French type drains on a steep side hill

[dave1949]

I think I understand what you mean. I'll get some pictures this weekend and make some scribbles in paint to illustrate. I think the high point you mention is the top of my Chevron. Be it a terrace, drain, ditch, the goal is to give the water someplace to go besides straight down.

Sounds right.

40 deg. for 40', that's steep. That 40 deg. angle may be more than you would want to run your tractor at for very long, could get oil starvation maybe? I can't picture how the chevron would be cut in without operating at a steep angle. Maybe it's not a concern.

Do you have any decent size rocks to work with? You could cut a terrace starting at the top, down maybe 1/3 of the total vertical height, with the terrace wall sloped enough for rocks to lean well into, and put a layer of geotextile fabric on the terrace wall first to keep the soil from washing through the rocks. Repeat that two more times to the bottom.

The tendency is probably to make the terraces too narrow in width. You want enough width to safely access each terrace with the tractor for mowing and maintenance.

 

[CalG]

I worked on a similar but lesser situation on my land this spring.

The land at the runs a spring during the thaw, and was always soggy year round. A garden and a car park were wanted, so something needed to be done.

I hand dug a trench where the slope meets the flat land, and put a rock filled french drain that is tee'd to run under ground to an acceptable location.
Then, on the sloping land above, I ran the garden tiller to form small ribs that carry the water laterally across the face. Similar to the concept of chevrons. The loosened soil was easily raked to form shallow back slopes.
The garden tiller was easily handled on the slope, and after the first pass, the tilling self leveled the soil. The flat bands were made about every five feet up the slope.

In just this single summer season, grasses have stabilized the area, plus "Forget-me-not" has established it's self prolifically. A "beneficial weed" ;-)

We had some heavy rainss this summer, and there were some break throughs and washouts, but now with the ground covered in vegetation, I'm confident that will happen no more.

The small "terraces" are easily mowed with the lawn mower. I have also gone up with the weed wacker with success.

Just an option... Worked for me!

 

[breadtrk]

Reality check. The Swanson Angle finder says average 20 degrees, feels like 40 though.




I hope this illustrates the Chevron idea.

 

[woodlandfarms]

So we are nothing but slopes, and directing water runoff has become a fun art form for me. As we are clay, the water is very surface oriented.

I bought this for my machine

Middle Buster, Potato Plow, Furrower | Agri Supply 73411 Breaking Plow

It works quite well cutting rivlets and you can find this tool at a variety of price points.

I use this all over the property, but especially on my dirt road on the sloped hills to drive the water off the side instead of straight down.

Now, my tractor does 45 degree slopes so ymmv.

 

[breadtrk]

I have the middle buster and sub soiler. That 20 degrees scares me too much to use them. I guess I need to chain this thing to a tree, use a jack and see what I can get away with. That would sure boost my confidence to see that it does take 40 or so to get her going, I'd crawl all over that 20 carefully and just do what I gotta do.

 

[redman135]

I would get a box blade without the ends and run a single drain about 8"/12" deep diagonally down the hill above the tree between the 2 yellow lines. Unless you get 1"/hour rain fall I don't think you need more.
I have a steep track (measured at 29 degrees) and over the years I have found this is adequate. The drain has stood the test of time and only gets an annual pre winter clean out.The steep slope on the high side can collect a lot off water, but due to rapid runoff the drain surprisingly effective.

 

[CalG]

Reality check. The Swanson Angle finder says average 20 degrees, feels like 40 though.

View attachment 391208


I hope this illustrates the Chevron idea.

View attachment 391209

Your pics look about equal to what I have.

Get (rent) a rear tine walk behind roto-tiller. You will be done in two hours.

 

[Creamer]

I agree. Angled terraces will handle the surface water nicely if you can get a deep rooted grass to grow to hold them in place. They are easy to create and will look like part of the landscape - not something you have to mow around.

 

[forgeblast]

When I was working landscaping we did a few swales like this, Make sure you over engineer it. Larger pipe or more pipe, make sure its slopes the way you want it to and pay attention to where you are diverting the water to, you dont want to make a bigger problem by channeling all that water someplace else.

 

[Gary Fowler]

Forgeblast makes a good point, if you channel the water from the slope, make sure that you have a prepared area where the water drains to a flat area so it can spread out without washing a gully. You may have to put in a large rock covered area to slow the water to an acceptable velocity so it will drain and spread out slowly.