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How To Create A Test Garden


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So I’m a total noob.  I’m getting my first detector later this week, an Equinox 800.  In fact, it has already arrived at my local dealer but my Garrett Carrot won’t be in for another day or two so I’m waiting to get everything all at once.  I want to create a test garden and have read various bits here on the forums about folks using them but can’t really find any information on how to actually create one.  If this has been covered somewhere already, I’d appreciate any direction on how to find it.  I’m sure creating a test garden seems pretty intuitive to experienced detectorists but there’s got to be more to it then getting some stuff you want to find and some stuff you don’t want to find and sticking it in the ground.  I’m looking to make best use of the liimited space in my suburban lot to maximize learning and continually refine my detecting skills.  I’m in southeast Michigan so (I’m assuming) I have very mild soil.  Temperatures right now are bouncing around from 20-40 degrees F so frozen ground may limit what I can do until spring.  I’m guessing that with mild soil, bench (air) testing may be a close second best to a test garden.  I intend to start doing mostly coin shooting in parks and approved public land, then as my skills improve, add in some Lake Michigan fresh water beach hunting.  Then, if I can gain some research skills, perhaps do some relic hunting on private land (with permission of course).  With these parameters in mind, any advice would be appreciated, not only for how to create and use the garden but tips for bench testing too.  Thanks!

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9 hours ago, phrunt said:

That's one hell of a first detector and a great choice, you won't be disappointed once you understand how detectors work and how to understand what it's telling you, in all honesty I think you're better off just going out detecting, digging everything that makes a noise, you'll soon learn how to use the machine and what it's telling you.  I think air testing is OK for the purpose of finding out target ID's of things you want to find but don't worry about depths and so on, they really mean very little when air testing.  My understanding is an air test is as good as it gets, rarely will you achieve those depths in the ground.  

I've found my Nox 800 detects super deep in snow, I have no idea why but I think the water/snow/ice enhances depth, even more so than targets in the air.  I don't know enough about how detectors work to know why, maybe it's because water is conductive? so you'll still be able to go out in frozen/snowy ground as long as you can still dig.  The Nox is also waterproof so you don't have to care about getting it wet ?

People seem to use test gardens mainly to compare detectors, you're better off just going out there swinging, no point finding stuff you've buried when you can get real finds ?

I am certain you'll learn more about your detector going out detecting than you will with a test garden but you're in for a good time once you get your Nox.

Thanks for the advice, phrunt!  I didn’t think I would be able to do much with the NOX before springtime but your comments have given me hope.  The ground here hasn’t gotten to the long-lasting, hard freeze state yet so I think I’ll be able to get in some hunting and learning before it does.  I read a lot of reviews on various detectors and got some great information posted by the members of this forum before deciding on the NOX.  I read the owner’s manual once, then read CJC’s “From Beginner to Advanced” book about the Equinox series, and now am working my way through the owner’s manual a second time.  Can you tell I’m getting stoked?  I hope to have the NOX tomorrow or Friday.  I look forward to the day when I too, can post something useful.  Thanks again!

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Hi

Until your ground thaws out this spring, you could try something like this. You could use any container that hold about 2 gallons like those 2.5 gallon plastic buckets that are half the size of the 5 gallon buckets or cut a 5 gallon bucket in half roughly, or any shaped container of that size with 6" to 12" depth, some clean dirt or sand with any metallic targets removed (Gold 1 or 2 on the 800 and a good handheld pinpointer or strong magnet can remove those pieces, if you use a 2.5 or 5 gallon bucket take off the handle!), a piece of PVC pipe that will fit standing up in the middle of your container so it is flush with the top level of the dirt or sand and some rounded styrofoam that can fit inside the PVC. You can cut small recesses in the styrofoam at 1 inch increments that are large enough to hold coins, bottle caps, pull tabs or rings........ I use 2" diameter for testing small lead and gold prospecting targets,  but you could use a different size. Some people put a slightly larger PVC pipe in as a sleeve and then use a slightly smaller PVC pipe with the styrofoam inside so you don't dislodge your pipe every time you remove the styrofoam. You just want a container about the size (or bigger) than the diameter of your coil.

