digging time

[dustydan]

This may have been posted at one time or another but "When is the best time to dig" I know when its cool and cloudy, but I'm talking about the ground....After a rain fall or when its dry and hard....Do these times have an effect on Detectors.
Do detectors work best after a rain and the grass dries or when the ground is dry and hard. What effects th e depth....better or worse...
I have a MXT pro and it seems neither affects it...damp ground doesn't help or vise versa............

 

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[DonDigger]

A lot of folks feel that moist soil actually improves sensitivity and depth which is plausible since moist soil will conduct better than dry. If you don't see a difference with your MXT, then for you it doesn't make a difference. But bottom line, its the pits digging in hard dry soil. Moist is softer! Not saying muddy, wife don't like me coming home all muddy.

 

[Ism]

Moist is better for depth and digging. Dry is better for target separation in trashy areas.

 

[madforclad]

Where I live and hunt I always have better success just after it rains and the ground is wet. Targets that never showed up before seem to just light up. Especially coins.

 

[airscapes]

Fall, Winter and Spring, dry concrete had dirt is the worst!

 

[dustydan]

I also think moist soil is a lot better to dig in . I was wondering if it had a positive in detecting and some think it adds to their machine...
It sure does as far as digging goes..Here in our area of N. Carolina its Red clay in a lot of areas and sandy and Loamee soil in others..Right now it seems we are very dry and one can only dig down about 6 or 7 inches.. But it doesn't seem to affect my detector as far as depth goes..

 

[Frankn]

The best time is when you got the time to dig. The difference is minimal. Frank...-

 

[cudamark]

A couple of days after a good rain in best for the physical part of digging. It will depend on the mineralization of the soil if added moisture is better or worse with any given detector. A single frequency VLF will work fine in dry sand at the beach. Try doing it right after a rain and it usually is a different story. Same with nugget hunting in some highly mineralized ground. I've had parks act the same way if they use lots of fertilizer. It get reactivated with the rain and effects the sensitivity of the machine.

 

[rodarian]

How ironic that this thread is here. I was thinking of starting an identical thread, myself. I went to an area a day after a big rain, an area that i have detected many many times and it was blowing up my headphones. I found many coins in places i know i have scanned multiple times. I am now chalking it up the rain the night before, thanks guys.

 

[dustydan]

I was figuring that moist areas would be overall better...I have never thought about fertiliezer until this answer...That makes sense....Thanks guys for some very good answers,,,

 

[mikeraydj]

In my short experience. Wet or dry doesn't make as much difference as the mineralization of the soil. I have so many different soil conditions here in Montana that I have to set my machine different at each place I hunt. That was why I bought the F5. I have noticed that when the mineral content is high, I can't run as hot and have a harder time getting a good target ID.

 

[dustydan]

I hear the mineralization term alot, but I'm not sure of what kind of readings should one be seeing from a machine when they are in that type of soil verses a non mineralized soil...Not being funny here,,,I ground balance my mxt pro should that not neutralize that condition,,,just not sure what to look for....need help

 

[eyemustdigtreasure]

This may have been posted at one time or another but "When is the best time to dig" I know when its cool and cloudy, but I'm talking about the ground....After a rain fall or when its dry and hard....Do these times have an effect on Detectors.
Do detectors work best after a rain and the grass dries or when the ground is dry and hard. What effects th e depth....better or worse...
I have a MXT pro and it seems neither affects it...damp ground doesn't help or vise versa............

...best time to dig, is when you can restore your dig sites to like-normal, natural, origingal conditions - leave no trace
....and make sure the dig site will recover from the trama! Compact the filled-in hole.
dry dig conditions, if crumbly, use slightly bigger hole, than your normal gopher hole.
Most detectors like all conditions, just some are more water-proof than others!
I like to think that ground conductivity is enhanced by wetness for deeper searching - albeit a muddier affair!
Good Luck and Happy Hunting!

 

[mikeraydj]

For me ground balancing helps some. My F5 has a meter that tells me if I have low to very high mineralization in my soil. In places that have high mineralization Targets seem not as easy to get a steady ID. I have to play with gain and threshold settings a lot more. In places with high minerals I sometimes can only run at 20 percent gain. I lose depth. If I run higher my detector really becomes unstable.

 

[Keppy]

The best time is when you got the time to dig. The difference is minimal. Frank...-

.. Well i have to agree with Frankn here….