[jbthecamel]

I have a 2 acre field which is mostly grass.  I have a drainage issue in a couple of areas where the water seems to sit, and i would really like to get it sorted.

The field has a very gradual slope, at the bottom of the field i have access to a ditch.  The main problem area seem to be down one side.

I have dug some test holes.  Beneath the turf there is about 12-18 inches of very hard packed soil, really hard to dig even when wet.  Beneath that is some very sticky clay, i'm not sure how far down the clay goes.

I was thinking of a subsoiler to loosen up the soil about 12 inches down without going into the clay layer.

Anther option would be to use the same subsoiler and install some perforated pipe and direct it into the ditch at the bottom of the field.

What does everybody think ??

[shygirl]

we have clay and also very boggy land in places. the perforated pipes and stones we had put in professionally really made no impact and often sat under 2ft of water. hopefully this wont be your experience.

[jbthecamel]

Thanks Shygirl,

Have you similar ground makeup to mine, i.e. compacted sold over clay ?  If so do you know what level the drainage channel was dug down to ?

I am assuming that your perforated pipe was designed to disperse the water over a larger area, i'm planning on using the perforated pipe to collect the water and channel it to the ditch at the bottom of the field

[shygirl]

our pipe was dug down about 2 foot plus down, sloping down to the burn. then covered in stones.
never really worked much. maybe the perforated holes were the wrong size? I left it to the contractor to put in as I had a baby at the time, so never had much involvement, except in paying the bill.
however maybe im supposed to rod the pipes? which I haven't?
our field was holding 2ft of water, and deeply churned up by cattle/ponies. clay soil and "pull off your welly type condition. it was actually so bad in places a pony strained her leg just walking through to next field.

historically there were clay herringbone drainage all along the field and this was successful then but not economical for me to replace, so we don't really use this field until summer.

id be interested to see how you proceed, and what success you have.

[Marches Farmer]

Do you know what the underlying strata consists of?  Our land has bands of softish sandstone alternating with a hard conglomerate, which means when it rains hard or snow melts the water goes through the soft rock quite quickly then fetches up against the hard rock and forms wet areas where the ground levels off.  Not much we can do about that one except get the worst field grazed off before Winter.

[shep53]

You may find that if you clean out the ditch this may allow blocked field drains to flow into it ,   then you will be able to rod or jet the field drains and find any blockages / broken .     In clay soils already drained use of a MOLE plough can make long lasting extra drainage.

[jbthecamel]

Would i be right in saying that if you use a mole drainer you use it in the clay level, so the clay forms the "pipe" with a slot going to the surface. The surface water enters the "pipe" via the surface slot then flows to where the "pipe" joins the ditch

??

[shep53]

You are correct, normally done just above the field drains but side ways across the field to feed in to them .   Timing is vital clay must be not to wet or dry to form long lasting moles

[jbthecamel]

Ok great.  To simplify things a bit i'm thinking of trying the subsoiler first to de-compact the soil above the clay level to see it that helps, or am i wasting my time ?

[shep53]

  give it a go