Customer Reviews

Yard Butler RP-3 24-Inch Roto Planter

5 star:		(20)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I bought this router because I wanted to plant 200+ bulbs. It works well, even in clay, for digging holes. Be careful with the 24 inch router because it might be too large for your job. I found that it worked best to start digging holes for larger plants. I couldn't space the holes as close as I wanted for the bulbs because of the 2.75 inch diameter. The smaller 1.75 one would probably be best for bulbs. I inserted the router into a hammer drill (extra handle gives great leverage for tough clay). The router slipped out once from the drill but only because I hit a few big rocks. It will cut through small roots if the drill it is attached to is strong enough.

I purchased this to plant tulip bulbs. I was able to plant 100 bulbs in a couple of hours. The drill held the auger tight and the construction of the planter blades held even though I was drilling through rocky, clay soil.

With this auger in a Dewalt cordless drill, my wife and I planted 60 lily and Jonquil bulbs in less than 45 minutes. The auger worked well. Very pleased with the purchase.

Just used the roto planter last week. We had around 50-60 plants to put in.

My husband walked ahead of me, using the roto planter and I followed. What a joy!! It took just a couple of minutes for each one. Also, I had empty pots from last season and we used the planter to loosen up the soil in each one.
Just like new!! It was a really big help in planting. Sure wished I had known about this product years before!

I purchased this Planter for the specific purpose of turning and aerating my trash can composter. It works perfectly for this purpose and after a few plunges into the compost pile everything was mixed evenly. As for making holes it was less than perfect, but I chalk that up to the rocky Texas clay in my yard.Yard Butler Roto Planter 24-Inch Long 2.75-Inch Diameter #RP-3 This past fall (2009) I used it to plant some pansies and found that if the soil was good and wet then it worked pretty good for planting and digging holes. I did have to grind one side of the shaft flat so the drill would grip it better.

Product may work fine if applied to a garden with good new garden soil. It was quite useless when I used it to drill holes on the slope (I was trying to plant some rubus to hold the slope). It was unable to drill through the 1/2 inch of grass root, and it got stuck in the clay patches. Even some small pebbles or coarse mulch would cause it to get stuck. If I have to bend down each time to clear the mulch and pebbles, then this product would not save me any time or effort. So I gave up on it and returned to my manual garden bulb planter. Good idea, but disappointing results.

Unable to drill in anything but the softest soil.
Cheap welded construction.
Round not hexagonal shaft doesn't fit impact driver and spins in drill's chuck at slightest resistance.

Only good for mixing up the first couple of feet of compost heap. Worthless for digging in typical sodded yard.

I have used this auger for a couple of months now. It performs quite well except when there are rocks in it's path. Although this type of product was touted on TV to do much more than it could really do,this product was honestely represented. It has a large enough size to speed up the work of a small area tiller. I have used it in flower beds where it has to cut old roots up to 3/8" think with success. It worked best for me with a corded electric drill because the work it does uses up battery strength rapidly. I am satisfied with this auger.

This thing was used to plant small 12-18 inch bare root shrubs. The holes drilled fine for the most part. The drill bit spun too many times in the drill. The end of the auger needs some grinding to take away the circle, if you grind a little hex shape on the end it is not as likely to spin in your drill. The drill chuck can grip it better.

Otherwise it worked fine. Would also work for bulbs and other tuber type plants.

I bought this tool because I had a bunch of plants to put in the landscape this year, and I also wanted something that would make setting treated 2x4s in the ground for small yard projects easier to do.

It does exactly what I ask of it. When attached to my DeWalt corded 3/8" drill, it digs amazingly well. It's almost too strong, since it can either stall the drill motor -- fixed by reversing the drill, and trying again with less force -- or twist the drill fairly strongly. It would probably work better with a drill with a side handle.

I even planted a ~3' tall spruce tree with it, by marking the ground where I needed the hole, then drilling holes around the perimeter and in the interior. This made finishing digging the hole with a shovel and spade much easier.

If I were going to improve it, I would add a hex shaft at the end of it, or perhaps just make the shaft bigger, making it easier for the drill chuck to grip. The keyless chuck on my DeWalt does a really good job of holding the shaft but I check it for tightness after each two or three holes.