Reviews
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and happy avid gardeners.
Professionals
We at Pierson Nurseries understand the importance of preserving energy and reducing strain on our bodies while working. It's also important to us that we offer our staff whatever tools are needed to help make any of our jobs as low impact as possible. Currently almost...
We at Pierson Nurseries understand the importance of preserving energy and reducing strain on our bodies while working. It's also important to us that we offer our staff whatever tools are needed to help make any of our jobs as low impact as possible.
Currently almost all the trees we grow for our field production are grown in a Missouri gravel bed set up. In the spring all the material that we plan to plant out that year arrives bare root. This gives us the opportunity to inspect the root structure and prune as needed. After this is done, we line the trees out in one row at a time in the gravel bed and cover the roots with a fine pea stone. This process is repeated until all of the trees are healed into the bed. They are watered and cared for until the plant out begins in the early summer, this gives the roots more time to develop outward instead of circling like they may if in a container.
When we first started using this method removing the trees towards the end of the season proved to be very difficult, especially with trees that are known to root vigorously. Pitch forks were initially used to remove the more difficult trees but the ones we used were not up to the task. We broke multiple pitch forks, from multiple manufactures. We stopped using pitch forks for this task when a tine broke off one of them and launched itself out from the stone and past my head.
Trying out the tool at MANTS for the first time left both Jake and I very impressed. They have heft without being overly heavy and the tool feels very solid in your hands. The demo you guys had set up made those stones feel weightless. It was a no brainer for use we saw the value and ordered two on the spot. When we started using them in our gravel beds, they showed how tough they really are most pitchforks only lasted a few weeks our two Earth Lifter Tool have been with us for three years now and are absolutely indispensable. From the second you sink it into the soil the forks have the best angle to dive perfectly under roots and still keep the handle upright and ready to tip back and pull material out while preserving roots. Because you've changed where you're standing when using the Earth Liter Tool, you can stand over material and guide it straight up or support it and tip it to the side. The Earth Lifter tool in the time we have been using ours has never bent, cracked, or deformed in any way. We now use them to remove all of our trees from the gravel beds.
Sam Patch, Pierson Nurseries
“I’m constantly searching for ways to help mitigate the onslaught of invasive plants. The earth lifting tool ELT provides a needed edge, increasing productivity in battling annual, biennial and the stubbornest perennial weeds.Since the early ’70s, I have pursued my interest in plants—as a horticulturist at public gardens and as the owner of a niche...
“I’m constantly searching for ways to help mitigate the onslaught of invasive plants. The earth lifting tool ELT provides a needed edge, increasing productivity in battling annual, biennial and the stubbornest perennial weeds.
Since the early ’70s, I have pursued my interest in plants—as a horticulturist at public gardens and as the owner of a niche horticultural business, “Poison Ivy Horticulturalist,” specializing in the removal of difficult-to-control perennial weeds.
I am constantly searching for ways to help mitigate the onslaught of invasive plants. The Earth Lifting Tool (ELT) provides a much-needed edge, increasing productivity in battling annuals, biennials, and even the most stubborn perennial weeds.
Some of the hardest to control include:
- Goutweed (Bishop’s weed)
- Poison ivy
- English ivy
- Canada thistle
- Fish mint (Chameleon plant)
- Knotweed (Tiger cane)
- Mugwort
- Barberry shrub
- Honeysuckle vine
- Honeysuckle shrub
But truly, the worst weed problem is the one that bedevils your own yard.
The elegance and thoughtfulness of the ELT’s design continue to amaze me as my team and I remove the toughest invasive weeds across a range of soil conditions—from rocky and gravelly soil to hard clay, and even the muck of pond bottoms.
I fully recommend the ELT as an indispensable addition to the modern garden. Its design truly works to “make your jobs easier on your body and tougher on the weeds.”
Garden on!
Umar Mycka, Poison Ivy Horticulturist Inc.
"All I know is that I entered digging season with the worry that my husband had to do all of the digging of our crop and I knew for certain if he used the tools we used the previous season (standard digging fork) there was a high probability he would have a long lasting "wear and tear" injury to recover from. As a spouse, business partner, and mother I was calculating what I could do...
"All I know is that I entered digging season with the worry that my husband had to do all of the digging of our crop and I knew for certain if he used the tools we used the previous season (standard digging fork) there was a high probability he would have a long lasting "wear and tear" injury to recover from. As a spouse, business partner, and mother I was calculating what I could do to reduce risk and injury and relieve a measure of guilt for not being physically able to help this season. Spoiler alert- he did not have long lasting muscular or shoulder-elbow nerve issues!
