What do you call the doohickie that allows you to drill into dirt?

March 27, 2007 8:25 AM

I saw my landscape contractors using an extended drill auger bit, to drill holes for plants, rather than digging them manually. What are these called?
posted by Tacos Are Pretty Great to home & garden (7 comments total)

(and where do I buy em? Home Depot was useless, and my landscapers don't speak enough English to ask.)
posted by Tacos Are Pretty Great at 8:27 AM on March 27, 2007

Something like this?
posted by TedW at 8:36 AM on March 27, 2007

???
posted by prostyle at 8:36 AM on March 27, 2007

Ah, looks like I got close but not quite on the google searches.
posted by Tacos Are Pretty Great at 8:54 AM on March 27, 2007

When you use any auger to drill in the ground, please make sure that you don't have an underground sprinkler system or even worse, underground electrical conduit.
posted by JJ86 at 12:12 PM on March 27, 2007

I think the key phrase to ask for is just a "garden auger" or "landscaping auger."

Or just an "auger." They're a pretty standard piece of equipment. I've never seen a small drill-mounted one like that, but the bigger ones that have their own gasoline engines are very common for installing shrubbery.

Personally unless you have a really massive yard (and I'm talking Versailles here), I don't think it makes sense to really own one, but if you were going to plant more than a few shrubs, I'd consider renting, from any local place that rents power equipment by the day.

I guess a small one that used a power drill wouldn't be a bad investment, but honestly for bulbs, I think that a manual bulb planter is just as easy and requires less infrastructure to make it work. (If bending is a problem, they make long-handled ones, too.)
posted by Kadin2048 at 1:46 PM on March 27, 2007

I just looked at an auger today at Lowes. They should be with weedwacking, tilling, edging, and other yard-y tools. There were all kinds of add-on doodads in that section of the store. Some of them looked drill bit like.
posted by fluffy battle kitten at 4:22 PM on March 27, 2007