# aerator rental advice



## mpoland33 (Apr 1, 2018)

I have 2 acres to aerate...hilly and rocky on parts (my mountain rock problem areas).

I have 2 options.

24" walk behind aerator- 80.00 a day
30" stand on the back aerator- 220.00 a day (zero turn)

I'm nervous for both of them on the hills so I feel like it could have problems either way.

Anyone have any experience or advice on either?


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## Agiuliano10 (Apr 21, 2020)

Just rented a walk behind. When the machine is engaged and the plugs are going into the ground the machine moves it self you just guide it so there was no real "pushing" to move it. The biggest struggle was turning it on turf. If you're able to go laterally on hills and they're not too steep I think you can get away with the walk behind because you're going to have to turn them either way and it really wasn't hard to push.


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## mpoland33 (Apr 1, 2018)

This is great. THanks! I figure saving 140.00 is worth it. And if I need to buy one of those shoe aerator spikes I'd do that on the hills haha


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## 7824 (Oct 23, 2019)

I just rented the Ryan Lawnaire ZTS. I would definitely spend the extra money for the stand on aerator. I zipped around and did my ~25k sqft, triple pass, and had it back to the store in 4 hours. Tine downpressure is strong and the machine weights 1200lbs. I have soil that you need to use a hammer to drive a spike into the ground. I was able to pull 3" cores in those areas on the 5" setting.

Just saw you have 2.5 acres. Get the ZTS aerator. No question.


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## Thejarrod (Aug 5, 2018)

Are you a triathlete? Do you go to the cross fit gym 3x a week? if not, don't expect to get through 2 acres with the walk behind machine. It will beat the [email protected]#$ out of you!
I would either splurge on the stand on rental, or consider buying a tow behind unit. I think i paid around $150 for mine. it does not work as well as either the walk behind or the stand on units. cores are not quite as deep, and there are fewer cores per square foot for each pass. none of that bothers me. i just do more passes whenever I have the time.


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## Miggity (Apr 25, 2018)

My property backs to a creek and I have a 5 foot retaining wall, so picture an upper and a lower back yard. At the end of my yard the retaining wall stops and there is just a steep (at least 30 degree) hill that connects the upper and lower lawns. A walk behind aerator climbed that hill with absolutely no problem with the tines engaged, so you'll be fine there. If your hills are steep, I'd definitely go up and down, not side to side as the aerator could tip on it's side on a steep enough hill.

Final thought - If you're fat and old like me you're going to spend your rental savings on chiropractor bills when you are done, so at least consider that aspect before you decide on a walk behind for 2 acres.

Edit @Thejarrod beat me to it and brings up a great point. I can rent a tow behind aerator for like $20/day and not have to store it. My JD X350 goes up that same hill towing a trailer full of compost all the time, so you already have the power to pull it.


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## mpoland33 (Apr 1, 2018)

Great advice from everyone! THank you so much. I think I knew in my heart of hearts that the ZTS is probably the way to go...but 140 man....haha


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## mpoland33 (Apr 1, 2018)

Hey one more question....do you know what I can expect when it comes to the seed rate. On a lot of the bags I've seen in box stores, it says will cover up to 5K sq ft. But I had read on here that those numbers are usually for new lawns. How do I know how much to buy.


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## Gilley11 (Nov 3, 2019)

On the bag it will tell you the rate for new lawns and for overseeding, use the overseeding rate.


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## Agiuliano10 (Apr 21, 2020)

mpoland33 said:


> Great advice from everyone! THank you so much. I think I knew in my heart of hearts that the ZTS is probably the way to go...but 140 man....haha


I mean I guess it all depends on what you're willing to do. I still have some pep in my step so I have done everything to this point on my own with limited machines (power rake/dethatch w/o machine, aerate, spread 8 yds top soil, etc) Each step of the process has taken me almost full day to complete, top soil took 2, but I don't mind the workout and the extra $ in my pocket


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## Agiuliano10 (Apr 21, 2020)

Agiuliano10 said:


> mpoland33 said:
> 
> 
> > Great advice from everyone! THank you so much. I think I knew in my heart of hearts that the ZTS is probably the way to go...but 140 man....haha
> ...


