Roots?

fathead

Sr. Member
Dec 19, 2009
363
3
Conowingo, MD
Detector(s) used
Bounty Hunter 505
Mine does. I have the same issue. I have even hacked out roots only to find that my signal has vanished.

I usually swear at roots and turn down my sensitivity. That seems to help. I am by no means an expert.

FH
 

arnoldziffel

Jr. Member
Jan 8, 2010
80
0
Long Island, NY
Detector(s) used
White's MXT
jdsarasin8194 said:
Do metal detectors detect roots???
I'm new to MDing so I'm trying to dig everything and whenever I go to dig an iron signal, THERE IS ALWAYS A GOOD SIZED ROOT!!
Is there some iron in them or something??? :help:
i'm new, and i don't know the answer. but is it possible it's the iron in the water that is soaked up by the roots that would be the cause?
 

Charlie P. (NY)

Gold Member
Feb 3, 2006
13,005
17,113
South Central Upstate NY in the foothills of the h
Detector(s) used
Minelab Musketeer Advantage Pro w/8" & 10" DD coils/Fisher F75se(Upgraded to LTD2) w/11" DD, 6.5" concentric & 9.5" NEL Sharpshooter DD coils/Sunray FX-1 Probe & F-Point/Black Widows/Rattler headphone
Primary Interest:
Metal Detecting
Not sure - I'm generally trying to avoid iron.

Could be trees in certain spots attract iron. Nails and staples for posted signs, fence staples and pieces of barbed wire, etc. Any dropped over the years end up at the roots.

One problem with iron is that it disintegrates. When you disturb the soil you scatter the formerly tight concentration of rust and remaining iron and then, when rescanned, it is spread out enough to cause no signal.
 

arnoldziffel

Jr. Member
Jan 8, 2010
80
0
Long Island, NY
Detector(s) used
White's MXT
Charlie P. (NY) said:
Not sure - I'm generally trying to avoid iron.

Could be trees in certain spots attract iron. Nails and staples for posted signs, fence staples and pieces of barbed wire, etc. Any dropped over the years end up at the roots.

One problem with iron is that it disintegrates. When you disturb the soil you scatter the formerly tight concentration of rust and remaining iron and then, when rescanned, it is spread out enough to cause no signal.
i hadn't thought of that. very good point.
 

Toby1858

Sr. Member
Mar 21, 2009
364
40
Springfield Mo.
Detector(s) used
Whites m6
I've gotten good iron signals before then dug and re-scanned hole only to find broken or no signals and then noticed rust spots in the ground where the object rusted away!
 

OP
OP
jdsarasin8194

jdsarasin8194

Bronze Member
Dec 27, 2009
1,160
5
MA
4-H said:
Mineralization is the only logical thing I can think of.
I am no pro either.

Although this has yet to happen to me. :dontknow:
Hey, this is kind of off topic 4-H but I need to ask. I was at The Mid-Atlantic Vex Robotics Competition that my team and I were competing in and the "4-H" symbol was on the sign for the venue. Do you know anything about that?

P.S. We won the whole tournament.
 

BamaBill

Hero Member
Nov 8, 2006
686
16
N. Alabama
Detector(s) used
Minelab X-terra 70, AT Pro, Tesoro Tejon, ML X-terra 50
Primary Interest:
Relic Hunting
Its a corollary to Murphy's law, where instead of "if anything can go wrong, it will", the statement is that if your detector is attracted to a target it will be the most difficult to dig", and what's more difficult than a target under a tangle of roots.
 

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