Please stop digging!

[Fix]

I'd like to show you guys how I get stuff out of the ground. Too often I go to the park and see brown dead circles all over the place from plugs. Pic 1 shows where I pinpointed it. I knew it was deep so I took a pic. Pic 2 shows a 7 inch hole and a silver quarter that came out of it today. Pic 3 shows the closed up hole. Clean as a whistle. No plug to turn brown. What I do is, I pinpoint the item, then move the grass to the side with my probe, I use a 9" craftsman screwdriver. I'm not cutting any grass. I simply opened a hole by pulling the grass to the side. Then I do my stuff using the hand held pin pointer I know where to dig. No sound, it's safe to dig 2 inches with the Lesche. Once I get the object I put the dirt in the hole, close it with the probe then brush grass with my hand to make it look clean. Give it a try sometime.
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The next picture is what I found on Sunday. The guy dug the holes and made no attempt to bury them.
The last two pics are from Monday at the park. Nice brown circles. You can't dig a plug like that in St. Augustines. You kill the grass.
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All I'm asking is, the next time you want to dig a plug, ask yourself if it's necessary.
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Well the pics aren't in order. I thought they were. You'll figure it out. =)

 

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[glenn37216]

It's a good method you have but unfortunately it still will cause grass to die in the spot you dug. Of course the area will be smaller which is true, a better method. However anytime you disturb dirt which has roots to grass above, that slot will eventually die but come back even greener than before. You may not notice this because you have long left the field. I too use a probe in parks to keep my holes nice and neat. But occasionally my digs are right under a grass clump and I have no choice but to cut grass roots out which over time causes that spot to brown. In reality, you can always leave a cleaner hole... But no method is perfect . To each their own.

 

[Fix]

I'm fairly certain I've noticed. I detect 300 to 350 days a year. A few blades of grass compared to a huge brown circle is a major difference in my opinion. It's just a matter of time before they make it illegal to detect if people keep abusing the parks and schools.
I agree, no method is perfect. But after 24 years I'm thinking I've come as close as you can get.

 

[glenn37216]

It's already illegal to detect at parks and schools here where I live. Oh I definitely agree with you no method is perfect . Each person has their own art form of digging holes . Some are more sloppy than others of course lol. After 30+ years of detecting and having a background in landscaping, I could dig a 2ft plug and leave it so that the soil looked like it was just sodded. J/k not really. In all seriousness, since cheap detectors hit the market a few years back...more and more cities are tighting up their metro codes to prevent people from metal detecting on public right of ways, schools and government property. In TN , you can get a citation for just walking through a public park swinging a metal detector and not even digging. So I'm totally in agreement with you. Less is more especially when it comes to digging for our treasure.

 

[WHADIFIND]

If I may add my two cents worth, garnered over almost a half century of detecting.

I've run the gamut, probes, shovels, vertical slice, or even wetting down an area before hunting. As was said, there are no "perfect" methods. If a grass blade's root is cut, that blade will die.

So, my preferred method is using a deep plug but with one side's roots still intact. That keeps some of the grass intact and tends to grab whole roots of younger grass. Still not perfect but much more forgiving.

I tend to hunt the same places over and over. I'm always checking and proving my technique is still working. So far, so good. I've hunted with a few tnetters here, ask them for their opinion. If nobody seen me in a place, you'd never know I was there.

Now, with all that said, there is one aspect that I rarely ever see mentioned when this topic comes up. Namely, pinpointing!

My best suggestion is to learn your machine very, very well! Learn how to actually "pin" point a target! I've got the average diameter of my plug down to not muchcentury of detecting.

I've run the gamut, probes, shovels, vertical slice, or even wetting down an area before hunting. As was said, there are no "perfect" methods. If a grass blade's root is cut, that blade will die.

So, my preferred method is using a deep plug but with one side's roots still intact. That keeps some of the grass intact and tends to grab whole roots of younger grass. Still not perfect but much more forgiving.

I tend to hunt the same places over and over. I'm always checking and proving my technique is still working. So far, so good. I've hunted with a few tnetters here, ask them for their opinion. If nobody had actually seen me in a place, you'd never know I was there.

Now, with all that said, there is one aspect that I rarely ever see mentioned when this topic comes up. Namely, pinpointing!

My best suggestion is to learn your machine very, very well! Learn how to actually "pin" point a target! I've got the average diameter of my plug down to not much more than a silver dollar. Smaller the plug the better. And, I very rarely nick or scratch a target.

Three other tips.
1. Don't just leave your plugs laying on top next to the hole. The ground will heal much quicker if you put the plug back in the hole, cut retaining notches and tamp them down securely.
2. Try not to hunt very dry ground. Wet it down first.
3. And lastly...don't dig after getting really tired! We all tend to get sloppier when fatigued.

