Man Does the ‘Screwdriver Test’ to Find Dead Spots in His Garden and It Went Just As Expected

Everything in nature needs space, even the particles of soil. When the surface of a lawn or a garden is constantly pummelled by feet or machines or vehicles, the continuously pressing force hardens the soil, squeezing the air molecules from between the soil particles. The more the air is compressed out, the less space becomes for plant roots to penetrate the soil, Rutgers Cooperative Extension of Ocean County explains. In the top layer, it becomes difficult for the particles to absorb moisture and sunlight due to the “compacting” of the soil.

This is why experts suggest a “screwdriver test,” which is intended to test the compactness of the soil surface. TikTok creator Joshua Hur (@joshua.hur) did this test as he wanted to embellish his yard with some fragrant jasmine plants. He kept digging the soil until, at about 2 inches down, a mystery unfolded. A gigantic rock sitting below could have caused his jasmine to die if he had planted it above it. “Big a** rock,” he captioned the video.

In the short clip, Hur showed a giant rock latched tightly to the Earth, which could have prevented the jasmine grass from growing above it. He had stumbled upon the “screwdriver hack” from a video on the internet. After the disappointing result, he said on the camera, “To whoever that guy was who told me to do the screwdriver test,” and flipped them off.

Amazed at seeing the mysterious big rock, people started churning out all kinds of science fiction stories in the comments section. “Buddy has found a tectonic plate in his backyard,” commented @pigeon. @jeff said, “Yeah, that guy made me dig up my whole septic system. He has no idea what he’s talking about.” @solarsapien quipped, “Why does it look like a fossilized dinosaur skull?” @abigbackwhale said, “This one sent me all the way to outer space.” Another person said the video game gave them “Encino Man vibes.”

The screwdriver test, according to Vista Turf, is a process of elimination. The test requires eliminating the patches of soil that have either a watering issue or a soil compaction problem. The method involves pushing a screwdriver into the lawn. If it doesn’t get pushed all the way down into the ground, then the soil patch can be eliminated, and nothing should be planted there. As for the rock seen in the video, Hur chiseled it out using a jackhammer and sledgehammer.

“Pretty deep, it's got up underneath there. When we got the big guns. Gonna chisel it out,” he told the viewers in the part 2 video of the series. He displayed the hollowed-out cavity formed after he took out the rock from it. It took him three hours to dig up the rock and detach it from the ground, and break it into smaller pieces. He tossed away these small-sized fragments at the bottom of the cleared-out hole to create a drainage system for the plants. The cavity made people pour out their creative ideas in the comments. They suggested Hur to repurpose the hole to things like a rock pond, a fairy windmill, a solar flower, a hose caddy, and a cactus, among others.

You can follow Joshua Hur (@joshuahur) on TikTok for lifestyle videos.