I have a set of these which I used last year to plant hundreds of bulbs with a cordless drill/screwdriver. The clutch mechanism on the drill is very helpful in avoiding wrist stresses from the torque. They work well and are much faster than a hand trowel. I drill the hole, drop in the bulb and backfill with a handfull of MPC and soil from the hole. Most conventional bulb planters are far too lightweight to cope with my stony, rooty soil. If the drill stalls on a stone or root I just back off and re-position.
I had similar ones (they are old and don't have any logo). I agree that these are great if you have thousands of bulbs to take care of. And if you have stony soil then you have 2 out of 2 reasons to use these bits. Though you'll need quite a powerful drill for this.
I bought something very similar set but...the shank is so long it doesn't fit properly in either of my drills and I found if it hit a stone or hard root it jerked dangerously in my hands.
Tulips are well known for not coming back well the second year. If you stick to species tulips rather than the fancy bred ones you'll do a lot better.
We have a very large machine with 3 different spiral drills for making holes for fence posts. OH was very keen to use it for making planting holes for shrubs and trees but I prefer to dig square holes and "feel" the soil. So far I've done a lot of "quarrying" as a previous owner demolished a stone built barn and rather than pay to skip out the rubble they buried it all over the place.
Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
"The price good men (and women) pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men (and women)."
I bought something very similar set but...the shank is so long it doesn't fit properly in either of my drills and I found if it hit a stone or hard root it jerked dangerously in my hands.
You can set the ratchet on the chuck to avoid the jerking happening. It's always a good idea to do it for any job with a drill.
If you can keep your head, while those around you are losing theirs, you may not have grasped the seriousness of the situation.
How do you set a ratchet? There will usually be a twisty collar on your drill with numbers on it. The lower the number, the lower the max torque - the point at which the drill will stop biting and trying to turn the chuck/bit. Set it to a low position then gradually increase it until the bite point is where you want it. The higher the setting, the more torque applied and therefore the more "power" put into the bit - making screws tighter, holes deeper etc. But as SueAtoo found, if you don't have the grip or wrist strength to control the drill, it will jerk out your hand because your hand is acting like the ratchet.
On the neck of the drill there should be a dial with numbers on there. Those are the clutch settings with 1 being the loosest and getting tighter as the number increases. If you're unsure then you can set it to 1 and start work then increase tightness to suit your wrist strength.
If you can keep your head, while those around you are losing theirs, you may not have grasped the seriousness of the situation.
Posts
We have a very large machine with 3 different spiral drills for making holes for fence posts. OH was very keen to use it for making planting holes for shrubs and trees but I prefer to dig square holes and "feel" the soil. So far I've done a lot of "quarrying" as a previous owner demolished a stone built barn and rather than pay to skip out the rubble they buried it all over the place.