Hope something up there helps. Before they have signs up everywhere to keep us out but still allow golfers to practice.

 

[Silver Saver]

Dead plugs is definitely my greatest concern while detecting any manicured turf area(parks, schools, houses, etc..) So I'd say good technique is important, but even more important than that is to not dig plugs when the ground is dry or even somewhat dry with hot days and no rain on the horizon. Chances are the plug will die in those conditions, so I always hope people aren't doing that. Whenever I go detecting I always take a 1 gallon jug of water with me and a 5 gallon bucket for refilling the jug. I feel much more confident in the recovery of the plug by being able to give it a good amount of water right away. It also helps to make sure all the edges around the plug get sealed tightly.
Also, some of those brown spots out there could just be from pets going bathroom and not just from detectorists.

 

[grasshopper]

In places where I want to keep the grass looking nice, I've concluded that I can't dig plugs if the ground is dry and there's no rain in the forecast. I've only had success keeping the grass looking perfect if there's a fresh rain or it rains a day or two after I dig.

 

[mk4125]

I often think about the holes I used to dig 20 years ago...they could have been converted to small duck ponds if they filled up with water. Two decades later I have to admit that I am pleased with how well I can cut a hole and replace it back with virtually no evidence that the ground had been touched. That's not bragging...thats just the evolution of the craft that I am sure every seasoned coil swinger has come to realize. Actually, I would hope everyone would recognize this specific part of the process is just as important as finding the target to dig. Aside from being super disappointing if a park, or a school, became off limits because of a few overly excited, backhoe wielding newbies...but because eventually you will drive the end of that shovel into the most priceless artifact to ever finds it way in your path. And you will be very disappointed that you were not more surgical.

P.S. If anyone would like to see the "actual" goblet that Jesus had at the last supper please swing by. Its the one on the mantle with the shovel gash in it.

 

[Normsel]

I just pulled over $160 in clad out of the same park and the only evidence of anyone digging a plug or flap is the guy before me. He dug 6"diameter plugs. I started that park 2 months ago and even the plugs the other guy cut have pretty much healed up.. Yes they browned up at 1st but mostly unless you know where are you can't tell now. There is no perfect method and I agree about leaving a hinge on a plug helps. I cut a lot of flaps and always leave a hinge.

I dug in a park last summer and was horrified after a few days all the plugs were brown. We had a hard rain and within days all the pugs greened up. The biggest thing is making sure you tamp your plugs back in the ground. I stomp mine in pretty hard so it looks like nothing is disturbed. I do know that most likely the plug will partially brown up...

The most important thing of all is cleaning up and making it appear you were never there.. I have seen guys that just dig a hole and kick the dirt back in and move on and some never even fill the hole.

 

[Digger RJ]

That's a nice technique. I normally use a 24" T-handle 3" shovel. When I dig My plug, I only dig a half of a circle not cutting the roots all the way around. After I fold it back enough to remove the item and fill it and tamp it back down, You can't hardly tell anything was done to that spot. I've also watched the areas that I've used this method and the grass hasn't died on places I've dug. I agree with You on how annoying it is to see dead circles. With a good technique everyone should be able to keep this from happening. Happy Hunting!!!

 

[bleeohio]

New people to the hobby showing up at parks with shovels are getting places closed to detecting fast around here. Drives me nuts, been detecting since the late 70s but it's getting tougher. I'm all for anyone enjoying the hobby but I'm afraid the slob mentality is going to kill it.

 

[rodco]

It helps the water to absorb in the ground
And digging a plug from me and my club we make sure to take out the trash big mouths is what causes good detectorists to lose parks to dig I’m sure it’s where someone’s dog crapped and they didn’t clean it up or even pissed on the grass !!, it always dies dogs are more destructive than digging a 2” plug!!

 

[Rawhide]

Our city parks use a tractor and a big tube with spikes that put divits in the grass. Do you think the grass doesnt grow back. I would say they did not dig plug deep enough disturbing the roots.

 

[8mygritz]

i always use the pointer before i dig.90% of the coins/other i've found are less than 2"down well within pointer range.allows for less diggin' time/hole size(mostly unnoticable).

 

[boogeyman]

I still carry & use a probe a lot. I make them from welding rod stuck in a golf ball, and screw drivers with an 8" shaft 1/8" tip. Now with the pinpointers you can stick a probe in & pop most anything 3" or shallower out. What you guys are saying about packing your plugs in is spot on! I've had two golf course managers and a groundsman tell me if you leave an air pocket, the roots "air prune" so it takes a lot longer for them to regenerate. I'd rather reschedule later in the year than lose the area completely digging in dry soil.

Rawhide, that is an airiator. Loosens the soil & a lot of times they apply chemical or manure fertilizer right after. Almost as bad as hunting a park after the geese have hung out there.