need help with removing glass from soil.

[leveled]

I recently had some brush removed and now Im finishing of the area to make it into lawn area its about a acre. As a awarded bonus I found some pretty good size glasss pits on my property. Anyone have an experience with getting the glass out of the soil? As of now I have been just raking it up and picking it up one at a time, but everytime it rains it shows its dirty little self I hate glass

 

[charlz]

How loose is the ground and how small are the glass pieces? Would one of these manure forks work? MANURE FORK, regular/mini-tine, basic/motorized, easier cleaning I have seen simlar in the feed stores for a lot less I think.

 

[joshuabardwell]

What a nightmare. Can you just dig the whole thing out with your loader?

 

[leveled]

right now the ground is pretty lose I have been ripping all the roots out from the brush and a tilled it up pretty good. I would say the size of the glass is about 1.5" Its really not the bulk piles its the ones that got away from the piles and have got spread out . do you think a power rake would do the trick?

 

[leveled]

What a nightmare. Can you just dig the whole thing out with your loader?

yea done that is buried slightly. Its everwhere!

 

[2LaneCruzer]

Do you know the origin of the glass? I would be suspicious that it was a dump for old chemicals, and if that is so, there could be some nasty stuff in there. Glass factories usually recycle their old glass, so there is no need to dump it.

 

[boggen]

been fighting glass myself. dug in were i guess there was a old junk yard collection of stuff. and spread the dirt up around the house to deal with run off water issues. and never realized it had glass in it. till after i got it spread out.

if it is that bad. i would say, remove a couple inches of dirt. and haul it away. and then bring in good clean dirt.

you might try a sifter or like, but all ya going to do is break up the glass into even smaller shards, and when ya go bare foot across lawn end up with with glass in your feet.


i suppose you might try getting a dozer in there. and push the first couple inches of soil all into a pile (bad ugly soil pile) then use dozer to dig down another couple inches of good clean soil and put in another pile.

then spread the old nasty pile back out. and then put the good clean soil back on top. but i am not sure if the glass would come back up through the soil or not. at moment it seems like that is what is happening with me. and i should have tried to bury the glass deeper....

 

[Jstpssng]

been fighting glass myself. dug in were i guess there was a old junk yard collection of stuff. and spread the dirt up around the house to deal with run off water issues. and never realized it had glass in it. till after i got it spread out.

if it is that bad. i would say, remove a couple inches of dirt. and haul it away. and then bring in good clean dirt.

you might try a sifter or like, but all ya going to do is break up the glass into even smaller shards, and when ya go bare foot across lawn end up with with glass in your feet.


i suppose you might try getting a dozer in there. and push the first couple inches of soil all into a pile (bad ugly soil pile) then use dozer to dig down another couple inches of good clean soil and put in another pile.

then spread the old nasty pile back out. and then put the good clean soil back on top. but i am not sure if the glass would come back up through the soil or not. at moment it seems like that is what is happening with me. and i should have tried to bury the glass deeper....

Trouble is that if you live where the ground freezes you can't bury it deep enough. They've been picking rocks out of the potato fields up my way for 150 years, and they still get a good crop every spring.

 

[leveled]

Do you know the origin of the glass? I would be suspicious that it was a dump for old chemicals, and if that is so, there could be some nasty stuff in there. Glass factories usually recycle their old glass, so there is no need to dump it.

Its all pop bottles and mason jars etc.. its an old farm.

 

[ncnurseryman]

Know what you mean. I am constantly picking up glass, plastic and all sorts of misc metal. Lots of old nails everywhere. In the wood behind the old farm house, its full of trash where past residents just dumped it there. It would take a lifetime to clean it all. I just pick it up as I go. Good luck.

 

[MossflowerWoods]

I too have this problem.

I've found a large spot where whole storm windows were buried under maybe 6" of dirt and it keeps bubbling to the top, tiny peices. Oh did I say it was inside the pasture when I discovered it! GRRRRR!

I also keep finding metal scrap arounf stumps and etc...

Some people!

David

 

[2LaneCruzer]

Its all pop bottles and mason jars etc.. its an old farm.

At least that part is good. In times past, farmers sometimes were paid to let local businesses dump their trash in ditches and gulleys that were in out-of-the-way places. One of the most memorable, was a dump for old battery cases that caught fire when a brush fire reached the dump.

 

[foggy1111]

Glass is a problem. We recently bought a beautiful piece of lakefront property where we plan to build a new home. The prior owner was an "artist" in metal and junk.....and a hoarder of junk. He had piles of JUNK and glass and nails and screws strewn about on a good section of this property. Weve raked it picking up gallons of nails and screws and glass shards along with assorted junk. We used magnets and walked it repeatably until 95% + is cleaned up. Still....glass and metal can be found with a slow walk thru the property. I hate the glass too....and I wish there was an easy solution.

 

[radioman]

I have the same problem at my rental property. When I replaced the sewer line, I discovered that the area used to be a landfill for the city and there are TONS of glass, ashes, metal. I tilled the whole yard since it was terrible shape and I spent the whole day just using a hand tined rake windrowing the crap and picking up with shovel. I planted the area with new grass, but I also had to pick up more glass by hand everyday everytime I water it and it rains until the grass grew over and the grass hid everything.

 

[MossflowerWoods]

Glass is a problem....and I wish there was an easy solution.

So how hot of a burnpile fire would I have to make to melt the glass shards in the ground into blobs (remove sharp edges)?

My Horses churn the dirt (after they eat all the grass) and it just keeps coming up, and coming up...

I've actually removed this area from the pasture by relocating one end of the electric "temporary fence" and making my pasture somewhat smaller (for now).

This really bugs me...

David

 

[joshuabardwell]

So how hot of a burnpile fire would I have to make to melt the glass shards in the ground into blobs (remove sharp edges)?

I don't remember the numbers, but much hotter than a wood fire typically burns. You would need a forge or something.

 

[JimWalch]

So how hot of a burnpile fire would I have to make to melt the glass shards in the ground into blobs (remove sharp edges)?

My Horses churn the dirt (after they eat all the grass) and it just keeps coming up, and coming up...

I've actually removed this area from the pasture by relocating one end of the electric "temporary fence" and making my pasture somewhat smaller (for now).

This really bugs me...

David

Most glass bottles will soften at around 1150 deg. and will round the sharp edges at 1250- 1300 deg. Window glass needs to go hotter. Not a good option. About the only way to get rid of it is pick it up piece at a time. I have the same problem with glass on our future home site that use to be a rental farm house. On 8 acres every where I dig there has been- glass- wire- bricks- tin cans- toys- spark plugs-even dug up an old riding mower-go figure. It is just amazing how people trash a piece of property.

 

[JD435Bill]

Today we have trash trucks and city and county landfills. Back in the old days people would just burn their trash or bury their trash. But, as we all know, a lot of it will just not go away....

 

[JD435Bill]

I actually know of some houses that are built on top of an old glass dump/trash dump. I couldn't believe it when I was searching on Google Earth. The houses were built many years after the dump was shut down. In my opinion, the city should not have permitted it. Hope the owners know.

Bill

 

[Depmandog]

I recall reading some threads here about people building soil sifters or soil screens to remove trash from their soil.

Since I am on my iPhone, I will let you do a TBN search. I did do google image search and there were many pics of sifters for use with FEL's and also shovel / wheelbarrow.

WIth a FEL and sifter, it wouldn't be that bad of a job to screen your soil. What would be more of a PITA, would be replanting and having your yard tore up for that period of time.

Here is a random pic I pulled from google, you could also build your own.