https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000S61YO2/

wondering if anyone has used one of these and what you thought about it? I had never heard of such a thing but ran across this idea and thought it was genius?!

It is an Auger and does need the correct drill. With Augers you need enough power in the drill or the darn thing will not work.

I don't have one. My favorite method of planting lots of bulbs at once is the trench method where you dig a long put and put in lots of bulbs. Then cover them all back up.

Ok thanks for the info. I will ask my dh if we have a drill big enough to use it. I haven't thought of that.

Also all Augers don't fit all drills. You need to check.

There's no way that doohickey could go faster than me with a hand tool, doesn't really matter which one, (trowel, the claw thing, dandelion fork,) as long as it'll move dirt. I pry up a chunk, slip in a few bulbs, move to the next spot. I also think it would be harder to cover the bulbs from a hole dug that way since the dirt wouldn't be moved in the same way. I'd rather spend my $ on more bulbs.

Rita, hadn't thought of that either LOL

I am looking for something helpful because my soil is so hard. I am planting daffodils with it, which will do ok in harder soil here, but they are difficult to dig if there are very many. I thought I might not have to get up and down off the ground on my knees as much if it were tall enough I could do it standing up. PLUS (Ladies, listen up here.... TIP OF THE DAY>>>) Any time a power tool is involved, you can sweet talk your man into helping!! LOL

I don't think that an Auger will even work in hard soil but I could be wrong. As I said, I don't use one.

There are also bulb planters which are not motorized, but it really takes longer that way.
A shovel or trowel works best.
And digging wide trenches I agree is best and easiest.
The augers and planters make it a tedious job to plant many bulbs of any kind.

Frilly, you're so right about machismo! My DH is usually willing to do some shoveling too though, even if not as sexy as a giant auger attached to a power drill. But like you said, if *he's* going to do it, what do you care if it took longer - as long as he enjoys it, right? It might go much more quickly for someone with stronger arms too. Similarly, if you can just point while he's digging, then come back & plant later, you could speed through his contribution, taking very little of his time. (As long as you 'use' the holes before it rains hard!)

And forgot to say, if the ground is that hard, will bulbs grow? I've not had much luck with anything planted where the ground was so hard I had to get help digging. A tree or shrub would be the only kind of plant I'd try in such a spot. Try covering really hard ground with TONS of leaves over winter. The 'decomposition crew' does an amazing job of fixing that kind of situation, the texture, drainage, a good thing.

I thought about covering my yard with straw to help improve the soil so I could start some beds. The soil where I want to put the bulbs is harder than I like, but the bulbs will do ok there if I can get them in the ground. My dh will not do anything in the yard unless it involves a power tool, or is something I absolutely cannot do myself.

Best of luck with whatever method you choose! I also have a ton of bulbs to plant - but only because I dug them up in the first place. If it wasn't moist at the moment, the ground where they are/were is probably hard as a rock. Even soft and moist, I had to jump on the shovel to get it deep enough to pry up chunks of bulbs. Hey, nobody ever asked yet, what kind of bulbs do you have?

I now have a ton of Lycoris radiata that won't fit in existing bed areas. Some help digging is in order!

well they are daffs I got on clearance at WM, right now they are in my well house, staying pretty cold, but not freezing. I guess that will do until I get them in the ground.

I've planted daffodils outside well into January before. Seems there's a quick warm spell in the middle of winter about every year. Usually those bulbs were purchased from B & B during their after-Thanksgiving half off sale.

Yeah, if you can dig, (ground not frozen,) you can plant Daffs, they are indestructible. (Those are blooming here now, BTW.) The sooner the better, for this years' show anyway.

And this is fun, the roof is being replaced today, so they needed to take up part of the fence to drive a truck into the back yard. Had to dig up more bulbs so they don't get run-over, though they probably wouldn't have cared, I'm probably just being anal. That was fun at 8 AM in 42 degrees. But anyway, now there's MORE bulbs I need to plant...

Newyorkrita said:I don't have one. My favorite method of planting lots of bulbs at once is the trench method where you dig a long put and put in lots of bulbs. Then cover them all back up.

This is the way I do it now, because of Rita! It's the best way!

Thanks Rita!

Frilly

I have KY clay and I had to use lots of organic matter (bags of compost, peat, greensand, gypsum, etc...) and work it into the soil of the beds I was going to plant the 1946 bulbs. I used a shovel to dig out 10 inches deep to make trenches ('the Rita way') for the Darwins and some of the other tulips and 6 inches down for the single lates and others that won't come back.

I topped the beds with wood mulch or aged shredded leaves.

I'll add more compost (I get the bags at the local Worm's Way store) next year when I need to plant daffs and tulips, since I know I'll need it.

The one bed that was the easiest was a smaller one that I topped a ton of bagged compost on last year or earlier this year. It was the softest, most workable and had lots of earthworms!

I even dug some trenches in Nov., when the soil was warm and 'diggable' and planted tulips in Dec. when the ground was frozen and snowy. But that is something I don't want to have to do again. I bought 232 late in Nov. (100 on sale from Brent & Becky).

I want to make sure I order early from now on and get them all planted sometime before Thanksgiving from now on.

Me too!

The trench method works if you want them in rows somewhat, I have did that before. But this time I was thinking of hodge podging them all over sort of woodland style. Today the windchill was -6 F. So I won't be out any time soon.

Ok finally we had a day of decent weather and I got to plant the Carlton daffodil bulbs I bought on clearance at Walmart last fall. They were all really large bulbs and I planted 75 of them. I wasn't sure how deep to put them, plus it was hard digging for me. The recommended planting depth--is that counting from the bottom of the bulb or the top? I guess the bottom? I dug a hole about 4 inches deep, put the bulb in -top side up of course and then replaced the soil over it. I hope it is not too late in the year, I don't' care so much if they bloom I guess this year, just hope they live. I think the package said 6 inches, but I have had daffs planted shallower than that and they did good for me. Was almost 60 yesterday but supposed to be 50 today, with the gusty winds though it does feel colder.

That's cool, glad you were able to get it done! Glad they were big, more mature, so should bloom ASAP. So many of the Lycoris I dug up were tiny. Being replanted with space to expand, I'm hoping they do so quickly.

That's a good question about planting depth, I've wondered too. I'm sure mimicking what you've seen from existing, blooming bulbs is the perfect thing to do. The only trouble I've ever had from bulbs is when critters eat some.

I was planting bulbs over the weekend too, and only got about halfway through the Lycoris so far. I was so nervous they would be ruined, it got down to 14 while they were in the shed, but only a very few of them were mushy.

Took a 5-gallon bucket of them to my Mom's house, made a trench in front of a bed by her driveway, and put a triple row of them there, about 12 feet across. Here at my house, I was working on fixing the bed around the fence that got driven over by the roofing truck. I made it about half a foot wider, with a heavy row of clumps (3-5 bulbs each) at the front edge. Then I added another row across the rest of the bed that wasn't disturbed. In a few years, it should be epic!