Ditch Digging Tools

Manual Trenchers

• Spades, shovels and hoes are excellent choices for small ditch-digging jobs such as installing a brick border around a flower garden or a French drain project. Trenching shovels come in varying widths to match common brick and drain widths and are pressed into the ground by foot. These tools remove dirt one shovelful at a time. Hoes and spades are wider and are useful for creating half-circles and other intersections in your ditch design. While these tools are less expensive than electric versions, they require more time to complete the project.

Walk-Behind Electric Trenchers

• For larger projects such as installing a sprinkler or irrigation system or an electric fence, an electric ditch digger may be a better choice. Walk-behind trenchers are used when a narrow, medium-depth trench is needed. Walk-behind trenchers are generally small, about 2 to 3 feet wide and are pushed along a desired line or design. Some walk-behind trenchers go only in a straight line while others, like bed edge trenchers, create circular trenches, such as the type desired for use around a tree. Walk-behind wire trenchers are used specifically for installing electric dog fences and simultaneously digging a ditch and burying an electrical wire, for example.

Riding Electric Trenchers

• Riding electric trenchers are huge machines used to create large ditches for projects by professionals. Projects can include installing telephone and digital cables underground. These types of heavy machines are made by companies like Vermeer, Astec and Ditch Witch and require training to operate but are useful for large-scale products.

Swing Hoe and Disc Ditchers

• Another type of ditch digger is a ditcher that attaches to a farm tractor. This trenchers is also useful for large ditch-digging projects such as installing an irrigation system on a farm. A swing hoe trench digger is useful for creating long, straight ditches. A disc ditcher is helpful for cutting down irrigation levees or for cutting trenches that are 20 inches wide by 12 inches deep. Offset and center-cut power ditchers can create ditches up to 12 inches deep and remove soil from the trench up to 30 feet away, keeping the digging area orderly and maneuverable.