“With the diamond hoe I don”t need to bend over or stoop as much,” states Tyler Applegate of Avant Nursery in McFarland, Wis. “The other tools I use have shorter handles. I bend using them, which causes soreness.”

A regular hoe handle is about 54 to 57 inches long, and forces workers to bend to reach the ground. This strains the back, neck, shoulders and arms. The long-handled diamond hoe”s handle is nearly 6 feet long. Tests done by the University of Wisconsin”s Healthy Farmers, Healthy Profits Project found a worker using a diamond hoe was more upright, leaning forward by only eight degrees compared with fifteen degrees of forward lean when using a standard-length hoe.

The long handled diamond hoe also saves time and effort because of its unique design. It features a T-shaped handle that allows users to grip it easily and operate it like a vacuum cleaner, using a push-pull motion. The sharp, forged steel, diamond-shaped blade is designed to cut weeds while it moves both forward and backward at or just below the soil”s surface. Field trials showed the diamond hoe was 21 percent faster at removing two- to four-inch weeds than an ordinary hoe.

“We use it for mulch areas under trees and for loose soils where we can”t use a mower for weeds, those are the scenarios where it is the best tool for the job,” noted Applegate. “Ideally, if you”re floating under the surface you”re really getting [the weeds].”

At $35 to $40, the long-handled diamond hoe is affordable, and will pay for itself if just a few hours of hoeing work are saved.

The Healthy Farmers, Healthy Profits Project is funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention”s National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health, to find and promote the adoption of more efficient, safer tools by nursery growers. For more information, go here or contact Marcia Miquelon or Nicole Hosto at (608) 262-1054.