You’re looking to aerate your lawn, but you can’t seem to keep your aerating shoes on long enough to get to the other end of your yard. Using lawn aerator shoes requires patience and care because you can hurt yourself with sharp spikes.
To keep the shoes tight and snug, you need to use shoes that have good treads and tie the aerator soles around your shoes properly before stepping into your lawn.
Although aerator shoes aren’t the best option for reducing compaction in your lawn, they work well for small lawns that don’t receive high traffic.
If you’re having trouble walking around your lawn in your aerating shoes, this guide will show you how to keep lawn aerator shoes from slipping off.
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How to Keep Lawn Aerator Shoes From Slipping Off
Aerating your soil is vital if you want to have a healthy lawn. By creating holes in the ground, you improve the growing environment for your grass. Aeration also reduces soil compaction and allows your soil to breathe.
There are different tools for aerating your lawn, depending on your needs.
Large grass fields that experience high traffic, such as sports training centers and golf courses, use large core aerators to aerate their soil.
A pair of lawn aerator sandals or shoes can quickly get the job done for the homeowner with a small lawn that doesn’t receive any traffic.
So stick around as I take you through lawn aerator shoes and how to keep them on.
What Are Lawn Aerator Shoes?
Lawn aerator shoes are special shoes or sandals with solid spikes stuck to the soles.
These spikes dig two to three inches deep into your soil, creating holes that allow water, fertilizer, and air to penetrate your lawn.
However, you should note that since the spikes on lawn aerator shoes are solid, they will further increase soil compaction on your lawn.
The solid tips, unlike hollow tines, push the soil down into the ground.
Now that you know what lawn aerator shoes are and how they work, it’s time to put on your pair and walk on your lawn.
But wait, before you get started, you need to know a few things about wearing lawn aerator sandals that will keep them from falling off.
1. Buy the Right Shoe Base Size
Buying suitable lawn aerator shoe is very important. If you buy the wrong size, you’ll have trouble when you try to use them.
Most lawn aerator shoes are sandals that you attach to the bottom of your shoes as you walk across the lawn.
Ensure you get high-quality sandals, so they don’t come off as you walk across your lawn. The base should be sturdy enough; not too big or small for your shoe size.
This will enable you to balance well as you walk on your lawn.
Also read: Top-rated stand-on aerators
2. Wear Proper Boots
Another thing to keep in mind as you wear your lawn aerator shoes is stability.
You need to wear comfortable boots with a sturdy sole before attaching your lawn aerator shoes.
For best results, you might want to wear nicely fitting safety boots, work boots, or a sturdy pair of sneakers.
These have strong treads that will firmly hold onto the lawn aerator sandals, preventing them from slipping off.
Also read: Commercial aerators for lawns
3. Tie Your Lawn Aerator Shoes Well
Using aerating sandals for the first time can be quite a hassle since there are issues of comfort and balance to consider.
Make sure you tie them properly before you begin walking.
Before tying your aerator shoes, make sure the spikes are sunk into the ground. This makes it easier to adjust the straps to be as tight as possible to pull out the spikes.
It is also vital that they aren’t too loose because they might come apart as you walk on your lawn.
Also read: Walk-behind core aerators
You should opt for aerator sandals with wide straps, as these are more forgiving on your feet.
When aerating your soil, you want to do it when you’re comfortable.
Therefore taking time to get everything right before you start, goes a long way in making your work easier.
How to transport a lawn aerator
FAQs About Keeping Lawn Aerator Shoes from Slipping Off
Are Aerator Shoes Really Effective?
When you consult an expert on lawn aeration, they probably won’t recommend lawn aerator shoes as a solution to aerating your lawn.
However, this doesn’t mean that they’re not effective.
Also read: Tips to prevent lawn aerator from clogging
When it comes to lawn aerator shoes, they are good at creating holes in the soil that allow water and air to circulate in the ground.
However, they do a terrible job at relieving compaction.
So if your lawn receives high traffic, you might want to look into core aerators instead.
But if you want to aerate your small lawn that barely gets any traffic, lawn aerator shoes are an excellent option.
Liquid vs core aeration
How Long Should Lawn Aerator Spikes Be?
The length of spikes you go for will depend on a few factors.
While long spikes (about 3 inches) are the recommended standard, you may find it easier to walk in sandals that have shorter spikes.
As you walk, the spikes dig into the soil, and you need to pull them out to take the next step.
If you have clay soil on your lawn, longer spikes tend to get stuck easily and require more effort to pull out.
Ultimately, the length of spikes you go for will also depend on your soil type, and how much thatch you have on your lawn.
The more the thatch build-up, the longer your spikes need to be to do a good job.
How to clean lawn aerator
There you have it, three tips on how to keep lawn aerator shoes from slipping off that will help you the next time you want to use your lawn aerator shoes.
If you want the sandals to be more secure, go for longer and broader straps that cross your foot several times.
A loosely tied lawn aerator sandal is a health hazard as you can easily trip and roll your ankle or, worse, hurt yourself with sharp spikes.
Make sure you exercise caution while you walk in them, or enlist the help of a professional.
