Mow septic field or not

[Ken45101]

If you are worried about compaction, straddle the line with the big tractor to mow it.

I've been warned (ten years late) that tractors can crush the older clay lines. IDK, that seems far fetched but I think the guy knows what he is talking about.

 

[cletus99]

I'll have to disagree with using the tractor. I have a shallow leach field and I specifically asked when they installed mine and they said not to ever drive anything over it as heavy as a tractor. They said a regular lawn mower would be fine.

 

[gwdixon]

How about this for something completely different:

Spray the leach field with RoundUp (or similar) and let it die off.

Mowing dried hay is a lot easier than heavy healthy foliage. Some of it will lie down and won't even need mowing. One of your smaller mower choices may be able to mow it quite easily.

Then when the grass starts to come back, and it will, you can handle it when it is shorter. It will end up with the lawn look that I infer you want. It just takes patience.

 

[cqaigy2]

Seems like something as small as a lawn tractor should be ok, but stay off it with any thing bigger. I"ve seen people drive all kinds of things on their fields only to see issues crop up later.

 

[Gem99ultra]

If it were me, I'd take small cuts with your lawn mower. My experience is based on driving over my septic tank with an old Fordson-Dexta. That was NOT a pretty sight. Besides, if you did crush your leach line, you'd never know it until you had a backup inside the house. And you don't want that...

I've cut so really high weeds and underbrush with an old 8hp Snapper, with the side chute open. It can be done, although it might take a while. Still, that'll be faster than digging up your crushed line.

Another alternative, I've cut some really large areas with a string trimmer. Slow and lots of work. BUT - I finally bought one of those wheeled string trimmers. They have the .120 line and will walk through just about anything, with a LOT less effort.

 

[dmccarty]

I would not mow the field with a tractor. Our septic installed told me to keep the tractor out of the septic field or risk tearing up the lines. Our field is build with Infliltrator pipes which are basically 18-24 inch diameter poly pipe cut in half which is laid in the trench and then covered. The installer told me that another customer took a skid steer into the septic field and the field had to be rebuilt. Now our field might be a bit more fragile than a gravel filled trench system but it still is not worth the risk. Our soil is pretty bad for perc and some of our land would cost $30K to put in a septic system. We managed to have just barely enough depth to get a conventional system. The Soil Scientist that found our perc site told me to keep ALL heavy equipment out of the field to prevent compaction.

For a few years I cut the grass in our septic field with either a Still brush cutter or a brush whip before I bought a DR Mower and eventually a JD riding mower.

Think about using the tractor in the septic field this way, using the tractor will save you a bunch of time but is that time worth the risk of damaging/destroying your field? Is the time saved worth the time and money it would take to repair or replace the field?

BTW, my mantra is "I was not born to cut grass" so I cut grass when I have the time, which is not often. Last year I cut the grass TWICE. You really only have to cut the grass once, in October when the grass is about to die. Then the yard looks good for six months. :thumbsup::laughing::laughing::laughing:

Later,
Dan

 

[clemsonfor]

yeah. I know our potty field is gravel covered over with dirt. ou can drive a dump truck over it.

Not sure i would advise anyone to drive a dump truck over there leach feild, you will basically dam it up and shorten the effective length of it.


But to the OP i would mow it. How tall is it, what if you go slow and take partial wacks at it with the zero turn? What i mean is if you have a 60" ZT only mow half of that width with the deck in the tall grass.

 

[clemsonfor]

How about this for something completely different:

Spray the leach field with RoundUp (or similar) and let it die off.

Mowing dried hay is a lot easier than heavy healthy foliage. Some of it will lie down and won't even need mowing. One of your smaller mower choices may be able to mow it quite easily.

Then when the grass starts to come back, and it will, you can handle it when it is shorter. It will end up with the lawn look that I infer you want. It just takes patience.

And along these lines there is actually a doseage.. i think with glyphosate, but i know with some chemicals it is lablead but again i think its roundup(glyphosate) to chemically cut the grass. Which is the term for it. But the chemical is actually labled to be mixed at a low dose where it does not kill the grass but kind of makes it look sick but will stunt its growth for weeks if done right.

 

[DKCDKC]

I have one 20 years old septic field and one 10 years old. Both with the 4-inch pipe laid on gravel in trenches, then covered with gravel and all filled in. The pipes are about 20 inches down and I have never hesitated to run my JD 2030 and new JD 3038e over the field to mow it. They put the corrugated plastic pipe under roadways for drainage, and it's only 4 to 6 inches down frequently. Dump trucks run over that without problem. I'd go on and mow, unless there is something unusual with the field.

 

[clemsonfor]

Im a forester and the rule of thumb for pipes in road is half the diameter of the pipe for fill over the pipe when we construct forest roads. This is usually adequate if the fill is PACKED. This will stand up to truck grossing over 100k which is way over legal limit. We sometimes get pipe deflection but thats in METAL pipe. I still would not run over it if in my yard the results are not worth it in my opinion. Unless its like 1/4 acre or something i use a weed wacker or if larger take small paths with the ZT or use roundup as been sugested.

I have seen corugated plastic for a temporary drive hold up to log truck traffic for a period of time with minimum fill on small diameter pipe but again i wouldnot risk it.