My new toy (Earth Auger)

General Gardening
21

Thanks. I ended up buying one on Amazon on sale for around 7 bucks. It was so cheap, I figured I’m not risking much. That’s a good point about standing up to drill the hole. It might make it go faster to have one person drilling holes and another person following up behind setting out the plants.

I’ll try this one and see how it works first. If I think it might help to have a longer length, I’ll go ahead and make or weld an extension on the auger.

I noticed some of the reviews said the tool severely depletes batteries on cordless drill. Have you seen that? Any guess on how many holes a guy could get out of an 18v battery?

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22

Who uses a jackhammer with a spade bit? My landscaper had one and I tried it out. Planting fruit trees was so easy. But I don’t plant enough to justify the cost.

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23

Now you’re talking. Something like that would be “a real piece of goods” as my Dad would say. Not unlike Markinmt’s refurbished stand mixer.

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24

quite a lot but not 300 worth. You will get a lot more done and faster if your hole is bigger then the plant. Othewise you end up drilling two holes for each. Also the dirt is not kicked out the whole. But its so loose one hand will scoop it out. By Saturday you will know :slight_smile:

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25

I’m thinking the first time it hit a rock it would break. Which would be the first time i tried to use it.

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26

Have you tried out your auger ?
Is that a Ryobi ?

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27

I bet it depends. I imagine a good brushless drill with a larger battery could go for quite a bit longer than a small brushed model. But yeah, I expect it’s a bigger ask of the battery than drilling 1/8" holes in pine.

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28

I tested it out this morning in a rocky spot and a not so rocky spot. The rocky spot was tough going and it took a combination of the auger, post hold digger, and a long metal bar. The not so rock spot mostly went well. Yes it is a Ryobi 18v with a backlash control.

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I’m pretty sure one of my 3amp batteries will last as long as I want to use the auger.

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30

It has a backlash control and it stops when it hits something like a rock. It is still new to me so I’m learning what it can do.

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31

Probably could be used as an ice auger

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32

Mostly, i was commenting on the nature of my soil. Something like that would be useless to me, because it would just run into rocks.

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33

Bill, we use gas powered Stihl augers to plant trees occasionally at work. Usually it is willow live stakes with a tiny (~1" diameter) hole but we do have much wider bits like the one you have. I am planning on using it in lieu of a manual fence post digger for my yard this summer. Keep us updated on how it works, I am partially invested in the ryobi system (Milwaukee as well) so I’m curious if I should be considering this tool too.

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