Hi i'm looking to spend some money on an aerator with the main use being for a cricket square. The machine would be used and Ebay seems as good as any to get one. A few pattison machines have come up would anyone recommend one as I can probably get one for around £500 I think! Or are their other machines that would be suitable? At the moment I hire a groundsman at the end os the season to just spike the square once before reseeding and it is ok but a bit clumbersome to move sideways etc.
Mate if your budget allows go for the Groundsman. I picked one up on here for about 2500k and it works a treat. They're a bit awkward at first but you'll soon get the hang of them.
Regards
Collie.
20 May 2009 by pacman75cricket
If the main use is for a cricket square recommend a vertical action spiker, the groundsman is a very good machine by all accounts. I use an old ryan greensaire. There is a groundman in the used for just over a grand at the mo if budget could be stretched.
Would recommend using the spiker on several occasions through the winter rather than just at renovations.
No better value than a Groundsman. But i would say that woud'nt i !!
21 May 2009 by EDS
Bought a Groundsman this year - excellent machine..... & yes you would Bath.... but you're also right !
Still Learning
21 May 2009 by Mike
Add another to the growing band of Groundsman fans. I have had one of their machines for about four years now - tremendous piece of kit, and perhaps more importantly, the service that I have recieved from the company right from the initial purchase, through to the ongoing support is the best that I have ever come across in this industry.
Bath - I don't know what your connection to Groundsman Ind is, but if you are linked to them in any way, I tip my hat to you, as I do to everyone who is involved in the company.
As is often the case, I must be the exception to the rule. We have had a lot of trouble with our machine, added to that it is slow bloody slow taking 3 hours to spike a bowling green, yawn.
Ive got a patterson , also bought for 500 quid. It does work but , in my opinion is not easy to use on a square. If money was not a priority, I would have bought a vertical.
Patterson is ok but you have to be very careful when you use it. I had two bad instances of tearing and lifting. too wet and it lifts great lumps out and the same if its too hard or there is frost in the ground. In saying that, if you can use it safely, it is better than no spiking which is what happned with the contractor before me.
I had a break at about 45/50 mm in the loam and I think is has helped with that.
What do I do? I just cut the grass.
21 May 2009 by Mike
Hey Vic - I hope the cricket season is treating you well?
I'm sorry to hear that you have been having problems with your machine - this is genuinely the first time I have heard anything but praise for these machines... I guess that there will always be a handful of 'duds', even where the best machines are concerned.
I remember the days before we got our Groundsman aerator, we had a Sisis pedestrian aerator (can't remember the model), and I used to hate doing our squares with it. If my memory serves me correctly, it took me a day to aerate our first square, 6 hours for the second square, four hours for our junior square and an hour for our overflow/practice square - add in four hours for each set of practice nets, of which we have two. Combine the time factor with the boredom of walking along at a snails pace; to say it drove me up the wall was an undestatement!
Vic,
If you really are having trouble with your machine, get hold of Billy at the company works and tell him the problem. Also tell him that i asked you to ring him. We do not want dissatisfied customers.
As others have mentioned, top machines. I would expect it to take two hours on a bowling green, but no longer. I assume you have a 345 model ? Each time it takes forever, just remind yourself of the vertical action as opposed to roll over and that the tines are at 75mm centres and not several more mm's.
21 May 2009 by zoid
Groundsman.
We agree again Zoid !!
£500 is about my max I can get hold of a pattison for £525 including carriage with a new engine. What would you do as I can't get any more cash should I go for it or not bother? Also is a sisis auto turfman early model rotary action or vertical?
21 May 2009 by zoid
I've never used a pattison but I've had many an hour watching my auto turfman bouncing off the the square.
(Before the nice lady from sisis tells me off on here again, I think the sisis is ok for bowling greens but pretty useless on hard squares)
Can't you hire the ecb trailer machine? Or get a nice man with a groundsman to do it for you?
;-)
Of course we agree bath! I'm always right and you sometimes are, so it's bound to happen!
lol!
Confirm 2 hrs for bowls green with Groundsman(yesterday!). It seems like slow death but with a digital radio listening to Terry Wogan and Ken Bruce it eases the pain!
The only problems I have encountered with 'pulling' the surface have been where there is a break and the ground is very dry. Used on Tennis, Cricket and Bowls to good effect, cricket obviously better if the ground has been well and truly soaked for several days - if the weather isn't kind you usually have some notice of when aeration is going to be done so get the hose out!
By the way, I'm not saying this under any sort of pressure from my employer - I truly mean it.
Proud to serve grassroots cricket
I have a superturfman and find it fine for aerating bowling greens, 1 1/2 hrs - 2 hrs per green depending on how generous the gap between runs. 
Realistically this is what I will have for the cricket square this autumn so will have to make do, some aeration better than none syndrome.
Regards
Steve
Don't talk to me about Contractors Wonka, I am one myself......
A loose chain sheared the teeth from the drive sprockets on our machine. My engineer (who I trust completely) assured me that he had seen this before. Because the sprockets were welded onto the body and couldn't be removed, huge parts of the machine had to be freighted to NI at great cost. The entire job cost more than a second hand machine, for a couple of sprockets and a new chain.
As for a green in two hours, I am obviously overlapping mine due to complete boredom.
Have used three different Pattisons, heard all the talk but never encountered a problem with them unless the conditions are not suitable.
Regards to all
Vic.
21 May 2009 by Mal
I do my green in just over 2 hours baring no disturbances but prefer listening to Frupp, bonzo dog, caravan etc. than terry wogan. I'm suprised about your sprocket & chain arrangment and find this a strange bit of engineering design. Have they said why the prefer to weld it? Even so I much prefer the groundsman I have to the auto turfman I had a few years back - that realy was yawn-a-rama.
Geography is everywhere
You do have the Rolls Royce machine though Mal.
21 May 2009 by Mal
True 
Geography is everywhere
Have any of you come across toro greens aerator as they are punch action, any good for cricket it has 16hp kohler engine
31 May 2009 by Sumomosr Last edited 31 May 2009
The ProCore 648 and it's rivals the John Deere Aercore 800 and Ryan GA24 are a step-up in productivity (and price).
Of these you should perhaps look at the GA24 - made by Ryan, sold as a Jacobsen now and available through your Ransomes Jacobsen dealer.
Jacobsen GA24 Link
GOGGA
Marcus, the Toro Pro Core is i believe a good machine.Very wide so good workrate, but also very expensive when compared to others. Will it fit into your shed for a start.
I am a little biased, but i would always suggest a groundsman.
In fact, if you are a small cricket club with very limited funds, i would not buy a spiker at all. I would ensure that the mowers are up together first and hire in a spiking machine as and when. Many clubs would only use a spiker on half a dozen occasions at most, so it is a lot of money sat idle in the shed for most of the year.
Marcus
give me a call on o7791147560.
I have a machine you might be interested in
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