Try a long handled hoe for weeding nursery crops
A series of tip sheets on labor efficiency for nursery field work.
by Astrid Newenhouse, Marcia Miquelon, and Larry Chapman
University of Wisconsin, Madison
Healthy Farmers, Healthy Profits Project
Many of the hoes commonly used for weeding can strain your back, neck, shoulders, and arms because they force you to adopt a stooped position. Consider a long handled hoe with a sharp blade instead of what you currently use. Long handled hoes encourage you to stand up straight while you work and some keep your wrists and neck in a more neutral position. The unique design of these hoes can also help you save time and effort.
Bent over, chopping motion with the traditional hoe.
How do they work?
Hoes are designed either for slicing weeds at or just below ground level or for chopping weeds and cultivating or disturbing the soil surface. Blades on chopping hoes, such as a planter hoe or nursery hoe, are set at a sharp angle to the ground and are designed to move more soil than slicing hoes. While many types of slicing hoes are available (such as the stirrup, scuffle, half-moon and circle hoes), two in particular, the long-handled diamond hoe and the collinear hoe, allow you to stand straight with a neutral wrist position.
Left to right: the stirrup, collinear and long handled diamond hoe. The
long handled diamond hoe has a slightly angled "T" handle which
helps provide control and prevents wrist strain.
More upright posture, push/pull motion with the long handled diamond hoe.
The long handled diamond hoe has a 2” x 8” diamond-shaped blade, sharpened on all 4 edges. The handle is 6’ long and ends in a modified “T” shape. While standing upright, you push the hoe with your hand loosely gripping the “T” and pull it back again in a push-pull motion similar to running a household vacuum. With your other hand along the handle, you can gently guide the hoe. The collinear hoe has a 1 ¼” wide, 4” - 7” long rectangular blade angled so the blade is parallel to the ground while you stand upright. Grip the collinear hoe with your thumbs up, and make short, sweeping motions beside you near your feet. The motions are similar to using a broom or leaf rake. Collinear hoe handles come in 56”-68” lengths. Choose a handle long enough to let you hoe without stooping.
Benefits:
Less fatigue and discomfort. To prevent fatigue and soreness, it
helps to use a slicing hoe instead of a chopping hoe because you skim
it along the ground or slightly beneath the surface instead of repeatedly
lifting the hoe and moving a lot of soil. If the handle is long enough
on any slicing hoe, you can work with your back straight. Using a hoe
with a regular length handle (typically 54-57”) forces you to bend
to reach the ground, which strains your back, shoulders, arms, and neck.
With the long handled diamond hoe or the collinear hoe, the handle length
and blade position work together to let you hoe with your back straight.
In our trials, we took repeated measurements of spine angle from an hour
of work. On average, when using the long handled diamond hoe the worker
was more upright, with eight degrees of forward lean from vertical, as
compared to fifteen degrees of forward lean using the stirrup hoe. With
the diamond hoe, you also have less neck strain because you face forward
as you work instead of sideways. Holding the slightly angled “T”
handle on the end of the long handled diamond hoe, or grasping the collinear
hoe in a sweeping position with your thumbs upwards puts your wrist in
line with your arm in a neutral position that isn’t bent or twisted.
This helps prevent wrist strain.
