Jim-Gem OST Dibble Bar, 38 in. Tree Planting Tool, Alloy Steel Wedge Blade for Bare Root Seedlings and Saplings, Reinforced Footstep, Non-Rocky Soil

I bought this to plant 50+ native tree seedlings on my property. My soil is very heavy clay and rocky. It would have been impossible for me to plant them without this tool. I praised it so much to my sister that she bought one too, to dig out ancient yew roots in her backyard. (I am in my late 60's and my sister is in her early 70's, btw) It feels heavy and very strong, and useful for many gardening tasks. This is a valuable tool to have in your gardening arsenal.

Three manned dibbles planted 250+ seedlings in three hours, working in a small clearcut. Sturdy and hefty bars did the job, I don’t know where all the negative comments are coming from. I would not want to carry all day working across a mountainside, but then again a good way to maintain fitness.

I live on a farm and am in the process of a reforestation plan that I began in spring of last year. After using a standard garden spade which made the process frustrating for planting bare root seedling trees, I decided to go with a dibble bar for this spring's plantings. I can say that I'm very happy with the performance of the dibble in comparison with the spade. The wedge makes the perfect cut in the ground and has no problem going deep. When you rock it to make a larger cut, the bar is welded well enough to stay attached and the shaft is heavy enough not to bend when you do so. I planted just over 100 seedlings in just under 5 hours and wasn't in a rush either.

This is a very nice dibble bar. The only reason I give it 4 stars is I prefer the heavier duty model of Jim Gem. If you have loose soil, or cultivated soil, then this bar will do just fine. But if you have firm soil, or worse, clay soil, the KBC Jim Gem bar will perform much better. First it has two tabs at the blade where you can jump up and land both feet on it for more penetration, and if you are raising and forcing the bar into the ground, the KBC is heavier and penetrates better. Jim Gem KBC Bar

We used this to plant 300 seedlings and it did an excellent job. It was the perfect tool for the task and made the job much quicker, We had one of these, a standard spade and a trench spade and by far, the dibble bar was the best suited tool for the task, It allowed much quicker planting of the seedlings. This dibble bar is well made and durable.

This dibble is stout. I used a shovel to plant a couple hundred trees. I'd get near the bottom of the hole I started and find a rock. I could start a new hole or try to find out if it's a small rock. Most were good size and it took a lot of digging to get out. I bought this to plant some shrubs from the state nursery. If I hit a rock, I know right away to just move over and try again. It's much quicker! If the roots are too big, they can be pruned. I chose to make two or possibly three slots with the dibble though. Closing it up is just as easy. Overall, it's a big time saver. Time will tell if it's as effective but studies done seem to indicate there's no difference between growth when digging a hole or using a shovel. If only there were an easy, effective way to protect them for critters until they get established!

I was excited after reading some of the reviews and figured this was going to save me a ton of time. I ordered 300 trees for a windbreak tree line on my property. I took 2 days off and my heart sunk when the blade snapped off after about the 20th tree. Inspected the weld after it broke and it appeared that the weld only fused with the cast iron blade on at best 20% of the area around the handle that it was supposed to. Take my advise and have a backup plan because not all of these are inspected adequately and the paint covers it well. Perhaps I just got a lemon, but it certainly ruined my day.

I decided to plant Christmas trees on an empty lot I have, and asked my kids to help with the purchase, and to help plant 1000 trees. I'm glad I did some research on this tool and read the other reviews, because I used it this weekend and it worked flawlessly! 1000 holes and it didnt even break a sweat. I did sweat though. Great tool, well built, Forestry Suppliers had it to me in nothing flat too. Excellent experience Thanks