Maintaining a beautiful lawn means keeping the soil well aerated. To that end, you’ll want to use a lawn aerator to punch holes into the ground for air to enter more easily.
These tools come in many different types. They can be powered by machines, pulled by hand, thrust into the ground, or even be strapped to your foot.
By using lawn aerators, you can encourage the growth of essential microorganisms in the soil or boost seed germination. This will then help you maintain a beautiful bed of grass with healthy, vibrant blades.
That being said, you do have to make sure that your choice of equipment is topnotch. This is why our gardening, landscaping, and farming tool experts reviewed five lawn aerators for your consideration. They are reliable, functional, and suitable for aerating your lawn.
Once you are ready and have found the best choice, be sure to click the buttons below to see their best deals on Amazon! With that, here are five of the best options that we rounded up especially for you.
Best Product Name Comparison & Rating
1. Agri-Fab 45-0299 Tow Lawn Aerator
Dimensions | 35 x 60 x 36 inches |
Weight | 92.5 pounds |
Type | Spike |
Style | Tow-behind |
This is a highly versatile tow-behind lawn aerator. You can attach it to a lawn tractor, which you can then pull all over the grass. The three-inch penetration is helpful in inducing more air circulation in the soil. The sturdy steel body ensures that it can withstand the maximum 140-pound weight limit. With 32 knives to stab into the ground on an overlapping basis, you get constant aeration. It is also 48 inches in width, so you can cover a lot of area for stabbing.
2. Brinly SA-40BH Tow Behind Lawn Aerator
Dimensions | 28 x 40 x 10.7 inches |
Weight | 26.2 pounds |
Type | Spike |
Style | Tow-behind |
For simple lawn aeration jobs, this product should serve your needs. With 10 stars that are 8 inches in diameter each, you cover a large area with each pass. The individual rotation of each star also allows you to puncture holes into the ground according to the terrain. By putting a maximum of 110 pounds on the tray, you can push the stars right into the dirt for maximum depth penetration. It’s even easy to assemble thanks to the manual that it comes with.
3. Yard Butler Lawn Aerator
Dimensions | 1.75 x 8.75 x 36.5 inches |
Weight | 3.72 pounds |
Type | Core |
Style | Manual |
This is a simple but functional lawn aerator that is easy to use. You just point the two hollow tips into the ground and push them down with your foot. Your body weight will do the rest, especially when you lean into it. This will then remove the soil instead of compacting it, thus preserving much of the micro-ecosystem integrity. The premium steel that this aerator is made of will also ensure durability.
4. Yard Butler Twist Tiller Lawn Aerator
Dimensions | 6 x 14 x 37 inches |
Weight | 4.5 pounds |
Type | Spike |
Style | Manual |
For those who are looking for more versatile lawn aerators, this is the one to beat. It has six spikes with bent shapes that can be driven into the ground and twisted. This unique shape assists when you twist if you want to loosen or turn the soil. The construction steel body resists all kinds of damage, both high-impact, and stress. It also provides you with leverage with your own body as you put your weight into the foot bar.
5. Garden Weasel Garden Claw Lawn Aerator
Dimensions | 6 x 12 x 38 inches |
Weight | 2.5 pounds |
Type | Spike |
Style | Manual |
If simple is what you want, this lawn aerator will deliver. This is a 38-inch gardening tool that is 2.5 pounds in weight and is extremely compact. It sports a claw with four spikes that you can drive into the ground for aeration. You could also do the same for loosening the soil with the added twist using the T-handle. This will then help the soil absorb more water, encourage germination, and provide more room for the roots to spread.
Best Lawn Aerators - Buyer's Guide
You will usually find two types of lawn aerators as far as their penetrating qualities are concerned. One is the spike variant, which is basically just thin pieces of pointy metal that you can drive into the ground. The other is similar but hollow, which then removes the dirt from the ground through the tube. You need to know which one you need for your lawn.
There are several forms of lawn aerators available for purchase. They can be towed, plunged, stepped, or rolled depending on the device used. It’s also worth noting that different types favor different lawn or plot sizes. Most should work for typical lawns but for bigger areas, the towed variants would be more useful.
Ideally, your lawn aerator should be made of heavy-gauge steel, which will resist bending or breaking. Considering that you will be using this tool to regularly drive spikes into the ground with mass and force, it should withstand a considerable amount of stress. Otherwise, it won’t hold up to even moderate use.
Since lawn aerators are gardening tools, they should not be difficult to use, attach, assemble, or whatever else. Regardless of whether it needs to be connected to a machine or used with your bare, you should not have any trouble understanding how it works.
You have to take the size of your lawn into consideration before getting a lawn aerator. If it is too big, getting a manual option that you need to plunge into the ground by hand would take too long. On the other hand, if it’s too small, a tow-behind aerator might be too big. So be sure to keep this in mind.
Best Lawn Aerators - FAQs
A lawn aerator is a contraption with pointed ends, which are either hollow or solid. They can be handheld with only two to four spikes that are poked into the lawn. They could also come in a bulkier, rotating form with multiple spikes that are pulled by hand or with a machine. The latter type is often weighed down by things like cinder blocks to push the rotating spikes into the lawn.
Lawn aerators are used mainly to encourage air circulation and ventilation with regard to your soil. This will then help allow oxygen to reach microorganisms that are underneath the soil much better. As a result, they can germinate more efficiently, which would then help cultivate a healthier ecosystem for your lawn.
There are multiple types of aerators, but they mainly come down to spike or core. The former is a straightforward pointy piece of metal that you jam into the ground, which is ideal for planting seeds. The latter is hollow and is meant to take out pieces of the soil from the ground and is better for simply encouraging air circulation.
Aside from aerating your lawn, lawn aerators can also be used for encouraging the cultivation of plants. This is done by giving seeds deeper holes to bury themselves, providing more access for fertilizers and water, and allowing worms and microorganisms more freedom of movement. Loosening the dirt by aerating the soil also encourages the spread of the roots.
