A dibber or dibble is a pointed wooden stick for making holes in the ground so that seeds, seedlings or small bulbs can be planted. Dibbers come in a variety of designs including the straight dibber, T-handled dibber, trowel dibber, and L-shaped dibber.

History

The dibber was first recorded in Roman times and has remained mostly unchanged since. In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, farmers would use long-handled dibbers of metal or wood to plant crops. One man would walk with a dibber making holes, and a second man would plant seeds in each hole and fill it in. It was not until the Renaissance

Renaissance

The Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned roughly the 14th to the 17th century, beginning in Italy in the Late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe. The term is also used more loosely to refer to the historical era, but since the changes of the Renaissance were not...

 that dibbers became a manufactured item, some made of iron for penetrating harder soils and clay.

Straight dibber

This is the classic dibber. It is anything from a sharpened stick to a more complicated model incorporating a curved handle and pointed steel end. It may be made of wood, steel or plastic.

T-handled dibber

This dibber is much like the classic dibber, but with a T-grip that fits in the palm to make it easier to apply torque

Torque

Torque, moment or moment of force , is the tendency of a force to rotate an object about an axis, fulcrum, or pivot. Just as a force is a push or a pull, a torque can be thought of as a twist....

. This allows the user to exert even pressure creating consistent hole depth.

The ideal T-handled dibber is fashioned from the remains of an old fork or spade handle, retaining the T, and with the shaft whittled to a point.

Trowel dibber

This dibber combines the features of a dibber and a trowel. It is usually forged from aluminum or other lightweight material. One end is for dibbing, and the other end is shaped like a trowel.

Electronic dibber

In colloquial use, the term 'dibber' is often now used to refer to electronic timing units worn on a finger such as the SI-cards used in orienteering

Orienteering

Orienteering is a family of sports that requires navigational skills using a map and compass to navigate from point to point in diverse and usually unfamiliar terrain, and normally moving at speed. Participants are given a topographical map, usually a specially prepared orienteering map, which they...

events. These units are shaped a bit like (small) wooden dibbers. The term 'dibber' is often confused with the word "ribber" which is used as an alternative term for a TV remote in areas of London

Sources and external links

• William Bryant Logan, Smith & Hawken The Tool Book, 1997
• Antique Farm Tools