Need some suggestions...

[KenH]

This year I will be maintaining an infiltration basin for a 12 home development. This is a rather new concept, as it differs from your normal 'retention' basin. A retention basin collects the runoff from the new development and 'pipes' it out of the basin. An infiltration basin uses speciality grasses on the floor of the basin. Some of these grasses have root systems up to 10' deep. The though process is these root systems would allow the water to percolate down through the floor of the basin. Much time and money was spent engineering this basin.

Now to my question: The floor of this basin needs to be aerated once a year to the depth of 10". What would you recommend the best way to accomplish this. Mind you, only 3,000 square feet need to be aerated. I have a few ideas, but I dont want to "taint" your response.Thanks

[Mickhippy]

When I was landscaping we used to dig or orga a hole as deep as need be and fill it with road base, (clean stones about 1" or so.) and then put a weed mat or cloth over that then turf over. This was done in any low point so the water could get through the crust for drainage. Seemed to work well for us! There was little or no maintenance on them. There is a name for them but I just cant think of it. :dizzy:

[KenH]

Thanks...The only thing is, they are pretty specific about performing the exact specified maintenance. They need to have it aerated once a year, I cant really change that. Is what you are referring to called vertical mulching??

[Gravely_Man]

I am watching this post, as I am really interested in how you are going to get to the required depth. You could do this many different ways but each of them that I am thinking of would be one hole at a time and that would be crazy.

Gravely_Man

[KenH]

GM--- That was kind of along the lines of what I was thinking. The thing I was banking on was the area is not that large. I am open to all ideas.

[Phishook]

What type of aeration?

Core aeration, I have no idea right now.
I was thinking along the lines of a sub-soiler. We use to run a sub-soiler every two years in high compact areas and in wet spots on our farm ground. We went down almost 2 1/2 ' in some areas.
We used a 2+2 with an eight foot tool bar. I'm sure they make smaller units for compact tractors. I'll try to get a picture of the one we used (sold at an auction).

[crazygator]

I know that there are some MFG that make spike type aerators that mount on tractors and really punch the holes. If memory is correct I think up to like 12" too. Might could rent one of these. I will post any MFG of these if I can remember who they are, or find their literature.

Other than that, might get a bunch of cordless drills and drill them out. With a very long bit you could mark the depth and be total sure you are at the required setting.

[KenH]

Thanks...Another thing I was thinking is rigging up 2 or 3 of those steel soil samplers on a shovel like shaft. This could get my 2 or 3 holes at one. We are not allowed to take tractors into the basin, small machines are OK.

[Piedmont Lawn]

Crazygator,

Something like this....

http://www.harmonturfservices.com/contract%20services/deep_core.html

Later
Z

[KenH]

Zq8

That would be perfect, except I cant bring that tractor in.:mad:

[crazygator]

Zq8,
Yes those are what I was thinking. Problem is he cannot take a tractor into this basin.

Maybe take a long board and put some long spikes in it, then walk down the board to get the penetration. This would get more holes at a time, plus being a basin I do not think the ground will be too hard, so it should be relatively easy.

Maybe use a pitch fork, as long as you are not supposed to pull a core. Weld a small metal step on the top back and get several holes in 1 step.

[Piedmont Lawn]

Ken,

Here ya go............:blob3:

http://www.stihlusa.com/augersdrills/BT45auger.html

Later
Z

[Piedmont Lawn]

Ken,

Do you know if you must pull a core like Crazygatror said or just punch holes ? My take on this basin depending on the weather in CT it will be damp or swampy most of the time and you don't want to compact the soil.

A spade fork would be a lot of work on 3000 square feet but if you have the time and it pays go for it, man wish I could be there to help ya but my schedule is kind of full right now.... :D

[KenH]

I re-read the specs. It has to be a pulled core. I wonder how long the drill with the auger bit would take. The specs. do not say how many holes per square foot are needed. How do you think the drill would handle the grass roots, especially if the roots are said to go up to 10' down??

[bob]

Originally posted by KenH
The floor of this basin needs to be aerated once a year to the depth of 10".

Who told you that this has to be done?

[Envy Lawn Service]

Could you get by with taking a small bobcat in there? I just saw one today with a deep coring attachment on it.

