Hello all! Had my pond dug last fall before weather got too bad. It's approx 3/4 acre. I got grass see down the day after digging was complete. I a in NE Indiana and we didn't get much rain until temps got really cool so not much grass grew. We have been under snow for quite a while and now everything is thawed I can see some issues on a couple banks. We have a good week of dry weather coming up and need advice on a temporary fix until summer. Need to slow down the erosion. ground is still pretty wet for me to get dirt hauled to those areas also. Would some type of erosion control mat help me right now? Thanks for any advice you can give.
Consider throwing some straw bails into the larger ditches until dirt and re-seeding can take place. I am talking about a single bail here and there to stop some of the dirt from washing all the way down the ditch. Staking them down may be necessary if the washout carries a lot of water.
I wonder if re-seeding now would be recommended for your area of the country? If your original seed is gone, re-seeding the good places makes sense to me.
An old drinking buddy (haven't seen him in a year, that particular old world beer bar has yet to re-open), told me he would contract with the highway department to stabilize the creek sides below the drainage outlets (which would get under-cut with all the added storm water, (I was looking to stabilize soil on steep sides) he said he would just mix pure cement (no concrete mix) with the dirt, wet it down, and in a few days it would be rock hard and wouldn't erode. I haven't tried it (I went with fake grass).
Thanks quarteracre! I will grab some straw this week. I do have plenty of seed for re-seeding. Temps here are in the 40's right now. Still not out of snow season yet, have another month or so. Hoping by end of week it's dry enough to get out there to patch things up.
You can get erosion matting, which is netting with stray woven into it. You have to stake or pin it down, if it's in an area that will eventually be under water make sure to use all natural jute fibers, not the plastic netting with the straw in it. The plastic netting will act as a gill net for smaller fish.
The bales are a good idea (staked down) in the drainage ditches. If the ditch is wide, use 2 bakes with a 3rd behind them where the 2 bails touch. (like a brick wall looks)
you can seed with a cold weather rye now and it will germ - any northern blend annual rye will do in addition to staking down bales of straw, spread loose straw on the soft spots and work it into the top layer of soft soil with an atv, tractor, etc.
some of those spots look like they will always be painpoints, you might want to look into some rock and geotex/burlap
Frost seeding is one of the best ways to get a good stand of grass early in the season. If there's no existing ground cover a bit of straw or old hay will help, but mostly the freeze/thaw cycles work the seed just into the top layer of soil, and it will pop when the temps get right.
You can get erosion matting, which is netting with stray woven into it. You have to stake or pin it down, if it's in an area that will eventually be under water make sure to use all natural jute fibers, not the plastic netting with the straw in it. The plastic netting will act as a gill net for smaller fish.
The bales are a good idea (staked down) in the drainage ditches. If the ditch is wide, use 2 bakes with a 3rd behind them where the 2 bails touch. (like a brick wall looks)
Erosion matting was an option also on the smaller areas of erosion. The matting isn't too bad of an expense.
you can seed with a cold weather rye now and it will germ - any northern blend annual rye will do in addition to staking down bales of straw, spread loose straw on the soft spots and work it into the top layer of soft soil with an atv, tractor, etc.
some of those spots look like they will always be painpoints, you might want to look into some rock and geotex/burlap
I got seed in last year before weather got bad, just not all of it came up. I plan to put rock around the pond this summer. Hoping with the grass growing in this spring will help things out.
Frost seeding is one of the best ways to get a good stand of grass early in the season. If there's no existing ground cover a bit of straw or old hay will help, but mostly the freeze/thaw cycles work the seed just into the top layer of soil, and it will pop when the temps get right.
If it dries up enough I will get some more seed down in the places that didn't sprout last year.
DChap, do you have a way to water the grass now that you have water in the pond?
All of the over-seeding in the world won't help if a 2-week dry spell can kill off your new grass.
There are lots of different options for you to consider, depending upon your total square feet of grass to maintain, whether you have electricity at the site, etc.
DChap, do you have a way to water the grass now that you have water in the pond?
All of the over-seeding in the world won't help if a 2-week dry spell can kill off your new grass.
There are lots of different options for you to consider, depending upon your total square feet of grass to maintain, whether you have electricity at the site, etc.
No way to water grass out by the pond. I can run electricity from my house if I need it for now. I plan to run electric this summer.
+1 on your idea to run electric to the pond this summer!
Being able to run an aerator in your pond will almost certainly be beneficial - no matter what your goals are for the pond. The ability to water your grassed slopes during a drought would definitely be an additional benefit. I think a "sprinkler pump" would work well if you can get the pond water clean enough.
For this spring:
Looking at your picture #1, it appears that you do have some pipe running from your house to the pond. Can you use this line to get some slightly-pressurized water from the house to your areas where you are performing erosion control?
Water pressure at a long distance from your house will definitely be reduced. Pipe diameter makes a huge difference. I would recommend using PVC of the same size as the pipe in your picture for as far as you can reasonably afford to get close to your erosion spots. Then I would finish off with a large diameter (3/4") garden hose.
Any plantings you decide to utilize for your erosion control project will definitely do better with supplemental water if the rains are not timely.
P.S. If you do have cheap water available from your house, then utilizing a booster pump at the pond would allow you to water your grassy slopes with particle-free water as needed once you have electricity at the pond. (Assuming some type of large diameter water line from the house to the pond remains in your long-term plans.)
Good luck on your projects. It looks like your family is going to have a great house/backyard/pond combo!
+1 on your idea to run electric to the pond this summer!
