How to fix mud?

[HawkinsHollow]

I have a landing at the property that I mostly use for wood cutting and storage. It is about 1/4 acre. When I bought the property it was unusable because it was too sloped, full of ruts, chunks of concrete fill etc. A couple of years ago I got hooked up with some nice clay fill and filled it in and now it is a very nice useable space. The clay is pretty tight and does not perc very well. After I got done filling I laid a bunch of free oak wood chips on it to make it so it wasn't a quagmire and add organics into the clay. That worked for a while until the chips broke down. Last winter it was pretty sloppy, but manageable. I just spent the day there reorganizing my wood operation and laying more chips. After running the tractor over it all day it again got pretty sloppy and rutted out. I want to fix this!

My initial goal was to plant grass on this landing after the first layer of chips broke down. Will planting grass on this area be enough to dry it up and keep it from getting so sloppy after a rain? Will the roots add more structure to the soil and keep it from turning into a rutted out sloppy mess when its wet or do I need to do more?
Sand? Lime? Aggregate?
Help!!

 

[dirttoys]

I have a landing at the property that I mostly use for wood cutting and storage. It is about 1/4 acre. When I bought the property it was unusable because it was too sloped, full of ruts, chunks of concrete fill etc. A couple of years ago I got hooked up with some nice clay fill and filled it in and now it is a very nice useable space. The clay is pretty tight and does not perc very well. After I got done filling I laid a bunch of free oak wood chips on it to make it so it wasn't a quagmire and add organics into the clay. That worked for a while until the chips broke down. Last winter it was pretty sloppy, but manageable. I just spent the day there reorganizing my wood operation and laying more chips. After running the tractor over it all day it again got pretty sloppy and rutted out. I want to fix this!

My initial goal was to plant grass on this landing after the first layer of chips broke down. Will planting grass on this area be enough to dry it up and keep it from getting so sloppy after a rain? Will the roots add more structure to the soil and keep it from turning into a rutted out sloppy mess when its wet or do I need to do more?
Sand? Lime? Aggregate?
Help!!

grass will certainly help, if you don't tear it up working?

if you can stay off of it when it is wet just make sure it is above grade and rock it.

If you have to be on it without regard to the weather, put down fabric and rock it, or pour a slab.

best,

ed

 

[HawkinsHollow]

grass will certainly help, if you don't tear it up working?

if you can stay off of it when it is wet just make sure it is above grade and rock it.

If you have to be on it without regard to the weather, put down fabric and rock it, or pour a slab.

best,

ed

A 1/4 acre slab? I think even making it gravel will be pretty cost prohibitive with the cost of gravel now a days. It is $600 a tandem load around these parts.

It doesn't get TONS of traffic, just my tractor moving a log or 2 or my pickup fetching some firewood.

I have heard about lime being the magic elixir for mud. Does it works as well as people say? I would probably have to lime it anyways to get the grass to grow well.

 

[dirttoys]

A 1/4 acre slab? I think even making it gravel will be pretty cost prohibitive with the cost of gravel now a days. It is $600 a tandem load around these parts.

It doesn't get TONS of traffic, just my tractor moving a log or 2 or my pickup fetching some firewood.

I have heard about lime being the magic elixir for mud. Does it works as well as people say? I would probably have to lime it anyways to get the grass to grow well.

Lime (at least as far as I know) is the dust in rock when you get dirty gravel. It will make a great near concrete work surface if it is thick enough, and you stay off it completely when wet.

Growing grass does sometimes require lime sometimes, but never in a quantity that would make a work surface.

Do yourself a favor, if you decide to grow grass, get a soil test, clay doesn't have the same ph as black dirt, and doesn't always require lime to work for grass.

Maybe 3 inches of lime is cheaper than 3 inches of road rock, I don't know, but the cost to move it will be the same per ton. I don't think a dusting of lime will get you what you want.

Maybe an elevated path and smaller work area of gravel, grass on the rest?

Best,

ed

 

[Have tractor did travel]

Use lime if you soil test says soil needs it and you are going to plant grass. But grass won't grow just because of that. The clay needs organics. The wood chips you put down helped. You may need to put down more.

I'd forget about trying to solve mud problems with grass. If you work in the area while it is wet, it'll be plenty muddy, plenty quickly.

Instead, look for asphalt millings to put down. frequently road crews are looking for a place to dump them. Your place can be that place. You may have to wait a year or two for the right opportunity. Former owner of my place got 40 truck loads for free. I'm trying to give them away. But you're not near northern Virginia.

 

[Torvy]

Sand. I would add some sand to your mix.

https://homereference.net/how-to-fix-a-muddy-yard/

 

[Menagerie-Manor]

Instead of raising the dam try lowering the river with a few Willow trees, they love to suck water out of wet areas.

 

[oosik]

I had an area like that. Not a 1/4 acre but about 50' x80'. I waited until LATE in the summer when it was really dry. With my rear blade I mounded this area. Then got a truck load of pit run spread across it.

Spread it smooth and packed it down with my home made drag and my ATV. I kind of figured the tractor was a tad too heavy. The ATV and drag did a good job.

The following spring it was hard and dry.

I think the mounding was the most important part. Water sheds to the sides and the area remains dry.

 

[marhar]

I have a landing at the property that I mostly use for wood cutting and storage. It is about 1/4 acre. When I bought the property it was unusable because it was too sloped, full of ruts, chunks of concrete fill etc. A couple of years ago I got hooked up with some nice clay fill and filled it in and now it is a very nice useable space. The clay is pretty tight and does not perc very well. After I got done filling I laid a bunch of free oak wood chips on it to make it so it wasn't a quagmire and add organics into the clay. That worked for a while until the chips broke down. Last winter it was pretty sloppy, but manageable. I just spent the day there reorganizing my wood operation and laying more chips. After running the tractor over it all day it again got pretty sloppy and rutted out. I want to fix this!

My initial goal was to plant grass on this landing after the first layer of chips broke down. Will planting grass on this area be enough to dry it up and keep it from getting so sloppy after a rain? Will the roots add more structure to the soil and keep it from turning into a rutted out sloppy mess when its wet or do I need to do more?
Sand? Lime? Aggregate?
Help!!

 

[Redlands Okie]

Not sure what your resources are but around here in we throw sheetrock scraps into the mud holes on the roads. Lots of clay here. As the sheetrock gets mixed into the clay in the holes it firms up really well. The paper just mixes into the clay a bit slower. So perhaps gypsum or if there are buidling scrap that you can accumulate then sheetrock.