The county trenched my creek-Cleaning up the aftermath.

[Arkaybee]

Some properly sloped swails running perpendicular to the ditch from the peripheral water-holding areas would solve a lot of problems. Making the swails wide with gentle sloping sides so one could easily drive through them would be appropriate as well. Well-made swails are cool and effective.

HTH

Arkaybee

 

[medic0648]

Hey Jim,
I don't know how big your creek is, but I had some success using a 24" dirt scoop with my little B7100. It would fill just the bottom of the scoop before I lost traction, so it took an awful long time. I straddled the creek with the tractor, scooped, then drove off and dumped. Oh, and scoops are cheaper, that's why I have one, lol. I found it for $100 on craigslist.

Jim

Using the scoop on a small tractor can almost be an art form. You have to keep enough weight in the tires to pull, without catching and causing you to loose traction. Try puting a slight down angle to the front and keep some pressure on the 3pt to pull the rear tires down. Loaded tires usually help a lot also.

 

[the old grind]

A box blade may be more versatile and easier to get your 'technique' with than a scoop. RoundUp is pretty benign once it hits the dirt or water. Spray, then come back in a week with BB teeth down (& when it's a bit drier) and work up the roots, etc. Drag that off with a landscape rake or ratchet rake, then work the grade(s) with the BB &/or angled rear blade.

Since you may not have all the attachments above you may have to borrow them, a fair trade for .. uh, fishing rights.

 

[CliffordK]

Weeds, logs, trees, and whatnot can help with water quality. That apparently wasn't a concern for the county.

However, maintaining drainage may be an issue for either you, or for your neighbors. The county did make a bit of a mess with their heavy equipment. It might have been better to do the work in the dry season, but there is nothing better than natural water to assess the effectiveness of one's drainage ditch efforts. Your slope appears quite minimal.

It likely is a county issue because whatever happens on your property affects those upstream form you.

Irrigation ditches and canals apparently are extremely dangerous as they can be hard to escape from (no natural vegetation to grab onto), but your ditch appears shallow enough (with low flow?) that this won't be a problem.

 

[yeagisyeag]

Using the scoop on a small tractor can almost be an art form. You have to keep enough weight in the tires to pull, without catching and causing you to loose traction. Try puting a slight down angle to the front and keep some pressure on the 3pt to pull the rear tires down. Loaded tires usually help a lot also.

Thanks for the tips, that is making sense. Unfortunately, when scooping on slick stuff, things seem to happen faster than I can react, so I'm usually seen rowing madly on the 3-pt control trying to avoid getting stuck, lol.

 

[PAGUY]

Try putting out a "FILL WANTED" sign and build up the side of the ground from the ditch.

 

[kevinwak]

It sure would be nice if the county would come and clean a drainage ditch near my house

Sent from my iPhone using TractorByNet

 

[jwstewar]

I actually have a 5' straight blade, a 5' box blade, and a 24" dirt scoop. Someone gave me the scoop. Tried to use it a couple of times for various items decided the FEL was easier so I've relagated the scoop to spot sprayer tank carrier.:laughing: Here are a couple of shots of one time when I was trying to mow the "creek" "ditch" or whatever you want to call it.:confused2:

I say that I'm not getting close enough if I'm not down in it stuck. My wife has gotten pretty good at pulling me out.

 

[yeagisyeag]

Haha, that looks very familiar! I've had to use my Jeep most of the time for getting unstuck. Makes me a bit nervous to put my ride home in jeopardy of getting stuck, too. I have slowly learned 2 things: 1. A 60" belly mower can also be labeled "anchor." And 2. Always put the tractor in neutral before pulling it from the mud.

 

[Ken45101]

I actually have a 5' straight blade, a 5' box blade, and a 24" dirt scoop. Someone gave me the scoop. Tried to use it a couple of times for various items decided the FEL was easier so I've relagated the scoop to spot sprayer tank carrier.:laughing: Here are a couple of shots of one time when I was trying to mow the "creek" "ditch" or whatever you want to call it.:confused2:

I say that I'm not getting close enough if I'm not down in it stuck. My wife has gotten pretty good at pulling me out.

My gosh man, that's a tractor, not a swamp buggy! :stirthepot: LOL. Looks like you have R4 tires, not ag tires, right? That's your problem (not!)

I think a 3pt scoop is a poor man's substitute for a FEL. I haven't used my scoop since I got the FEL a dozen years ago. It's been sitting out in the field. If someone wants to make me an offer for it.... ;-)