Top critical review
3.0 out of 5 starsA bit disappointing
Reviewed in the United States on May 14, 2024
My weeder arrived today and I had high hopes it would be fantastic, based on all the five star reviews. Not a fan of chemical solutions because of pets, birds, and other wildlife, so thought it was worth a try.
Now maybe my dandelions are particularly robust, have an unusually long root, my soil is particularly compacted, or I'm not following the directions, but I tried the tool in two separate sections of lawn, and two separate flower beds. Out of curiosity, I also tried the tool in a weedy area alongside my brick walkway that has lots of limestone grit that these dandelions thrive in. Here are my initial observations--
1. Like other posters commented, the tool doesn't work great in stony areas, which was the case with the dandelions in the limestone grit. No deduction here, as I wasn't expecting a different result.
2. In both areas of lawn, we have topsoil over well drained gravel ground. The ground was very moist from recent rain, when I used the weeder probably twenty times in total. The head was fully sunk in the ground before I pivoted the arm slowly to pinch and pull the root, and the four prongs were centered on the dandelion greens as suggested. In over half the attempts, I'd hear a snap and when I looked at what the weeder retrieved, the root was broken off right below the prongs-- so I am only getting between 2 and 3 inches of root. (I'm not convinced this is enough to kill the dandelion, just slow it down.) If the dandelions were small, the tool did get what appeared to be the entire root, but those weeds are pretty easy to remove with a traditional short-handled forked weeder. Rather disappointing results overall.
3. If you don't enjoy kneeling and working with a traditional weeder, and prefer standing, I can see how this tool would be a great improvement.
4. I do have another type of weed in my lawn that has broad leaves and a short root, and the weeder does a great job with that.
I'm keeping an open mind with this product, will try it again when the lawn is a bit drier to see if I get better results, and will update this review.