Bulb Auger Review

by Doug
(In His Garden)

I've had a bulb auger for over 20 years now and it has (up until now) been one of my must-have tools for fall planting. Here's why it has fallen out of favor.

I got the original from Lee Valley Tools (a great company) quite a few years ago and I've planted literally thousands of bulbs with it over the years. I've worn out power drills (it attaches to electric drills) with this tool and it has kept on nicely. Put the auger into a power drill, drill, drop bulb, move to next hole. Planting a hundred bulbs an hour is an easy target to hit.

Until last fall when it sorta gave up. The end that goes into the drill had a small "knob" on it to stop the auger from rotating in the chuck. This nob finally wore off leaving a rounded end to the auger. So this summer, on a trip to Ottawa, I picked up a new one from the big store there (I go there almost every time I'm in Ottawa). Never thought to look at the end as I simply assumed it would be the same.

Wrong.

The new one doesn't have a knob at all. It's smooth and perfectly rounded. I assumed Lee Valley knew what it was doing and loaded it up anyway. As soon as the auger hit the garden soil and had to take a bite of the soil, it started rotating. I tightened up the chuck. Still rotated.

I'm about to panic because I have around 300 daffodil bulbs to plant and I'll be darned if I'm going to want to do that with a shovel.

Took my old one and ground off the rounded part to a square (yeah, if you're experienced, you'll know I wasn't thinking) but it did hold enough to plant all the bulbs. And the neighbors used it to plant theirs. It does slip a bit but is good enough to do the job.


The problem is that I should have ground it into a triangle so the drill could really get a bite on it. When the square grinding area finally gets rounded as well, I'll cut that part off and grind it into a triangle.

In the meantime, I have this almost-new (a bit of paint is off) bulb auger sitting in my garden shed. So it will sit there until I've ground the heck out of the old one (in another 5 or 10 years) and then I'll start grinding on it. (note - I bought it in the spring and the warranty is for 3 months - normally good enough for all gardening products - so I'm out of warranty and really can't ask for them to take it back)

But unless you like grinding and messing about making tools work, this bulb auger is no longer a recommended tool

Pity.

Update: I showed this review to Lee Valley - and in their customary great customer service system - they told me to send back the tool. Given I had purchased it earlier in the season but that it was a fall tool, they were very good about making sure I knew how to send it back postage-paid on their account (no cost to me to return) and they'll refund the money. This is how a great company works.