Filling a ditch/valley

[riptides]

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!

Same here.

Neighbor called in thinking our barn was on fire. FD said it was OK, a controlled burn. I have since given that neighbor our phone number.

 

[Carl_NH]

I did the same thing as Eddie when clearing land here, but only a small area 50x80' low area that water would pool after heavy rain. I filled in with dirt, rocks, roots much like you have about a foot thick then had a few loads of sandy fill dirt spread on top of that then loam and grass.

Now I run over with my tractor 4000Lbs and don't sink in even with a load in the bucket. The amount of sticks and roots tend to bind together is my experience.

 

[paulsharvey]

Its your 100% sure this area is just going to be grass, problem one helps solve problem two. Dump your tree debris, fill over that with the nastier material and top with the sand/clean fill.

Thats assuming you are 100% sure it won't ever be a structure, septic tank, driveway, or well.

 

[paulsharvey]

Just understand that the area may need redressed a bit in 5 years or so, my just adding some additonal clean fill if areas do settle

 

[EddieWalker]

In my early years, when I first bought my land, I didn't realize the importance of compacting a fill area right away. In this case, which happened twice, I dug out a stump and then put the dirt back in. I added a bucket of dirt to top it off and smoothed it out.

A year or so later, after multiple storms and lots of grass growing over it, I drove over that area with my backhoe and sunk into it like quicksand!!!

I learned that when soil isn't compacted, it holds water for a very long time and remains Very, VERY soft just below the surface!!!!!

 

[SPYDERLK]

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.

Im betting you get some small stumps in the burn mix + some other incidentally pushed around in dirt. They add up. Sounds like you burn a LOT.