Finger Weeders

Mode of Action	uproots weeds ejects weeds from crop row hill intrarow depending on settings
Required Bed Space	loose, level soil
Row Spacing	10 - 13" for smaller finger weeders 13+ " for larger finger weeders
Soil Type	best on light to medium-heavy clay soils not good on hard soils
Optimum Weed Stage	cotelydon to 2-leaf
Optimum Crops	most crops with sufficient row spacing well-rooted crops (not early transplants)
Optimum Crop Stage	2+ true leaves, must be well-rooted
Speed	2.5 - 7.5 mph
Settings	must be precisely centered on crop row cultivation is more aggressive as fingers are moved closer to crop row 3/4" apart for young crops
Crop Damage	crops must be planted to proper depth and well-rooted with firmed soil around it
Combinations with Other Tools	especially effective combined with interrow tools such as hoes, tines, sweeps, side knives, etc can be combined with torsion weeders to control larger intrarow weeds can stack effectively in the order of torsion-finger-row tine harrows (see Brown & Gallandt below)

Modified from van der Schans et al. (2006). Practical weed control in arable farming and outdoor vegetable cultivation without chemicals. Wageningen UR, Applied Plant Research: Lelystad, Netherlands.

 

Videos

Steketee mounted to a Planet Jr walk behind

Power Ox walk behind from Tilmor

Terrateck Double Wheel Hoe

Finger weeders via Michican State University Extension

 

In the Literature

Brown, B, and ER Gallandt. (2018). Evidence of synergy with 'stacked' intrarow cultivation tools. Weed Research 58(4):284-291