I don't know much about the rose, so take what I say with a grain of salt. I think it's probably warming up enough to take it out at least some of the time. I would probably do so gradually to give it a chance to harden off a bit. Maybe take it out for a few hours a day and gradually increase the amount of time its outside to give it a chance to adjust. If it's cold sensitive, it might be a good idea to keep it inside at night for a little longer, but it sounds like it may need some sunlight.

You're probably right that it would be cheaper to hire it done than to rent the equipment. I've seen posts in the lawn care forum where people talk about how much it costs to rent the equipment and it sounds more expensive (even if I shared with a neighbor or two) than what I paid. I've only had my lawn aerated once in 10 years. I've been working on increasing the organic content so the worms will aerate it naturally and it seems to be working. When I had it aerated, they left some flags (to show where the sprinkler heads are so they wouldn't break them). The flags had the phone number on them, so in the morning, I'll try to find one. I think I paid $35. If I remember correctly, your lawn is much smaller than mine (my lawn is about 4k sq ft) so it might be less for you.

I've never done any power raking. I thought that if you core aerated, it would break through the thatch layer and help to get it decomposing. I remember from last year that your lawn had a lot of problems, so maybe both are required.

If I remembered correctly and you have a small enough lawn, you might want to try a turf hound. You can get one at Home Depot or Lowes for around $20. It's a manual thing that you operate by stepping on it to pull two cores at a time. I actually have one of these, but I don't think I pull enough cores to make as much of a difference as the worms do. I'll use it to help prep an area for overseeding since it gets more soil exposed.

It's a rose that can be planted in-ground. It's huge in the pot & will have to go in-ground come fall because there's no way we can haul that thing to MO or wherever hubby decides to retire to from the military. We threw caution to the wind & moved it to the patio where I could water it without soaking everything in & moving it in/out of the overly-crowded garage. I'll keep it pulled back under the patio roof until after the safe zone the end of May. Hopefully it'll make it.

Yes, please let me know if you find the number for the people who do aerating, etc. I'll do whatever is needed to get them on base. Maybe the lawn just needs aerating, but I swore it needs power-raked too. There is matted dead grass everywhere & it gets worse each spring.

It would cost $50 to rent an aerator on base for the day & $75 for the weekend. They don't rent by the hour. They don't have power rakes/thatchers. I'd have to rent one off base & I forget what the charges are because I can't find the paper I wrote the info on. But $110 for a day comes to mind, as does some charge per hour ($25?) with a 2-hr minimum.

Hubby joked about buying our teen son a pair of cleats & telling him to walk the lawn all day! LOL

I couldn't find the number, but I think if you look in the yellow pages under lawncare or landscaping, you should be able to find a few places to call. I think the prices are usually pretty similar for all of them.

A pair of cleats might work if you have sandy soil, but they'll make things worse if you have clay. In clay, you always want to core aerate. Spike aerating pushes the clay together closer when it makes the hole.

Well thanks for looking!

I think what I'll do is call the housing office & see if they recommend anyone & if not, then I'll let my fingers do the walking. ;-)

I didn't know that about clay versus cleats. Wow. I think we have sandy soil anyhow, but it was a joke that probably only I would take to heart & try, while mowing. LOL

If you have sandy soil, you could probably buy a pair of those things that strap on to shoes (longer nails than cleats, but same idea) and wear them when you mow, walk around the lawn or whatever. I'm not sure how useful they really are, though.

They're funny looking if I'm thinking of the same ones. I think I saw them in one of those mail-order catalogs.

The rose bush, or a tree as hubby calls it, has perked up. I guess it needed some sun & water. I have to buy or make some spray for it though because it came with little bugs I forgot the name of. They're very tiny, & tan though they're supposed to be green.

"They're funny looking if I'm thinking of the same ones. I think I saw them in one of those mail-order catalogs."

Those are probably the ones. I bought a pair before I realized they would do me more harm than good. I held on to them for a long time, but finally threw them away.

"ittle bugs I forgot the name of. They're very tiny, & tan though they're supposed to be green."

They sound like aphids. I've actually had pretty good results with insecticidal soap. I kind of bought it by accident, but my wife said it worked better than the other stuff, so we've tuck with it.

don't worry about your rose. it is plenty warm enough for it outside. the wilting was probably from lack of light more than water. plants grow too fast in the dark trying to reach the light and produce wimpy tissure. could be wrong though without seeing it. sounds like it is not a problem anyway.

you can use dishwashing soap on afids without killing any benificial insects. just put it in a spray bottle with warm water and spray down the bush. it will take a few repeats. or take out the big gun (hose) and blast them with all the force you can. i feel it is better to keep them in check with occasional soap and hosing rather than nuke them as poison kills the lacewing, lady bugs and other preditory insects that would normally keep them in check and so the problem returns. if you do use an insecticidal soap look for one made with geraniums or other plants as you will kill the insects without doing greater harm as you would with a chemical poison.

good luck. i hate those things.

Yes! Aphids! I broke out the Dawn or whatever dish soap we have on the sink back & added a few drops to a big spray bottle of warm water & soaked the whole "tree".

I hope the wilting was from lack of light, but something is up with the ones that were wilted. They turned brown & are falling off. :-?