The Weed Hound

Spray the lawn and nobody walks on it for the rest of the day. Dig the weed out by hand and you are on your knees with a screwdriver. Most stand-up weeders are the third option, and they tear a divot out of the turf on the way up.

This one lifts a narrow plug instead, so the lawn closes back over the hole.

Why this one

Six concentric steel tines close around the whole base of the weed rather than stabbing at a single taproot. That is the difference between a tool that does well on dandelions and struggles everywhere else, and one that holds thistle, clover, plantain, chickweed and crabgrass too. Professional grade steel throughout with reinforced welds and a powder coated finish, no wooden handle to crack or rot when it lives in the garage, and under 3 pounds, so an afternoon of weeding does not wear out your shoulders.

You never touch the weed

Step, tilt, then press the knob with your thumb and the weed drops out of the tines. No bending, no kneeling, and no stopping to pull a wet dandelion out of the tool by hand. The handle is 39 inches, which keeps you upright whether you are five foot or six foot four.

No chemicals, and honest about how it works

Nothing sprayed means kids and dogs go back on the grass the same afternoon. It wants soil with some give: if your ground is baked hard, water the area an hour before you weed and the whole root comes up with it. In dust dry clay it will fight you.

It plugs sod too

The core it pulls is clean enough that the same tool works for lawn repairs and for moving grass plugs from one spot to another.

How to use it

1. Approach the weed with the round knob pushed down.
2. Place the tine tips around the center of the weed's base.
3. Step down firmly. The tines sink in and the knob raises up.
4. Pull up slowly, with the weed held in the tines.
5. Push the knob down firmly to release the weed and the root.

What goes with it

The Perfect Planter opens the hole for whatever goes in where the weed came out, and it works the same way, standing up. The two ship together as the Yard and Garden Kit for less than buying them apart.