This is a little better than inside air testing since the coil will be moving, you can take it outside and there is some form of ground mineralization. There isn't any target halo to speak of but it is about the same as a new test bed in mild soil until you can get your outdoor test bed established and your targets have a chance to chemically react with the surrounding soil.

When you are able to establish your outdoor test bed try to find an area in you yard with the least EMI. I stupidly put my first test bed too close to an overhead electric line and to my neighbors Ham radio antenna!    Jeff

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.The test field is not a bad idea, I have a single 4x4 meter square to quickly retest the detector setting, and also the coil and EMI resistance. It's located in my fruit garden ... 35X35metres long=1200 squares metres and polluted with old iron, and practically cleaned from non-ferrous metals this is my 2 test ...,
 

...

Zkušební pole není špatný nápad, mám také zkušební pole 4x4 metrů -1Test rychle zkontrolovat nastavení detektoru a také odpor cívky a EMI. Nachází se v mé ovocné zahradě ... 35 x 35 metrů dlouhé = 1200 metrů2, a znečištěné starým železem, .... čisté z neželezných kovů to je moje 2.test ...,
 
 

říjen 5 iphone 5S 2018 022_DxO.jpg 

3. Test is my 50l ceramic rust - "Liapor" in a plastic container, - testing in high mineralized soil -4 Bar Fe3O4-TekG2-11"DD.. This very quickly revealed how to set up the detector and also the velocity sweep speed in similar conditions....

 

Test 3 - je moje 50l keramická hrdla - "Liapor" v plastové nádobě, - testování ve vysoké mineralizované půdě -4 bar F3O4-tekG2-11dd "cívka .. -Tato velmi rychle detekovala správné nastavení detektoru a také rychlost otáčení cívky za podobných podmínek ...

16. listopadu iphone5S 2018 011_DxO.jpg

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5 hours ago, Jeff McClendon said:

Hi

Until your ground thaws out this spring, you could try something like this. You could use any container that hold about 2 gallons like those 2.5 gallon plastic buckets that are half the size of the 5 gallon buckets or cut a 5 gallon bucket in half roughly, or any shaped container of that size with 6" to 12" depth, some clean dirt or sand with any metallic targets removed (Gold 1 or 2 on the 800 and a good handheld pinpointer or strong magnet can remove those pieces, if you use a 2.5 or 5 gallon bucket take off the handle!), a piece of PVC pipe that will fit standing up in the middle of your container so it is flush with the top level of the dirt or sand and some rounded styrofoam that can fit inside the PVC. You can cut small recesses in the styrofoam at 1 inch increments that are large enough to hold coins, bottle caps, pull tabs or rings........ I use 2" diameter for testing small lead and gold prospecting targets,  but you could use a different size. Some people put a slightly larger PVC pipe in as a sleeve and then use a slightly smaller PVC pipe with the styrofoam inside so you don't dislodge your pipe every time you remove the styrofoam. You just want a container about the size (or bigger) than the diameter of your coil.

This is a little better than inside air testing since the coil will be moving, you can take it outside and there is some form of ground mineralization. There isn't any target halo to speak of but it is about the same as a new test bed in mild soil until you can get your outdoor test bed established and your targets have a chance to chemically react with the surrounding soil.

When you are able to establish your outdoor test bed try to find an area in you yard with the least EMI. I stupidly put my first test bed too close to an overhead electric line and to my neighbors Ham radio antenna!    Jeff

Thanks Jeff, great idea!   This is why I love this forum.  There is no end to the creativity and helpfulness of the members.  Great tip on the EMI.  I too, have an overhead electric line in my yard and would not have thought to consider it’s potential effects.  It will be interesting to run some tests to determine how much interference they cause at various distances and then play with auto and manual Noise Cancellation to ameliorate the effects.  Thanks!

