got ruts?

[theboman]

Okay, all the dozing is done, the home should be there today if'n those storms from nowhere don't come... Anyway as the gravel was delivered the dump trucks put some nice sized ruts in the yard, it's not a problem for my F250 and RV but those 30+ tons of gravel kinda sink....

Any great, easy ideas on how to repair the yard ruts? I'm guessing either use the tiller very shallow or box blade to getter back in shape then add seed, straw and water.

 

[Glenn9643]

A couple of years ago we had a very wet spring here and I wasn't able to get into the pasture to clip until the grass was knee-high. When it finally dried up enough to bushhog without getting stuck I did it, even though I knew it would rut badly. The mosquitoes were carrying us away! Since then I've run the tiller over the worst areas and it's smoothed out pretty well, but not as nice as it was.
My guess is you might use both the tiller and box blade.

 

[Highbeam]

Box blade. The ruts should be narrower than the box so you could run right over them cutting the high and filling the low.

 

[EddieWalker]

You can try the box blade, but it's not my favorite tool. I'd try digging up the hole area with your fell and resmooting it out back dragging your bucket.

Maybe mix it up a little to break it up if it's dried and hard in places to make the dirt clods smaller, but otherwise, spread it out and get it nice and flat.

I've also been known to add another bucket to it to help bring the area up a bit. Not enough to notice, but enough to blend it all in with the surrounding dirt.

Good Luck,
Eddie

 

[Highbeam]

Yes, it seems like when you fill the ruts you will have just made a bigger hole. Adding a bit of material might be needed.

 

[GabeTX]

I just repaired some serious ruts after a truck-mounted pier drilling rig put a bunch of post holes in. And got stuck a couple times.

I was able to smooth the smaller ruts with a landscape rake. My clay soil doesn't so much compact as it does squish out to the side, so there were ridges along either side of the rut that the rake got. For some of the really bad areas I added some topsoil I had trucked in and raked that out.

 

[Renze]

Dry ruts you can till or plough. In ruts that have water standing in them, i would never run a tiller because they are the worst tool in wet conditions as they slush out all the soil structure and create just a sh*t mess.
We had a wet field rotavated 3 years ago in the mud and then ploughed, usually our dry sand soils are near to desert dry in the summer but this piece of land had water on it even in the summer. Last week i've chiseled it, then subsoiled it and finally moldboard ploughed it. What i brought up with the plough were hard earthballs with rests of the hay in those earth balls, that were fed during the winter 3 years ago. It was just buried air tight in the wet soil and it didnt decompose at all. I dont want to compact and level the field before it is totally dried on the furrow, so that all the hard earthballs can dry out so they easily break up without forming a new hard pan.

On compacted soil run a chisel or subsoiler to loosen the soil so that water can sink down, but never ever mix up layers of soil like ploughs or tillers do. Do that after the soil has dried, and you'll be able to fix all compaction problems.

 

[theboman]

I didn't mention that the area is in the existing yard, great growing thick grass there.

I though of box blading but can see where it's getting dirt to fill in the ruts, it would cut the rut but distribute the dirt elsewhere. I though with a tiller it would get everything smoother and then I could drive over and over and over it in my truck to pack it then sew grass.

 

[Louisiana_John]

Since it ais a yard I would fold the tall stuff in and add sandy dirt. Then work with a garden rake for a finish. Seed then straw and water.
John

 

[3RRL]

You didn't mention the length of the ruts. But if you've got good sod elsewhere, you could cut some out or buy some. Then cut out the ruts, compact and re-sod them. That would give you immediate satisfaction if it's not too long a run...

 

[theboman]

They are looooong ruts. Some 50'-75', some 10'. Some 2" deep, others 6" deep. It's rains about 3 days a week in this part of Kentucky these days.

 

[Highbeam]

Rain in Kentucky is good. Without Kentucky rain, we wouldn't have Kentucky bourbon.

 

[PineRidge]

Bo I have a section of 155' of yard that has to be driven over with the TC-40D year round because of our home based business. Needless to say in the winter or when it's really wet I end up with mud and deep ruts. In the past we just waited for the ground to firm up some then used the box-blade to knock off the high spots and fill in the low spots. I would then drag the landscape rake in reverse to smooth it all down before planting grass. Been doing this for 6 years with good results but it finally got old. /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif

The first part of the week I finally dug out 155' X 10" wide X 12" deep worth of dirt, put down geofabric, spread 40 ton of #2 stone, and capped it with 40 ton of crusher run. Can you say smooth drive extension? No more mud! /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[Louisiana_John]

I did not know they were that long. Knok downd the high spots with your Box Blade. Then get a clay mix to seal off the ruts so they don't soup bowl. cap off with a top soil. Then seen and hay no water needed with you luck. I think you will need to add dirt because of the compaction. That is what I would do. If they are not holding water now and water draines out of them then just use a sandy top soil.
John

 

[EddieWalker]

After you smooth out the ruts, try to scrape up some exiting grass from anther area with your FEL and use that as fill material or cover material.

The area you take the grass from will grow back and the area you put it will take off real fast this way.

Eddie