Other than mechanical digging (which we experimented with in previous seasons), I didn't even know or think to look for a better mechanical tool. A fork is a fork after all. It took seeing the EarthLifter Tool (even as a vendor link at Cultivate) to recognize its potential.
There is no denying digging ANYTHING is a physically taxing job, but what if you could promise the users of your tool that they can end the job well and be back to work the next day. At the very core we all want to continue to do the things we love another day. We want to be well enough to be able to do the job another day.
The EarthLifter is a tool that allows you to do hard things and be able to do them again tomorrow. For individuals not afraid of the work, this is a statement that will bring joy. LeeAnn Huber, Coseytown Flowers
We gifted an EarthLifter to a 76 year-old produce farmer over Christmas. He took it out to his greenhouse in Bedford, PA and removed some weeds that had bothered him. In DECEMBER. He immediately saw the potential and needed to feel how it would work. He is excited to use it to prep some beds this spring and then harvest all of his garlic, onions, and potatoes. "
LeeAnn Huber, Coseytown Flowers
"Got a bad back or find it difficult to perform lifting and pulling tasks in the garden? The EarthLifter tool can help with that. I was able to test drive the EarthLifter while attending a trade show recently. It’s a tool whose form and physics allows you to use less effort when going about your digging chores. And you know what that means? It means you can work in your garden even if you think your body doesn’t have the strength.How the EarthLifter WorksThe EarthLifter is a deceptively simple tool. Its working end is a garden fork or a spading...
"Got a bad back or find it difficult to perform lifting and pulling tasks in the garden? The EarthLifter tool can help with that. I was able to test drive the EarthLifter while attending a trade show recently. It’s a tool whose form and physics allows you to use less effort when going about your digging chores. And you know what that means? It means you can work in your garden even if you think your body doesn’t have the strength.
How the EarthLifter Works
The EarthLifter is a deceptively simple tool. Its working end is a garden fork or a spading fork—so it has strong tines. And just up the 1020 hollow steel shaft is a U-shaped extension. This piece of tubing along the shaft acts as a “rolling fulcrum.” A fulcrum is the pivot around which a lever turns. A seesaw is an example of a fulcrum and lever, with the triangle base upon which the board rests being the fulcrum and the board is the lever. A person on one end of the seesaw—the one in the down position—is the load in this physics equation and the person up in the air at the other end is the effort. The person up in the air exerts effort downward and along the length of the lever to lift the load at the other end.
Now let’s look at the EarthLifter as lever, fulcrum, load and effort. The U-shaped piece attached to the EarthLifter’s shaft is that upside-down triangle base that is the fulcrum. The shaft is the lever. Insert the fork tines into the ground to the point where the fulcrum is. Whatever resistance the tines meet is the load. Now press downward on the shaft’s handle and that’s the effort which lifts whatever load is at the other end.
Less Effort
Compare that process to what you might do with a traditional garden fork. You’d insert the tines into the ground to about the same level as the EarthLifter. At that point you would have to bring one hand midway down the shaft or lower, which requires bending your knees and spine. That arm sort of acts as fulcrum to loosen the soil at first, and then your whole upper body engages to pull that weight up. With the EarthLifter, on the other hand, you’re pushing down instead of lifting up. Sure, there’s some lifting involved once whatever you are dislodging from the soil has made it to the soil surface, but the major resistance—the “stuckness” of your object in the soil—has been overcome with less effort on your part.
EarthLifter’s Uses
Use the EarthLifter for whatever you might use a garden fork for. For instance, you can loosen and dig up your tuber or bulb crops—potatoes, sweet potatoes, turnips, garlic and so on. Uproot your dahlias and store them for the winter with a lot less effort, too. Dig up some perennials for spring division. Some weeds with giant root balls can be removed with this tool, as well.
The great thing about the EarthLifter is that it allows people whose strength has waned, who have bad backs, or who have an inability to fully use their hands or arms to be able to tackle difficult digging tasks. The inventor himself has a hand injury, which prompted him to find a solution for his digging needs. If you or someone you know are finding certain garden tasks to be more effortful than in previous years, the EarthLifter can help you continue your gardening hobbies."
Ellen Wells, Editor at Large