How to do-it-yourself drain tile?

[D. Vanzant]

In the past 3 years we have installed about 4000 feet of 4" and 6" drain tile through our hay ground. We need to install about 3000 ft more. Our farm has a high water table with springs that want to run across the fields about 10 months a year. Our previous installs have been great, but time consuming and pricey with a mini-excavator. Our fields are well sloped and easy to manage a uniform depth with out a gps. We only lay into a 24" bottom and less in some areas. We are in TN and our soil has a lot of clay, but is very soft in areas we are draining. Any ideas about how to trench with our tractor and lay it in by hand? PS...we stuck a wheeled trencher last year.

 

[paul]

I had 4000 feet of tile plowed in for just over $5000 last summer. Need to have them come & do more.

Tile plow is cheapest, trenching chain or wheel trencher is middle, and backhoe type of work os often most expensive.

What kind of resources do you have available? Doesn't pay to buy much for less than 5000 feet of work.

I've regretted any tile less than 24 inches deep - it doesn't hold up to farming. If you ever ever will do row crops,a ny possibility of row crops, get it at least 24 inches of dirt on top of the tile..... In my conditions anyhow.

--->Paul

 

[BCnT]

sorry to hijack this thread but i was wondering what kind of pipe yall use...i got visions of septic tank field line type pipe but laying that much gravel too would seriously put a dent in my wallet.
could somebody elaborate a bit more? i got a few problem areas too.
thanx
chuck

 

[tim [in]]

Ive been told 30 " deep. I ve ben thinking about buying a back hoe for my tractor and doing it myself when the soil is dry enough and i have time.

 

[paul]

Olden days layed clay tile.

Then concrete tile took over. About 1 foot long, and 4 to 24 inches across. Typically 4 inch where it's wet, feeds into 6 or 8 inch collector lines, and 10 or 12 inch main lines, and into county ditches. The tile are placed end to end, the water enters through the small cracks between tile.

Plastic came on in the late 1970s. rolls of 1000's of feet. Again, 4-8 inch size is common, I hear of 3 inch but not around here. It looks like the stuff you see at Home depot or the like, black plastic with little perfs in the sides. They make big stuff, but here concrete is still more popular for the over 12 inch lines.

In hills you drain out the bottoms wet spots, then you find out a lot of water comes out of the sidehills and makes dame areas 1/2 way up the hill so you add tile to drain those sidehills.

In flatter ground you run the tile every 30 to 80 feet apart (depends on soil type), in a 'patten tile' setup.

In the right soils they might use a sock over the tile to prevent silt from getting in, some like to put a little sand or gravel in a column in the wetest spots for the water to drain away a little quicker, but you typically just put it in the ground & let water channels form to let the water drain into the tile as is.

--->Paul

 

[D. Vanzant]

We are experienced to about 4000' so we kind of know the "how-to" part I guess. We don't have anyone to lay tile in this part of the country except the roadside conduit types. There's not a lot of row-cropping in this part of the state either. I don't want to buy a tile plow, really wondering if anyone knows how to build a 3pt hitch variety? All help is appreciated.

 

[D. Vanzant]

We've done both. Backfilling with gravel in the really wet places is a good idea, but not necessary everywhere. We buy the tile locally in 100 ft rolls and after our mini excavator rental (you want to do this if its wet to prevent getting a ditchwitcher stuck) and driver labor (a good driver can eyeball the depth accurate enough) we have about 1.00 per foot in it. Always start at the end and move toward the source.

 

[evilboweviel]

hey
looky here

 

[buickanddeere]

I have a JD 22B single HD shank 1-1/4" thick, 33" shank sub soiler with a 10" Laser Tip and a moleball.
It wouldn't take very much to bolt on 5" pipe with a 90 degree bend onto the back of the shank to operate as a shoe.

 

[Ed the wine farmer]

Last year I put in 600 ft. of 12 in. black plastic to replace a French drain from about 1860. My GR GR GR Grandfather put it in when he started this farm. He used a horse and drage and cost him only his time. The Road Dept.neighbor said-Nice job but,the kids sometimes light a fire in the culvert under the roads. It will burn all the way through Wish me luck

 

[Anonymous-0]

Dad laid a bunch of 4" plastic using a ditch witch trencher

 

[JMS/.MN]

I have pix of two home made versions, one behind a 4430, the other behind a Massey 4wd. Plows work slick but take power and traction. Some add 1-2 tractors in front. I have made drawings and purchased the steel I need to make my own for runs 3-4 feet deep. I don"t like to see any less then 3 feet for field tile. Depth also determines the width of drainage field. (V) My renter purchased his own plow last year, but weather prevented him plowing in any last fall. He"ll plow my purchased tile in for free, and I"ll help him with my backhoe, but I still intend to build what I designed, a 3ph version for my 4450 MFWD. Google these builders- JM Innovations, Edwardsville, IL. Johnson Drainage plows, Clarksvill, IA. Gold Digger, Canada. Donurdinger, Waverly, IA. Some build 3ph models. Go to FarmShow archives, Vol. 18, Issue 3, 1994 for a MN inventor"s idea. My plans are similar, but will go deeper. As usual, FS numbers are not right for max depth, but the concept is. I will scan the pix I took of that one, as well as the one behind the Massey- and will post later in a new message.

 

[JMS/.MN]

That"s why we run 6-10 feet of steel culvert, sized to the tile line, where the line goes into the ditch. Not just for kids, but grass fires, ditch burning, etc. Also use a rodent guard on the end.

 

[onefarmer]

We have a vermeer trencher tile machine. It's like a ditch witch but goes behind a tractor and uses a winch to pull it along ~ 250ft to a time. We put in miles of tile with it.

There is one at Stamm in Wayland Mi. $2500