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On 12/12/2018 at 4:47 PM, EL NINO77 said:

.... Zkušební pole není špatný nápad, mám také zkušební pole 4x4 metrů -1Test rychle zkontrolovat nastavení detektoru a také odpor cívky a EMI. Nachází se v mé ovocné zahradě ... 35 x 35 metrů dlouhé = 1200 metrů2, a znečištěné starým železem, .... čisté z neželezných kovů to je moje 2.test ...,
 
 

říjen 5 iphone 5S 2018 022_DxO.jpg   

Test 3 - je moje 50l keramická hrdla - "Liapor" v plastové nádobě, - testování ve vysoké mineralizované půdě -4 bar F3O4-tekG2-11dd "cívka .. -Tato velmi rychle detekovala správné nastavení detektoru a také rychlost otáčení cívky za podobných podmínek ...

16. listopadu iphone5S 2018 011_DxO.jpg

 

Děkuji El Nino 77! Líbí se mi vaše nápady pro tyto tři rychlé testy, zejména pomocí a. Plastová nádoba o objemu 50 litrů. Přál bych si, abych měl velkou plochu jako tvůj sadu. To zní skvěle. Díky za vaši pomoc a šťastný lov!

 

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One (negative) issue with typical test garden is the difficulty in modification.  That also means (unless you have lots of time and lots of space) you are limited in what you can test.  A modifiable test garden is preferred, IMO.

A quick-and-dirty option is to fill quart sized Ziploc freezer bags with soil, enough to result in ~1 inch thick dirt when laying flat.  Not only can you then vary the 'depth' of the target by stacking them, but in addition you can distribute trash items (nails, pulltabs, bottle caps, can slaw, etc.) both at the same level but also 'deeper' and 'shallower' at the transitions between bags.

You'll get the most value from a test garden when it's closest to being like the real world.  The ideal case of a deep coin with no trash near it is rare compared to targets at moderate (even shallow) depths interfered with by nearby trash.

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...One of the very good test fields :  

 

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23 hours ago, GB_Amateur said:

One (negative) issue with typical test garden is the difficulty in modification.  That also means (unless you have lots of time and lots of space) you are limited in what you can test.  A modifiable test garden is preferred, IMO.

A quick-and-dirty option is to fill quart sized Ziploc freezer bags with soil, enough to result in ~1 inch thick dirt when laying flat.  Not only can you then vary the 'depth' of the target by stacking them, but in addition you can distribute trash items (nails, pulltabs, bottle caps, can slaw, etc.) both at the same level but also 'deeper' and 'shallower' at the transitions between bags.

You'll get the most value from a test garden when it's closest to being like the real world.  The ideal case of a deep coin with no trash near it is rare compared to targets at moderate (even shallow) depths interfered with by nearby trash.

Thanks GB, what a great idea!  I got my first detector, an Equinox 800, late Thursday afternoon. Took it into my suburban back yard yesterday and got a feel for just what you’re talking about.  I guess I was expecting a perfectly “clean playing field” dotted with the occasional perfectly clear, crisp signals of desirable finds.  Needless to say, I often got multiple, in distinct, and so far to me, confusing signals.  I was digging everything so I found lots of foil, a couple nails, a screw, some mysterious ferrous items, the top part of an old tube of airplane glue (made of lead I think), a clad dime and half a matchbox car. The NOX was trying to tell me a lot more than I could understand yet, so my journey into learning the language has just begun.  Your idea for using bags to be able to mix and match targets, depths,  and interfering signals sounds like a good way to approximate actual conditions.  Since we’re rapidly approaching frozen ground conditions here in Michigan, it will also allow me to learn and practice throughout the winter.  Thanks for this great tip!

Jim

 

C58517B6-9762-4204-88FF-2FEE7970A569.jpeg

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