For what it's worth though I'm working with 4200 sq ft not 2 acres hahah


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## gene_stl (Oct 29, 2017)

Unless you are a large, fit and young individual or otherwise accustomed to VERY hard physical labor,, stay away from walk behind aerators unless they are hydrostatically powered like a ride on. I bought one(26" Husquavarna) and injured myself using it for a very short time. I am now looking for a tow behind or ride on or aeravator attachment.

Also a walk behind won't pull itself up a hill. If you turn it into a hill it will go a certain distance and stop. Then the tines will turn into a tiller.

(For Sale: Used Husquavarna 26" walk behind aerator. Used once for about twenty minutes, like new. St.Louis location $1900.Current list close to $4K)


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## Easyluck (Feb 5, 2019)

Some places also rent a tow behind aerator which is cheaper than both options. They also work pretty good if soil moisture is decent.


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## HoneDiggs (Apr 8, 2020)

I did 5500sqft this past week With a walk behind and my lawn has a slight pitch to it and also has mulch beds and far from square so there was a lot of maneuvering. I did 3-4 passes over everything and it took me about 3 hours to do. It did kick my *** but I think most of it was the maneuvering. If you have a square open lawn the walk behind I used from Home Depot would be my pick. It was self propelled, the most difficult part was pulling the spikes up, turning 180 and putting the spikes back down. After the aeration I laid seed and then hand spread 8 bails of peat moss by hand. I slept like a baby and was quite stiff the following day but to me the extra work and feeling a bit beat up makes the beer taste that much better at the end of the day and if/when the grass comes up full and green I appreciate it even that much more.


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## 2018stanleycup (Mar 31, 2020)

Stand on. You'll save so much time and wear and tear on your body


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## Thejarrod (Aug 5, 2018)

Easyluck said:


> Some places also rent a tow behind aerator which is cheaper than both options. They also work pretty good if soil moisture is decent.


That is awesome!


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## Vtx531 (Jul 1, 2019)

Do you have a tailer to transport the stand on?

The walk behind will be a long hard day. If it was 4 hour rental I would say not a chance. 2 acres is a lot.

The stand on will be a breeze and maybe even fun.

Got any neighbors to split the rental cost?

Let me add, there are many different types of walk behind aerators. What is the exact one? Reciprocating ones without self propel wont go up a hill well but the drum style will pull up a hill. If you have a lot of manuevering and turning on flat areas, the reciproating type would be good. If you have a lot of wide open straight runs with hills then you would want the drum style. And of course the ride on is great either way. Some of the drum style have the drum split into two halves with brakes on each side to help them turn. My favorite is the ryan lawnaire 28 that has reciprocating tines as well as self propel and a swivel wheel on the front.


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## wiread (Aug 27, 2019)

get the stand on, every single time get the stand on. I did my 2 acres with a walk behind last year and it took hours and I was shot. It was a bit smaller, probably closer to 20" it was a blue bird. There are different types of walk behinds so keep that in mind, but most are very similar.

I am in my mid 40's, but i'm in pretty good shape. just moved 25 yards of top soil with a shovel and gorilla cart and another 30 of wood chips with no issues. i'd do that again. I won't ever try and aerate and overseed my yard with that walk behind aerator again.

There are some split drive aerators with larger widths that you can turn easier with etc that are probably easier, but we don't have those available here.


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## ksturfguy (Sep 25, 2018)

No way in hell would I want to do 2 acres with a walk behind. Rent the stand on or like @Thejarrod said, buy a pull behind.


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## HoosierLawnGnome (Sep 28, 2017)

I bought a pull behind core aerator off craigslist for like $20. They're out there.


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## mpoland33 (Apr 1, 2018)

learningeveryday said:


> I just rented the Ryan Lawnaire ZTS. I would definitely spend the extra money for the stand on aerator. I zipped around and did my ~25k sqft, triple pass, and had it back to the store in 4 hours. Tine downpressure is strong and the machine weights 1200lbs. I have soil that you need to use a hammer to drive a spike into the ground. I was able to pull 3" cores in those areas on the 5" setting.
> 
> Just saw you have 2.5 acres. Get the ZTS aerator. No question.


Did you do 5" setting across the board? I have multiple rocky areas/hard areas but not the full lawn

Also,is there a setting for the pattern? I've read to do in a 3-4" pattern but have no idea what that means?


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