Yard Butler IWST-1 Yard Butler Deep Root Irrigator Watering-Wands, Green

After reading reviews, I was pleasantly surprised about the solid metal rod construction of the irrigator. Unlike others, this irrigator shoots straight down like a nozzle spray and helps dig the hole. It also does not clog and seems reliable although I have only had it a couple of weeks. It waters my tree roots very well. Two items to mention. (1) I had trouble at first with water leaking out through the hose connection. I thought it was a defect, but then I learned to spin the rod around the hose to get it tighter. Afterwards, no problems. (2) There is not a shutoff valve by the hose connection. So the irrigator stays on all of the time. When I was walking long distances, I crimped the hose to shut it off between trees. I have since bought an inexpensive hose shutoff valve connector which I think will solve the problem. Bottom line, it is working very well for me and does the job.

Well made. Be sure to get shutoff attachment for your hose. That way you can put in ground before turning water on. This is less messy. Also be sure to listen to hear water flowing. One time I jammed it against rock or root and it stopped water flow. Now I know to pull back a little if that happens. Very happy.

Great irriatator BUT no on/off switch, I drilled a few more holes on the sides to allow more water flow. There is only one hole which is at the very tip of the irriatator which worked ok. Remember this irriatator does not have an on/off valve switch, I recommend a brass valve NOT plastic. If you don't buy an on/off switch valve you will get wet/muddy more as you use your irriatator. When irriatatoring you will have to turn the water on some because the hole at the tip will clog. As the water is on push up and down a few times in the ground, it needs to be damp/wet as you push down further into the ground and yes you might get muddy. You will have to repeat this up and down process slowly depending on your soil (do not push hard). In the Seattle area we have lots of sand, rock, ash and clay so this will take time. Again you will need a on/off switch (brass) and drill a few more holes like I did so it can spray 5 different ways, be very careful when drilling holes (drill press) works best. One more thing...wear goggles unless you like mud in your eye.

I bought this despite some negative reviews. I'm glad I did!I'm in central Texas. We are drought-prone from mid to late summer. On top of that we get some years where we don't get long, soaking rains for many more months (or even a couple of years). Irrigating from the top is effective until the point where the surrounding soil is deep-dry and it takes a long time to slow soak down to the lower roots. If you water only at the top the plant won't extend it's roots down and you'll aggravate the problems with shallow root system.In the summer I would have the hose on slow output and walk it every several minutes from plant to plant. It was time consuming and obviously ineffective as I could tell from the plants disposition I was not spending enough time to get the water deep enough.Enter the Deep Root Irrigator. Now, rather than water top down I water bottom up. I put a brass on/off valve at the input. Walk from plant to plant and insert the irrigator into the soil while the water is flowing. I hit the plant at three or four points around the circumference until the water is flowing over the top.I've found I spend less time watering and my plants are much healthier. I'm saving time and money (water + plants).I'm happy with my purchase.

I made a modification so that water would actually come out -- because the watering hole is out of the tip, the same tip that you use to bore the hole into the ground, dirt is driven up into the hole when you push it into the ground and no amount of water pressure would drive the dirt out again once this had occurred, rendering this basically useless as a watering device.I wish that I had kept my father's deep root waterer that he had used for years -- it had multiple holes on the sides for water delivery in multiple directions and no hole at the tip.So, being a girl with a drill, I drilled a couple holes in the sides and now it is effectively delivering water to the rootline of the ailing white alder tree in my coop complex.

Bought this irrigation tool to assist in the excavation of some buried fence post hole concrete. It worked really well. With the water on, the Yard Butler drilled its' own deep holes easily. Four or five quick holes around the concrete of each post made for easy removal. Check 'You Tube' for the various methods of fence post extraction. (Hint: regardless of your chosen method, you must leave the Yard Butler buried in one of its' holes with the water turned on just slightly while doing the extraction for this trick to work). Come the dog days of summer I will be using this tool as the manufacturer intended, on heat stressed trees and shrubs around my yard. It should be 'a walk in the park' compared to fence post removal.

I'm using this to bore holes to vertically mulch about 15 trees in my yard that are showing signs of stress from the recent construction of our home. I've had no issue with the fittings as others have complained. I must have bored at least 500 holes into Georgia clay and this thing does a fantastic job! Much easier than using an auger! If your tip is getting clogged, it's probably because you're forcing it into the soil before turning on the water. I start the holes by positioning the tip under my rubber boot and then blast away to start the hole before I push down. I position it under my boot to prevent a face full of blow back (learned that the hard way!).