[Piedmont Lawn]

Ken,

The drill would not have a problem with the grass roots I'm just wondering how many holes you need to put in it. Say if you put a hole every 4 square feet which would be a nice step forward and drill a hole to the end of the area, step over at the and start another row. My math is not very good but I think that would be around 750 holes....... :confused: So if it took you 30 seconds to drill out a hole and move onto the next one it would take you around 3 3/4 hours........ Depending on the soil condition it could go faster. I'm just guessing with 30 seconds to go 10" and allow for filling up the gas tank and a breather.......... :dizzy: And this is just guessing it could go faster with a small auger you could get out in half the time or less depending on you back.

Later
Z

[KenH]

I wonder how heavy one of those gas drills are??? My forearms will be huge!!:D

[1grnlwn]

Make a 3/4" bit for one of these. There are many types like this at rental stores.

[1grnlwn]

Or you could rig up a couple of these.

[Bob Minney]

I was thinking use a gas drill like Zq8 said and use a soil sampler to core it. Shouldn't be too hard to make these work in a chuck. Found these in Gemplers catalog, they have 3 pages of them.

[KenH]

Do you think the auger bit would be the equivalent of taking a plug?? Im afraid the soil will be constantly getting stuck inside the soil sampler probe. I would assume the auger bit would constitute "removing a plug."Not sure though

[Envy Lawn Service]

Originally posted by KenH
Do you think the auger bit would be the equivalent of taking a plug??

Yes, but you must remeber the place is going to look like it's covered in large ant hills of loose dirt. Also it seems to reason that this area will be really soggy. So it might get messy to clean up afterwards if that's required.

If so, you may be better off taking true cores and putting them in a cart/wheelbarrow as they are removed...
:confused:

[Mickhippy]

This is rough but you might get the idea.....at least dont laugh at it!

Over here we have mini diggers, like little bobcats. What if you got a grid made up, like a lawn leveler and attached spikes to it and attached it to the digger. Granted you might have to stand on it or add some extra weight.
Its just a thought!

[KenH]

Cleanup afterward is not required, as they recommend leaving the plugs.

Mick-- Thanks for the drawing. Im not sure what the weight limit is on equipment I can bring in the basin. So far it is looking like the gas drill with a small auger bit is going to be the way to go. It just seems like torture doing it one hole at a time.

The good part is they are pretty flexible, to a point, with the maintenance costs due to the 'novel' idea of the infiltration basin. Each one of the 12 homes will pay a yearly fee for maintenance.

[Piedmont Lawn]

Ken,

How are you going to maintain the basin, let it grow up or knock it down several times a year with a line trimmer or extended reach hedge trimmer.

Also thought about 2 cordless drills one in each hand with long auger bits and several back up batteries. Pull 2 cores at the same time, it's just a thought to kick around:blob4:

Later
Z

[KenH]

The basin needs to be cut twice a year, to a height of 10-12 inches. I was going to use my extended reach hedge trimmers, as I think the grass would be too thick to cut with the line trimmers.

The 2 cordless drills are a good idea. I will keep everyone posted on the progress.

[gogetter]

Originally posted by Mickhippy
When I was landscaping we used to dig or orga a hole as deep as need be and fill it with road base, (clean stones about 1" or so.) and then put a weed mat or cloth over that then turf over. This was done in any low point so the water could get through the crust for drainage. Seemed to work well for us!


Hmmm. How big around were these holes? And how deep did you usually go?
I have a low spot on my lawn and get a little 5'x10' or so swamp after it rains.
We rent so I don't want to do anything too costly or time consuming, so I wonder if the technique you described would work?
It's on the side part of the yard, it doesn't get much traffic. So I'm not TOO worried about it, but if it could be fixed as easily as what you described I'd do it.
Doubt the landlord would bother fixing it, so I'd rather just do it myself.
Maybe go 30"-36" down with my post hole digger and about 6"-8" around?

(sorry to piggyback on your thread Ken!).

[Mickhippy]

Hmmm. How big around were these holes? And how deep did you usually go?
I have a low spot on my lawn and get a little 5'x10' or so swamp after it rains.
We rent so I don't want to do anything too costly or time consuming, so I wonder if the technique you described would work?

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We used to dig holes approx, 3.5' deep by, approx 10"x 6". It sounds like you need to get rid of a bit more water than us but that should just mean bigger, deeper and more holes. Using the post hole digger would be perfect. I wish we had them when we dug em. It was done with a digging shovel and sweat. Probably why my backs so stuffed. In the end it'll really only cost you the stone and a bit of weed mat or shade cloth would work also.
Hope this helps!