Detector Test Garden Plans?

[lengds@yahoo.com]

I will be buying a ACE 250 or similar this spring, but need some plans for a test garden I can make now to learn with and check the detectors characterists. Any such plans available. I will be using in Western ORegon for coin, jewelry, and some nugget hunting. THis will give me something to do until I get my first detector. THankyou. Gene

 

[DavHut]

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[John-Edmonton]

<center><img src="http://members.shaw.ca/john_edmonton/test%20garden.jpg">

Here is what mine looks like. I was just concerned about the older silver coins. You can get creative and bury all sorts of things. Just remember this, that your coins will not read very well for the first 3 years, as it takes a while for a halo to form. A coin reading 9 inches on an air test will maybe only read 4-5 inches in a newly built test garden.

 

[DavHut]

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[lengds@yahoo.com]

Hi John. Thankyou for the pic of your test garden. I have some old coins and I will make up one like yours. Much appreciated. Gene

 

[Uncle Willy]

And many coins freshly buried won't read at all. My garden got dug up when the old lady got a bug to grade the yard off and put down new grass so I need to put in another.

Bill

 

[lengds@yahoo.com]

Hi Bill. I plan on putting my garden in what she calls 'man land'. I hope you can give me some hints on where to practice until the garden is 3 years old. Just get out there and start? Gene

 

[englishprof]

Since I'm new to the forum, I probably shouldn't tell this story, but . . . Several years ago I was planting a treasure garden when the seven-year old from next door and one of his second grade buddies came by to see what I was doing. I'm sorry, but it was too good to pass up; I intimated that money would grow out of the ground and I expected a good crop. I noticed them coming by for the next couple of days looking to see if anything happened. One night I found a small twig with two leaves on it and stuck it into the ground until the leaves were flush, then put a penny on one leaf and a nickle on the other. The kids must have been on their way to school the next morning when I heard this shriek and heard them running to the bus stop yelling about the money plants. When they came over after school I explained that I was as puzzled as they were, because I had never seen the plants cross-pollinate before and had no idea how a penny and a nickle could grow on the same plant.

 

[DavHut]

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[John-Edmonton]

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[Uncle Willy]

If you have access to bark chip playgrounds go bury some coins there at different depths and practice. Or to practice centering and pinpointing coins - tape some coins ( about a foot apart )to a piece of cardboard, turn it upside down, and then see if you can find the coins, and center and pinpoint them correctly. Use something sharp like an ice pick to poke through the cardboard to see if you nailed the coin. It's good practice.

Bill

 

[Uncle Willy]

Great story.

Bill

 

[lengds@yahoo.com]

I do live next to a new playground and can do the cardboard coin easily too. No way to duplicate the aging halo coin? Gene

 

[Uncle Willy]

True but only coins that have been in the ground forever develop a halo. Depending on the ground and the local weather some may never develop one.

Bill

 

[lengds@yahoo.com]

Does a halo then appear more easily to a detector because its leaching into the surrounding soil and if so would a PI detector do better for new and old coins since they are less sensitive to mineralization than a VLF. I been reading on the two types and maybe I got it wrong? Gene

 

[Uncle Willy]

Moisture and soil acidity work on the coin and the halo is actually composed of microscopic bits of the coin that have leached into the soil all around it making it appear as a much larger coin to the detector.

PI detectors work well in mineralized soil but they are like hunting with a VLF in all metal and you basically have to dig everything. They don't discriminate well at all.

Bill