mark sections to keep people and vehicles off for a month or so. Would be good to redo one day in a private area.

[@sarahlynch5895]

This type of content is great, it can follow along the lines of what golf content creators do and have product reviews which could include comparisons between new and current cylinder mowers, rotary mowers and different types of scarifiers and any other tool us lawnie's and gardeners use, gives us an informed choice when it comes time to purchase our new toys.

[@vancent73]

Great vid, interesting experiment. On compaction alone the choices were made clear, would be good to understand the aeration, drainage aspects noting the size of each core etc as well, but would be difficult to achieve.

[@terryhalse3405]

This type of content is informative both for the users and the manufacturers. I think it's a good idea.

[@theaussielawn]

Sack that bloke at the start, cant dance to save himself

[@jasongarbutt4242]

Great video. Your best one yet. The funny guy helping you looks like he needs some more drainage. There is a whole bunch of very technical data on soil compaction that most people just can not understand. Your video made it very easy to get your head around. Well done.

[@RobertGrasser]

As mentioned before time is very important, and there is no point to measure just after the work is done. The interesting test could be like this. One machine and measurement before, anad after 1 week . 2 weeks, one month, two months... In Europe winter is very close but next summer i will do this test with my Billy Goat machines. Thanks for great work.

[@timpoulton3661]

It's an interesting experiment and makes me feel better about using a fork on my small lawn at home. There are other reasons to aerate though besides relieving compaction. Hollow coring with a machine like the Billy Goat or Groundsman will still break through the thatch allowing air, water and nutrients into the root zone, aid drainage and allow space for sand, so still some pretty important benefits. At work I wouldn't use one of the small machines for decompaction, but for the reasons I just stated. The vertidrain is defo the way to go for decompaction. You should do more of these sort of tests. Maybe machine comparison for drainage?

[@australianlawnfanatics3535]

If you’ve never aerated your lawn before you’ll get better penetration from a spike that a core tip. A core tip is also good for removing the bad soil profile (small percentage at a time) and replacing with something better.

[@tradesmansassistant]

Worthy to note there's also the drill array think the bowling greens used to use that method. I'm on a budget so a cheap battery drill on a stick does wonders.

[@John-ng1dy]

Would be interesting to see how a manual core aerator, especially with a wiggle like the garden fork

[@australianlawnfanatics3535]

Put solid spikes on the plugr and see how it goes.

[@Earthau]

Great work Luke, like @Lobotomy2901 said would be interesting to revisit at intervals afterwards to see if the surrounding soil relaxes into removed cores lessening compaction, wonder how long the effect lasts for and like someone else said hollow v solid tines. Some ideas for future vids, make your own liquid fertiliser V commercial store bought product side by side comparison, renovation side by side comparison with harsh (deep scarifier and mow to dirt) v medium (light scarification and mow leaving some leaf) v light (no scarification, low mow and how many height settings do you lift your mower to achieve optimal appearance afterwards).

[@Sharmans_lawn_care]

Remortgage my house or leg day for days haha. The fork did a great job

[@_Najee]

I have always used a fork. Gets right down into the ground. I usually wait until right after a good soaking (rain). My ground is like concrete otherwise

[@Blooness]

I wonder how the billy goat flex tech would of gone as it goes in and cracks.

[@LordZod0z]

I initially used a garden fork on a very compacted 75 sqm area and had to do it in parts over several days because of my old back 😅. You could see sections of soil that had raised after being decompacted, and they were spots where cars had parked previously. I also wonder if you need to put in the hard work with a fork initially to get the lift with the wiggle and then maintain with something like I Billy Goat, which I also used the next season. As for the tests, three readings before and after, one at the start then middle and end of each run of the tools to get more accurate results.

[@TheBasher05]

So for decompscting, are spikes better than cores? This would say yes. Cores to aerate, spikes to decompact?

[@TheAustralianLawnGardenP-ki2hj]

Andrew, who owns the penetrometer, verti drain and procore says that we would have gotten even better results from the verti drain if we had used cores on the machine

[@TheBasher05]

@ fair enough. So obviously depth of hole (core or spike) is also going to make a difference as well as that 10 degree movement to disturb the soil at deeper levels. It’s is an interesting thing that I have never thought of so thanks for the vid.

[@mkii9110]

it looks like i should either get the 50k/70k machine or not bother wasting time aerating. very good to know as was about to buy a machine similar to bluebird

[@njoyridin3928]

My wife is going to be pissed when I rock home with a $70k tractor for my 80m² of lawn. I'm sure she will understand, eventually.

[@benboyton3161]

Would there be a change in results if you were to come back and retest in a month or so after the area has been irrigated.

[@TheAustralianLawnGardenP-ki2hj]

Yes I think so, would be interesting to try again on a private area to see if we get different results.

[@newbs70]

What do you think of Aera vator for the soil. Cracking instead of plugs. I'm looking to buy one. Would like to hear your opinion on them.😀

[@yaksmowing]

How forking good is the fork…. Fork yeah!

[@Lobotomy2901]

I don’t know why, but your audio is only coming out one side of my AirPods and I know it’s your video because if I go to any other video then the audio is normal

[@Lobotomy2901]

Just to add it’s only the audio from your studio, the audio from the clips in the field is good

[@TheAustralianLawnGardenP-ki2hj]

Thanks for pointing out, unfortunately I can fix without re uploading and the issue wasn't showing up when listening with headphones on during the edit.