Weeding tools abound in garden centers and home improvement stores. A common hoe, once the only tool in the garden shed (or at least my garden shed) has lost its space in the tool rack to a range of specialty weeders.

And with good reason! A hoe chops through the soil to cut weeds’ roots. This is all fine and good with weeds that have shallow roots such as chickweed and wood sorrel—the hoe can scoop through the soil just under their roots to remove the whole plant. But for weeds with taproots—the long thick roots of weeds such as dandelions—the hoe slices through the root. That root can regenerate above-ground growth at multiple growth points. Meaning, where once you had one weed you may have several.

Not good! You want that entire root to come up out of the ground. What you need is one of those specialty weeders, and specifically an uprooting tool. The style I see getting lots of airtime on social media is the uprooting tool. Two in particular seem to work really well. Those are:

Grampa’s Weeder Tool from Grampa’s Gardenware Co.

I have only seen this tool online but the video shows how it works, and the reviews seem to be exemplary. The working end of this tool is a heavy-duty steel 4-pronged head and a foot pad which acts as a lever. Position the prongs over the weed and push down on the foot pad to push the device into the ground until the horizontal lever is at ground level. Pulling the bamboo handle in the direction of the lever pinches the prongs together and pulls the weed—taproot and all—out of the ground. The long handle means you don’t have to bend or kneel. Simple mechanics saves you the effort.

Gardinea Uprooting Tool

This tool is a simpler version of the pincher-style tool mentioned above, and I have seen it in action myself. Made of carbon steel, its working end has a head of tines on one end and a rounded blade at the other. Slide the tines so they grab on to the weed you want pulled then tip the head toward that rounded end. Lever action pulls the weed out of the ground. The bonus here is that the rounded end can be used to skim the soil surface to scrape away shallow-rooted weeds. And I suppose you could dig with it, too. You can use just the tool itself or attach it to a long handle if you don’t want to bend or kneel.

Considering both allow you to stand or at least bend down minimally, these will take pressure off your hands and knees—and may even make weeding a more pleasurable experience.