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MediaHound · 10-24-2008, 09:34 AM

Brian, I moved to Stuart FL. It's undercrowded (my insurance is about a third less!), extremely beautiful, and the people are so nice!

The move overall was a lot of work, it took several trucks to move all the plants. Some fruit trees I probably should have not attempted but figured I would give them a shot. I lost some avocados, mangoes, caimito, chocolate pudding tree, some jakfruit, variegated pink lemon, and others.

But this gas powered shovel I had purchased made the entire move a much more simple process. I did almost cut my big toe off on my right foot, the nail is still black.
I was digging saba corms. They were so large they needed to be cut down to the soil level, totally topped off. The diameter of the pseudostem at that level were approx 26" or so. The best way was to slice the corms into pie and half pie shaped pieces, like cutting a pizza in half, and pry those smaller chunks out of the earth. Using the spade made it simple, you just start at the edge, go straight down, lift up, move over, go straight down, lift up, etc till you cut a fairly straight line. It goes down through the corm like a hot knife through butter. But its a heavy machine so its work to keep lifting ad moving it over. Well, one time I lifted and moved it over, it was sort of stuck, so I had to use force to lift up. It came up, and went down on my toe. The edge 1" of the blade hit the edge 1" of my shoe. Leather sneaker, Nike. The shoe saved my toe. The blade hit just before where the nail starts, it would have cut the toe right after the knuckle had I been wearing anything less protective. I actually thought it was cut off, the pain was enormous.
So I recommend nothing other than steel toe boots when using this machine.
It's funny, when I bought it, I joked with the guy that loaded it into my car. I said, when I cut my foot off, I'll come back and sue you. He said "no way, no guarantees!". We both laughed. It almost happened! (well, I wouldn't have sued, that part was really just a joke).. As careful as I was, a little fatigue combined with a little off balance force goes a long way.
Those of you that watched the instructional videos I embedded in post #1 saw how they show how to sharpen the blade, I'm very glad I did not take that recommendation, I would have 100% for certain cut off the toe had I done it!

Anyway...

If you ever need to move a lot of trees around and want an amazing tool thats designed to do exactly that, get your hands on the Dyna Diggr! I highly recommend it. Any members from here that are nearby that ever wants to rent, borrow, or barter to use it, just let me know. Your feet and toes and everything else (your power and cable lines) are your responsibility though! It is an amazing tool and I'm very glad I got it, without it would have made moving the plants much harder, some I would not have even attempted. It paid for itself in those regards alone.

10-24-2008, 09:34 AM	#16 (permalink)
MediaHound Tally-Man MediaHound's Photo Gallery Location: Florida Find me on the map! Zone: 10 Name: Jarred Join Date: Jul 2005 Posts: 5,289 BananaBucks : 2,606,247 Feedback: 73 / 100% Said "Thanks" 3,940 Times Was Thanked 5,147 Times in 1,372 Posts Said "Welcome to Bananas" 2,089 Times	Re: Dyna Diggr Brian, I moved to Stuart FL. It's undercrowded (my insurance is about a third less!), extremely beautiful, and the people are so nice! The move overall was a lot of work, it took several trucks to move all the plants. Some fruit trees I probably should have not attempted but figured I would give them a shot. I lost some avocados, mangoes, caimito, chocolate pudding tree, some jakfruit, variegated pink lemon, and others. But this gas powered shovel I had purchased made the entire move a much more simple process. I did almost cut my big toe off on my right foot, the nail is still black. I was digging saba corms. They were so large they needed to be cut down to the soil level, totally topped off. The diameter of the pseudostem at that level were approx 26" or so. The best way was to slice the corms into pie and half pie shaped pieces, like cutting a pizza in half, and pry those smaller chunks out of the earth. Using the spade made it simple, you just start at the edge, go straight down, lift up, move over, go straight down, lift up, etc till you cut a fairly straight line. It goes down through the corm like a hot knife through butter. But its a heavy machine so its work to keep lifting ad moving it over. Well, one time I lifted and moved it over, it was sort of stuck, so I had to use force to lift up. It came up, and went down on my toe. The edge 1" of the blade hit the edge 1" of my shoe. Leather sneaker, Nike. The shoe saved my toe. The blade hit just before where the nail starts, it would have cut the toe right after the knuckle had I been wearing anything less protective. I actually thought it was cut off, the pain was enormous. So I recommend nothing other than steel toe boots when using this machine. It's funny, when I bought it, I joked with the guy that loaded it into my car. I said, when I cut my foot off, I'll come back and sue you. He said "no way, no guarantees!". We both laughed. It almost happened! (well, I wouldn't have sued, that part was really just a joke).. As careful as I was, a little fatigue combined with a little off balance force goes a long way. Those of you that watched the instructional videos I embedded in post #1 saw how they show how to sharpen the blade, I'm very glad I did not take that recommendation, I would have 100% for certain cut off the toe had I done it! Anyway... If you ever need to move a lot of trees around and want an amazing tool thats designed to do exactly that, get your hands on the Dyna Diggr! I highly recommend it. Any members from here that are nearby that ever wants to rent, borrow, or barter to use it, just let me know. Your feet and toes and everything else (your power and cable lines) are your responsibility though! It is an amazing tool and I'm very glad I got it, without it would have made moving the plants much harder, some I would not have even attempted. It paid for itself in those regards alone. __________________ Apologies in advance if I am slow to reply to your PM. I suggest posting in the forums for support if you need something urgent.