Filling a ditch/valley

[future_vision]

I have a piece of rolling land and I am at a point where I am considering filling a low point on the land (pictures below). What I am trying to determine is what is best to fill it with. I have a variety of materials handy. Everything from dirty fill(loam, twigs, small rocks, roots), to regular loam to a sand loam mix etc. The dirty fill is by far the largest amount of material I have but my concern is if it gets saturated it will be undriveable with my 60hp tractor. What would you use? I'm including images of the materials I have as well.

 

[34Willys]

What do you want to do with it after it's filled?

Patrick

 

[dodge man]

The question is why is that low spot there? When it rains does it flow a lot of water? If it does anything you put in there may erode away. Filling it in and adding some rip rap where the water would speed up would work.

 

[EddieWalker]

I have a bunch of areas that I've filled and that I'm still filling on my land. For the smaller ditches caused by erosion, I put in rock, busted up concrete and bricks to stop the erosion and catch the dirt. Over the years I've forgotten where those areas are after the grass grew in.

For the bigger areas I fill them with the ash from my burn pile. I try to clean up my burn pile once a year. The Ash seems to be mixed with a bunch of dirt which is always a mystery for me since I pick up all the branches and debris with a grapple, but after a year, it's a huge pile of dirt and ash mixed together. I have a one-yard bucket on my backhoe, and it can take 20 to 30 loads to clean it all up. I've been working on a very big area for years now. I'm probably halfway there. This area is close to the property line and the fence. I can't mow along the fence in this area with my batwing, but in the area that I have filled it, I can. Once I get the ditch about a foot from being full, and I've driven over it so many times that it's compacted, I add dirt to create the top layer so grass will grow there.

 

[future_vision]

What do you want to do with it after it's filled?

Patrick

It will mostly be grass

 

[future_vision]

The question is why is that low spot there? When it rains does it flow a lot of water? If it does anything you put in there may erode away. Filling it in and adding some rip rap where the water would speed up would work.

It does collect some water but that area also slopes toward the back of the property so the water doesn't hang out. Even after we bring up the grade it'll still slope towards the back

 

[future_vision]

I have a bunch of areas that I've filled and that I'm still filling on my land. For the smaller ditches caused by erosion, I put in rock, busted up concrete and bricks to stop the erosion and catch the dirt. Over the years I've forgotten where those areas are after the grass grew in.

For the bigger areas I fill them with the ash from my burn pile. I try to clean up my burn pile once a year. The Ash seems to be mixed with a bunch of dirt which is always a mystery for me since I pick up all the branches and debris with a grapple, but after a year, it's a huge pile of dirt and ash mixed together. I have a one-yard bucket on my backhoe, and it can take 20 to 30 loads to clean it all up. I've been working on a very big area for years now. I'm probably halfway there. This area is close to the property line and the fence. I can't mow along the fence in this area with my batwing, but in the area that I have filled it, I can. Once I get the ditch about a foot from being full, and I've driven over it so many times that it's compacted, I add dirt to create the top layer so grass will grow there.

Does that compact well? How does driving on it work out? My concern would be creating a bog with so much organic material.

 

[EddieWalker]

When I spread the ash/dirt mix from my burn pile, I back drag it with my bucket, and then when I come back with another full bucket, I drive over it with my front tires. The tires will sink several inches into the loose soil until it's all compacted, then it's solid. I just do this with every load, and when I'm done, it's all very solid.

After the grass grows in, I can't remember where these fill areas are. I mow over them with my cab tractor and batwing without leaving any ruts or sign that I filled in an area. The one I'm working on now is probably 1,000 feet long and I'm almost halfway filling it in. Where it's done, it looks great. Where I'm working, it's ugly, but will eventually get there and look great too.

 

[future_vision]

When I spread the ash/dirt mix from my burn pile, I back drag it with my bucket, and then when I come back with another full bucket, I drive over it with my front tires. The tires will sink several inches into the loose soil until it's all compacted, then it's solid. I just do this with every load, and when I'm done, it's all very solid.

After the grass grows in, I can't remember where these fill areas are. I mow over them with my cab tractor and batwing without leaving any ruts or sign that I filled in an area. The one I'm working on now is probably 1,000 feet long and I'm almost halfway filling it in. Where it's done, it looks great. Where I'm working, it's ugly, but will eventually get there and look great too.

Good to hear. I'm running a Kioti DK6010SE with filled tires so we're looking at ~5000 lbs I believe.

 

[BackRoad]

Our 911 service provides an alternate number to call in advance of starting slash pile or controlled burns.

I found that out - after - someone across the lake, over a mile away reported smoke after one of our initial burn piles was torched.

The local volunteer fire department sirens blaired and I looked at my wife and said "...They're coming for us!..."

They were friendly!