what's your favorite weeding tool?

[Cole_Robbie]

Does that circle hoe not have a sharp edge? Does it work because you have a nice soft soil? It seems like it would just bounce off my hard clay.

[walt456]

I ordered one of the stirrup hoes after reading this thread and I have to say WOW! I can't believe I haven't discovered this sooner. It made weeding my tilled garden so much easier. The one I got was on Amazon for about $20. Best 20 I've spent in a while.

[JLJ_]

Originally Posted by ddsack

The small hand weeder that looks like a screwdriver with a forked end.

That is a great tool! I came back to this thread just to second your suggestion. I would hate to be without one or two of these -- not good perhaps as an "only" weeding tool, but *very* useful. Mine are short handled -- the size of a medium large screwdriver, but I have seen them with long handles for "stand up" use.

If the remark in another post about people saying that it was too hard to get the weed in the notch is about this tool, I wonder whether they knew how to use it. I never use the notch to cut off the weed at the surface, but the sharp notch pushed at an angle down under the weed will get the root lower than weed pulling by hand, and removes *much* more of the root than a hoe does.

Another weeding tool I've liked at times when I lived where soil was hard was a hand axe - camping axe -- hatchet. Short handled, so you have to be on the ground, and functions about like a hoe, but with its sharper edge and heavier weight and comfortably shaped, sometimes rubber coated, handle, it gets the tough weeds out of hard soil with much less work, and leaves the soil nicely cultivated, too -- and the back side is good to break up stubborn clods of hard earth.

[snippits]

Never will go back to a traditional hoe after using a scuffle hoe. The scuffle hoe cuts on the push and pull, and it can glide just right under the soil line. And because of the angled head, I can stand upright and weed. It is like night and day faster than a traditional hoe.

I got a no name scuffle hoe locally, and the head was made in Brazil. Some guy buys the heads directly from Brazil, and then he puts handles on them, and then sells them to the hardware stores and farm supplies. It's a carbon steel head, and a mill file will put a very good sharp edge on it. Paid $11 last year for it out the door.

[snippits]

Originally Posted by walt456

I ordered one of the stirrup hoes after reading this thread and I have to say WOW! I can't believe I haven't discovered this sooner. It made weeding my tilled garden so much easier. The one I got was on Amazon for about $20. Best 20 I've spent in a while.

Yup those are good, but give a scuffle hoe a try that cuts on the push and pull, and has the angled head where you can stand upright while weeding. If you like the stirrup hoe, then you will probably fall in love with the scuffle.

[Lorri D]

The round hoe that I showed is very sharp on the bottom 1/2 of it. I sharpen it about twice a year with a round file. It acts a lot like a stirrup hoe, but it's shape makes it easy to go as deep or shallow as you want and with less pressure than you would need with the stirrup hoe.

I use both- I use the stirrup hoe where there is more room and the circle hoe in tight areas. The shape also helps you to avoid getting too close to the roots. I also use the circle hoe to make my watering trenches. It makes the perfect size trench when you use it at it's full depth.

You could make this type of hoe if you can weld. It is just a piece of 3 or 4 inch pipe welded onto a spike that gets inserted into a standard handle. Very simply constructed and has held up to abuse...no cracks, no bending.

I don't know how it would do in dry clay soil, but my soil can get pretty hard and it is the one I pick when conditions are like that. Lorri D

[DonnaMarieNJ]

What's the difference between a scuffle hoe and a stirrup hoe?

[walt456]

Originally Posted by DonnaMarieNJ

What's the difference between a scuffle hoe and a stirrup hoe?

I was wondering the same thing. This is the one I ordered.


http://www.amazon.com/Bond-LH022-Fib...=wiggle+weeder

[Redbaron]

Originally Posted by madddawg

I agree, Works great, But I am using wood chips this year and I went to the local newspaper and picked the but end of the rolls for $5 a piece. A heck of a lot easier and faster then putting down a few sheets at a time!

You got that right! I buy my rolls of paper for my project now, but I also recycle newspapers for my home garden. I also buy the giant round bales of hay to use with the paper rolls. So small scale, newspaper and grass clippings, and large scale rolls of paper and rolls of hay. Same concept either way, just the scale varies. You start getting up to acre size or better, and working by yourself as I do, and the rolls are the only way to go! I do have this year for the first time 2 rows (one 30 feet one 90 feet) I am experimenting with partially composted wood chips I got free from the Norman compost facility.

PS I have a question madddawg. How long are those butt roll ends? I am spending ~25 dollars for 750 feet. That works out to about 10 cents a plant per layer. I am experimenting with different numbers of layers depending on projected weed pressure.

As for the rare weed that does poke through all that, this works great. ... I don't know what they call it but it has an end like this |V| on a long handle. And is very sharp. You stab the weed at the ground level or just slightly lower. Cuts it clean. Might be what DDSack and JLJ are talking about. You can walk down the rows and clear out anything tall enough to try and shade out your tomatoes very fast (not many make it through). Small weeds growing at ground level I simply don't worry about. They don't hurt anything. And between rows I mow with a lawn mower. Hopefully next year I can experiment with a chicken tractor instead of a lawn mower. The farmer I lease from wouldn't go for the idea this year.

|V|

[Barbee]

I love my wolfgarten push pull weeder.

[snippits]

Originally Posted by DonnaMarieNJ

What's the difference between a scuffle hoe and a stirrup hoe?

Scuffle hoe looks like the two links below. Some people are calling the stirrup hoe a scuffle hoe, but they are different. A stirrup hoe is also known as a Hula, Action, and Flex.

http://www.roguehoe.com/scufflehoes/scufflehoes.html

http://www.earthtoolsbcs.com/html/dw_hoes.html


Stirrup or Hula hoes look like this.

http://www.johnnyseeds.com/p-5496-5-stirrup-hoe.aspx

http://www.gardeners.com/buy/hula-ga...oe/38-926.html

When my Brazilian made scuffle hoe wears out, I will buy a Rogue 60S scuffle hoe. The Rogue hoe heads are made from recycled agricultural disc blades.

[ddsack]

As for the rare weed that does poke through all that, this works great. ... I don't know what they call it but it has an end like this |V| on a long handle. And is very sharp. You stab the weed at the ground level or just slightly lower. Cuts it clean. Might be what DDSack and JLJ are talking about.

I suppose you would do it that way with a long handled one, but that's not how I use the shorter hand tool. I want the whole weed, root and all to come out of the ground, so there is no cutting it off. I push the V notch under the weed aiming for halfway down the root system, then lever up, while simultaneously pulling the top of the weed with my other hand. I grow in raised beds, and I don't want any roots left which will just sprout again. With a huge or deep rooted weed, I might loosen the dirt on several sides before I am able to lever/pull it out.