Earth Auger & Post Hole Digger

An earth auger is a petrol-engined post hole digger: a helical steel bit on a geared head that drills a clean vertical hole in a minute or two instead of twenty minutes of crowbar and phawda work. On Indian farms it is bought for planting pits in orchards and nurseries, post holes for cattle and solar fencing, uprights for shade nets and bird perches, and foundation holes for sheds and gates. Fencing contractors and drip and shade-structure installers are the other steady buyers.

How to choose an earth auger

Bore diameter is the first decision, and it is set by what goes into the hole. An 80 or 100 mm bit takes a fence post or an angle iron. A 150 or 200 mm bit covers most boundary fencing and shade-net poles with room for concrete around the post. A 300 mm bit is for planting, and takes a nursery sapling with its root ball intact, which is the size an orchard planting season actually needs.

Drill length is the second. The standard bit is 80 cm, which is deeper than most fence posts require. Go to 100, 120 or 140 cm only if you are setting saplings that root deep, or posts that must stand against wind and cattle pressure. A longer bit in hard ground also means more torque returning through the handles, so do not buy length you will not use.

Soil decides more than the specification sheet does. In worked loam or sandy soil the machine drills continuously and one operator can manage. In black soil that has dried and set, in murram, or in ground full of old roots and loose stone, the bit binds, and when the bit stops the engine tries to turn the operator instead. On that kind of ground this is a two-man machine and no amount of engine size changes it.

Finally, decide between powered and manual. For a few dozen holes a season in workable soil, a manual auger has no engine to fuel or service, costs a fraction as much and is far more controllable among stones. For a planting season or a fencing contract, the petrol machine is the only sensible answer.

The models JP Kissan supplies

The powered unit is the JP-KISSAN earth auger, built around a matched 1E44F-5 engine of 49cc rated at 1.65 KW, or 2.2 HP, running on a 25:1 mixed fuel ratio. It is supplied as standard with an 80 cm drill at 100 mm diameter, which is the fencing configuration, and weighs 10.50 kg net and 12.50 kg gross, so it travels on a motorcycle or in the back of a jeep without difficulty.

The same head accepts optional drills in 80, 100, 120 and 140 cm lengths and in 80, 100, 120, 150, 200 and 300 mm diameters, so one machine covers both fencing and planting provided you buy the bits for both. Most buyers take the 80 cm head with a 150 or 200 mm bit for post work and add a 300 mm bit before the planting season starts.

Alongside it we supply manual augers and drill bits. A hand auger works on body weight and rotation rather than engine torque, which makes it slower but considerably safer where the ground is stony, because if the bit catches there is nothing driving it. The bits fit both the manual and the powered head, so what you buy for one carries across to the other and nothing is wasted if you later add a machine.

Running cost and what affects the price

Pricing is on enquiry through a dealer and depends on the configuration you order. Engine and gearbox account for most of the cost of a powered unit, and the drill bits are quoted separately, so a 30 cm planting bit is a meaningful addition to the machine price. Decide your bit sizes before asking for a quote. Manual augers are quoted separately again and cost far less. Running cost is mixed fuel plus bit wear: the cutting blades and the pilot point at the tip are the parts that go, faster in murram and stony soil than in loam, so check spare parts availability at the time of purchase rather than mid-season.

Where an earth auger is used

At orchard planting time for mango, guava, pomegranate or citrus, a 30 cm bit opens pits along a marked line far faster than a team with crowbars, and every hole comes out the same depth, which matters for even establishment across a block.

On fencing work, whether a cattle fence around a plot or a solar fence line, a 15 or 20 cm bit sets posts at even spacing on a true line, and one contractor with a machine covers a boundary in a day that would otherwise take a week by hand.

For shade nets, polyhouse frames, drip line supports and bird perches, the auger drills the foundation holes for the uprights without disturbing the soil around them, so concrete sets against undisturbed ground rather than loose backfill.

Safety and handling

The real risk with a powered auger is torque, not the blade. If the bit meets a stone or a root the drill stops and the engine tries to spin the machine, taking the operator with it. Release the throttle the instant the bit binds, keep your feet apart and braced, and never put your arm through the handle frame. On hard or unknown ground, run it as a two-man machine with one operator on each handle.

Drill in stages rather than driving straight down to full depth. Go down about a third, lift the bit clear to shed the spoil, then go again. A bit packed solid with soil binds, and clearing a jammed bit out of a deep hole is where most of the trouble starts.

The engine is two stroke and takes a 25:1 petrol and oil mix, made up in a can before fuelling, never poured separately into the tank. Keep the gearbox oil topped up, and check that the locking pin holding the bit to the output shaft is in and secure before every start, because a bit that comes free under load is dangerous. Boots, gloves and eye protection are worth wearing: a powered auger throws grit.