Being able to run an aerator in your pond will almost certainly be beneficial - no matter what your goals are for the pond. The ability to water your grassed slopes during a drought would definitely be an additional benefit. I think a "sprinkler pump" would work well if you can get the pond water clean enough.
For this spring:
Looking at your picture #1, it appears that you do have some pipe running from your house to the pond. Can you use this line to get some slightly-pressurized water from the house to your areas where you are performing erosion control?
Water pressure at a long distance from your house will definitely be reduced. Pipe diameter makes a huge difference. I would recommend using PVC of the same size as the pipe in your picture for as far as you can reasonably afford to get close to your erosion spots. Then I would finish off with a large diameter (3/4") garden hose.
Any plantings you decide to utilize for your erosion control project will definitely do better with supplemental water if the rains are not timely.
P.S. If you do have cheap water available from your house, then utilizing a booster pump at the pond would allow you to water your grassy slopes with particle-free water as needed once you have electricity at the pond. (Assuming some type of large diameter water line from the house to the pond remains in your long-term plans.)
Good luck on your projects. It looks like your family is going to have a great house/backyard/pond combo!
Thanks for the input. Yes I want electric out there for an aerator and future fountain with lights, also want power for on my beach and future dock. The pipe from the house is from my sump pump which gets buried this summer. I am also going to run downspouts from rear of house to pond. My water comes from my well so I would say my water is fairly cheap. I can look at coming up with some type of water system to keep things watered during dry times. Thanks for the encouragement, getting things setup is work lol. Turning farmland into a home has been a journey, but should bring my family many years of joy.
If that is your sump pump line, you have all kinds of options!
You could add a tee by the house (and two valves) and give yourself the option to run well water down to the lake. Then you could water your new grass, rinse off kids after they get sandy on your beach, clean fish OUT of your kitchen, etc.
[I might also add one of those spring-loaded brass pressure relief valves ($15?). Just in case someone closes both valves down by the lake and your water well pressure can exceed the rating of your pipe.]
Good luck on the "farm to home" conversion project! We have a farm about 45 minutes away from our home in town and I want to keep developing family projects at our place too.
DChap, do you have a way to water the grass now that you have water in the pond?
All of the over-seeding in the world won't help if a 2-week dry spell can kill off your new grass.
There are lots of different options for you to consider, depending upon your total square feet of grass to maintain, whether you have electricity at the site, etc.
No way to water grass out by the pond. I can run electricity from my house if I need it for now. I plan to run electric this summer.
2" trash pump setting on a pallet with a fixture to split off of discharge, you can water the snot out of grassed areas. I run 3 3/4" hoses with sprinklers attached. most 2" pumps at not too far above idle will run 3-5hrs and provide 35-45psi to 3 hoses depending on length. I use the back n forth multi-hole type sprinklers and usually end up moving them about every 30-40 min to keep water from washing seed/pooling and running off.
in the spring time in NE Indiana you can overseed w/o watering and it will germ, so long as you overseed early (like right now) with a cold weather seed - Just like Augie said, the frost/thaw cycle will take care of moisture and work the seed to depth
If you use a geotex mat, make darn sure you will not be breaking that ground again - it can be a royal pain to remove or deal with if you are tilling, harrowing, dethatching, etc.
If that is your sump pump line, you have all kinds of options!
You could add a tee by the house (and two valves) and give yourself the option to run well water down to the lake. Then you could water your new grass, rinse off kids after they get sandy on your beach, clean fish OUT of your kitchen, etc.
[I might also add one of those spring-loaded brass pressure relief valves ($15?). Just in case someone closes both valves down by the lake and your water well pressure can exceed the rating of your pipe.]
Good luck on the "farm to home" conversion project! We have a farm about 45 minutes away from our home in town and I want to keep developing family projects at our place too.
You have me thinking now lol. I think I will trench a water line over from the house when I trench my gutters and sump line to pond. That will give me water out there for any future activities.
DChap, do you have a way to water the grass now that you have water in the pond?
All of the over-seeding in the world won't help if a 2-week dry spell can kill off your new grass.
There are lots of different options for you to consider, depending upon your total square feet of grass to maintain, whether you have electricity at the site, etc.
No way to water grass out by the pond. I can run electricity from my house if I need it for now. I plan to run electric this summer.
2" trash pump setting on a pallet with a fixture to split off of discharge, you can water the snot out of grassed areas. I run 3 3/4" hoses with sprinklers attached. most 2" pumps at not too far above idle will run 3-5hrs and provide 35-45psi to 3 hoses depending on length. I use the back n forth multi-hole type sprinklers and usually end up moving them about every 30-40 min to keep water from washing seed/pooling and running off.
I will see what lowes and harbor freight have, might be able to get something set-up for this summer.
We just spread seed on a future prairie to take advantage of the freeze-thaw.
I have several bags of seed leftover from last year when I did new lawn and pond, will get it down today. Have 60+ degree weather for next few days. I bought some erosion net to put over seed and straw for around banks this summer when weather and ground is better. Will see how much grass comes up with the freeze-thaw method.
Not sure we will get enough freeze thaw yet this year, but we are expecting some significant rain in the next few days.
Yeah definitely the freeze days are slipping away, but looking at the 10 day forecast we have a few cold days coming up. I am up north in Dekalb county, doesn't get nice for another 3-4 weeks. This warm trend is not our normal. I figure if 25-50% of the seed takes that will help out a little bit. My rolls of burlap mat was delivered yesterday, this summer I will get it laid over seed and straw on the banks. With any luck everything will be nice and green by mid summer, then just have to wit for pond to fill lol.
I am curious about the 2nd picture as it looks more like a sink than a surface washout. It looks to me like a more serious issue that hay will not solve. But it could also just be the picture.