Small trenching with a CUT?

[Savagepike]

I just buried a waterpipe 12" deep last weekend. I used a single shank ripper first to break up the really packed stuff, then used the middle buster to clear the trench out. Worked great, almost felt guilty for not getting enough exercise while doing it.

 

[jeffinsgf]

Re: Shallow trenching with a CUT?

daBear,

I've used a trencher and can tell you that you can't match it if what you need is a trench. When I put in my lawn irrigation I was sure that it would take me 2 days to trench. It took me just over 5 hours. And, that is in very, very rocky ground.

That said, my next irrigation project I'm going to pull my pipe with the tractor and a sub-soiler. There's just so much less disruption of the ground.

 

[srjones]

Anyway, I'll throw in another option. Use a single bottom plow to cut under the sod and turn a single furrow. If that's not deep enough, use a hand shovel or a subsoiler to get it deep enough. Lay the pipe in, and then roll the sod back over it.

For a 4" PVC pipe, 1 feet seems rather shallow.

 

[IslandTractor]

Re: Shallow trenching with a CUT?

This is an option as well, I am personally looking into one of these but want to get some feedback first which I havnt gotten yet.

Quick Spade

I have a Quick Spade. It is essentially a large shovel and attaches to a set of forks. It can easily dig a spade width trench but I don't think it would be as fast for this task as the subsoiler/middle buster technique and certainly not as fast as a Ditch Witch. The reason is that while it digs very efficiently and you can get quite a lot of dirt in a single shovel full (about 4-5 time what a human powered shovel would get), the issue is that you then need to back the tractor up and turn it to dump that load before you can take another bite.

 

[J_J]

Re: Shallow trenching with a CUT?

Here is just one more option. Something new in cutting trenches.

 

[IslandTractor]

Re: Shallow trenching with a CUT?

Here is just one more option. Something new in cutting trenches.

Pretty cool. Something tells me it will cost more than a subsoiler/middlebuster though. And, the implement doesn't seem to have a mechanism to put the dirt back in the trench once you are done.

As I recall PowerTrac has a nice set of implements to dig a trench and then fill it back up efficiently.

 

[daBear]

Re: Shallow trenching with a CUT?

daBear,

I've used a trencher and can tell you that you can't match it if what you need is a trench. When I put in my lawn irrigation I was sure that it would take me 2 days to trench. It took me just over 5 hours. And, that is in very, very rocky ground.

That said, my next irrigation project I'm going to pull my pipe with the tractor and a sub-soler. There's just so much less disruption of the ground.

Yep, I have pulled pipe with my setup also and I still want to rent a trencher. I hit an underground spring several times, sunk up, made tire tracks 5' wide with my tractor in my grass, and in general made a heck of a mess pulling pipe and making a trench with a middle buster and a shank. I really like the idea of a neat little 4" trench about 12" deep that I can drop the pipe in and use my box blade to backfill everything. I laid a total of 9 zones on 2 acres in my back yard and it took about 2 months for the grass and dirt to recover in each zone.

 

[jeffinsgf]

You're going to find with the trencher that your damage is more isolated (just the trench lines) but also more severe. I put ten zones in an acre (you must have really good pressure to do 2 acres with 9 zones!) and as I said earlier, the trenching went beautifully. It was also nice to work in the trenches with a little give and take that I don't think I'll have with pulled pipe. But I have a couple of spots in the yard where you can still see the trench lines 3 years later. I've topdressed and filled and pampered these areas 2 or 3 times a year and they just keep settling. Now no one else can see them, but I still can. Maybe next year.

That spring must be a pain.

 

[kthompson]

You're going to find with the trencher that your damage is more isolated (just the trench lines) but also more severe. I put ten zones in an acre (you must have really good pressure to do 2 acres with 9 zones!) and as I said earlier, the trenching went beautifully. It was also nice to work in the trenches with a little give and take that I don't think I'll have with pulled pipe. But I have a couple of spots in the yard where you can still see the trench lines 3 years later. I've topdressed and filled and pampered these areas 2 or 3 times a year and they just keep settling. Now no one else can see them, but I still can. Maybe next year.

That spring must be a pain.

I put in an electric line with trencher almost 8 years ago and last summer could still see the difference in the grass in that line. For me it was greener, I think due to breaking up hard pan. At my in laws less than half mile away subsoiler and a year later can not tell where it is. Wish I could. Would have save a water line last year.

 

[Charlton John]

Re: Shallow trenching with a CUT?

I have a Quick Spade. It is essentially a large shovel and attaches to a set of forks. It can easily dig a spade width trench but I don't think it would be as fast for this task as the subsoiler/middle buster technique and certainly not as fast as a Ditch Witch. The reason is that while it digs very efficiently and you can get quite a lot of dirt in a single shovel full (about 4-5 time what a human powered shovel would get), the issue is that you then need to back the tractor up and turn it to dump that load before you can take another bite.

Thanks Island Tractor. I dont have forks but seen onthe web site you can get one that attaches right to the FEL, would you recomend this product for digging tree holes and moving rocks etc... I need a poor mans BH Thanks