Over the years, even the best-kept lawn becomes compacted and forms a dense, waterproof thatch. At some point, the thatch lessens the amount of air, water and nutrients that reach the grass roots. If renting an aerator to remove plugs is beyond your budget, homemade ones will likely do just fine as long as you follow good aeration principles and have enough time and ingenuity to do it yourself.
Aeration Basics
Your DIY aerator needs to reach from 2 to 4 inches deep to the lawn, using the diameter of each plug about 1/2 around 3/4 inches wide. Spike aerators that only make a narrow hole in the lawn have been ineffective aerators. Most lawns benefit from annual aeration, done when your lawn begins its season of active development. Catch the plugs on the grass where they will decompose back into the lawn in two to four weeks.
A Long-Handled Aerator
An aerator with long handles lets you aerate by standing and stepping on the aerator to push it in the ground. You’ll need two hollow, plastic tubes, for the legs of the aerator, two smaller pieces of piping from 2 to 4 inches long for the punching holes, a cross piece of piping at the top to hold on to and a pipe about 3 inches from the bottom that you will step on. Attach crosspieces to the longer pieces with independent pipe fittings.
One Plug at one time
Sturdy garden weeders or trowels using narrow, tubular heads also function as a grass aerators if you are eager to aerate your lawn one plug at a time. Simply push the tool to the soil and rotate it to form a plug, then pry the plug out of the lawn. Or, to pull a plug without having to pry it in the hole, then push a piece of hollow plastic piping to the ground and then push out the plug by hand.
Making the Job Easier
If the soil underneath your grass is moist, but not too wet, you will find it a lot easier to push either a long-handled aerator or a single-plug aerator to the ground. Wait till the soil is moist after several rainy days, with a couple of days to get the lawn to dry out slighly. Or, water the lawn for a couple of days before aerating, until the water cools down at least 1 inch.