Anybody had a pond filled?

[herofan]

We had a pond filled with a dozer recently. It was about 50 by 70ft, and wasn't worth ten cents.

Anyway, it didn't hold water well, but had about a foot or so in it when filled. The dozer guy said he worked it in from all sides, and the water pushed up to the middle. He said it might be dangerous for calves to be on it a couple of days, but otherwise, no problems. Later in the day, my brother and I checked it out, and discovered a spot down the middle that was basically like quick sand. My brother stepped in one area and quickly went above his knee. I honestly believe it would have swallowed a cow had they stepped in it. We thought it more dangerous than the dozer guy thought, so we fenced this area off.

The area is about three feet wide, and the dirt beyond that is very packed and hard. After two days, the middle still seems fairly mushy, but I'm not diving in to test it fully. I guess this is where experience and knowledge comes in handy. I had never had a pond filled before.

Has anyone else had a similar experience? How long will it take for that strip down the middle to harden?

 

[dun]

I had to pull a guy out f one that had sunk to the top of his tires on an old International. It had only been filled in about 10 years.

 

[herofan]

I had to pull a guy out f one that had sunk to the top of his tires on an old International. It had only been filled in about 10 years.

The dozer guy casually said a couple of days. Is it possible it will always be a bit mushy in that area, especially during wet weather. I hope not, it's in a hay field.

The guy said he dug and filled in ponds all the time. I assume people don't fill them in just to have a mud hole.

 

[skyhightree1]

hero here it wouldnt take hard at all with most of our soils. I filled in a very small pond maybe about 100' around a few years back we hauled in alot of dry clay then packed it down pretty well and put topsoil on top and planted grass on top the people that bought the property didnt want it said skeeters were too bad. It didn't have any sink hole issues.

 

[Shanghai]

I did the exact same thing
I'm going to have to haul in dirt and build a hill so it'll drain away

 

[skyhightree1]

shang i stopped a foot below the top surface and started with regular fill dirt till about 4 inches below the surface then put right at 1 foot of topsoil above the surface and made a mound.

 

[backhoeboogie]

Dig a trench, fill it with some gravel, put a perforated pipe in it, let it run downhill, be done with it.

Chances are you will have a soft foot there forever unless you fix it.

 

[inyati13]

Yes. I backfilled my pond in 2010. I picked the lowest point and backfilled toward that point. I did it over a summer. When I finished, it would support the weight of my Cat D3G.

My brother had a guy fill his pond which is about this same size. He worked toward the center. If you work toward the center and do not allow the water to drain and dry infront of the backfill process, you can end with some soft spots. The advantage I had was I had my own dozer. If you are filling it in 3 days, that does not give it much time to drain in front of you.
I will try to get a picture of the finished area. I seeded with endophyte free fescue and mow it on a regular basis. It is probably more solid than the natural ground due to the compacted layers as I backfilled it.
You don't need gravel or perforated pipe. Just keep the water infront of you.

 

[TennesseeTuxedo]

What form of wicked madness leads some to fill in ponds while others spend thousands digging them?

 

[inyati13]

What form of wicked madness leads some to fill in ponds while others spend thousands digging them?

TT, the best thing I did on my farm was backfill that pond. It was nothing but a sess pool of cow shyt. I now have a public water system that supplies clean fresh water as the cows use it. Add to that - an additional acre of pasture where the old pond was. Less weeds. And reduced chance for a cow accident in a nasty mud pit.

 

[TennesseeTuxedo]

What form of wicked madness leads some to fill in ponds while others spend thousands digging them?

TT, the best thing I did on my farm was backfill that pond. It was nothing but a sess pool of cow shyt. I now have a public water system that supplies clean fresh water as the cows use it. Add to that - an additional acre of pasture where the old pond was. Less weeds. And reduced chance for a cow accident in a nasty mud pit.

I know, just yanking your chain a little. My long term goal is to fence off the bigger ponds and put in water fountains everywhere we need drinking water.

 

[Bigfoot]

Hero,

I filled one in '93 and it is still a hot mess. I'm not sorry I filled it. You just ain't going to drive a tractor on ot unless were in a serious drought.

 

[branguscowgirl]

Dig a trench, fill it with some gravel, put a perforated pipe in it, let it run downhill, be done with it.

Chances are you will have a soft foot there forever unless you fix it.

Agree, this is how we solved a lot of water problems on my Oregon ranch. Nic named "sponge mountain."

 

[inyati13]

I found a picture taken July 2013 of the back-filled pond after reestablishing vegetation. The pond was in the swale on the right at the end of the ridge.

 

[dun]

Part of the problem with filling a pond isn;t just the free water left in it. A big share of the problem is the "mulm" that has settled and partially filled the original pond area. That stuff will hold water seemingly forever. We had one pond cleaned and filled a swale about 3 foot deep with the stuff. It wasn;t until the drought of 2012 (5 years after it was cleaned) that you could drive across it. We still have one swampy pond that never has more then a foot of water in it. It is an old government designed and dug pond. Below the pond about 15 feet there is a valve that would provide water to a concrete water tank. It is sprign fed but so silted in that we never have considered doing anything with it other then fencing it off. I threw a head sized rock into it when it didn't have much standing water and you could pretty much see the mud surface. It made a muddy splash with most of the rock showing. It took a week before it gradually sunk out of sight. And STINK!

 

[inyati13]

Part of the problem with filling a pond isn;t just the free water left in it. A big share of the problem is the "mulm" that has settled and partially filled the original pond area. That stuff will hold water seemingly forever. We had one pond cleaned and filled a swale about 3 foot deep with the stuff. It wasn;t until the drought of 2012 (5 years after it was cleaned) that you could drive across it. We still have one swampy pond that never has more then a foot of water in it. It is an old government designed and dug pond. Below the pond about 15 feet there is a valve that would provide water to a concrete water tank. It is sprign fed but so silted in that we never have considered doing anything with it other then fencing it off. I threw a head sized rock into it when it didn't have much standing water and you could pretty much see the mud surface. It made a muddy splash with most of the rock showing. It took a week before it gradually sunk out of sight. And STINK!

Yep. That fine mud with the blue-gray tint will hold water if it is left in place until Judgement Day. It will not drain and in this part of the US, the clay holds that water - it does not drain. I pushed it up and let it dry. Then I would go back and walk it down with the dozer. Those mud balls are so hard you can ride up on then with a D3. It took all summer before I could get it all worked to one end and walked down. That is why I said, it is not going to produce the best result if you have to do it in 3 days.

 

[herofan]

It's funny how things work. The pond wouldn't retain water, which is why we had it filled in; however, what little water it did hold will probably hang around and cause problems.

 

[herofan]

I just gave it another check. It seems to have dried some, and I pushed a long cedar stick in the mushiest part, and it seems to get more solid after about a foot and a half. Maybe there is hope.

 

[backhoeboogie]

Yes. I backfilled my pond in 2010. I picked the lowest point and backfilled toward that point. I did it over a summer. When I finished, it would support the weight of my Cat D3G.

My brother had a guy fill his pond which is about this same size. He worked toward the center. If you work toward the center and do not allow the water to drain and dry infront of the backfill process, you can end with some soft spots. The advantage I had was I had my own dozer. If you are filling it in 3 days, that does not give it much time to drain in front of you.
I will try to get a picture of the finished area. I seeded with endophyte free fescue and mow it on a regular basis. It is probably more solid than the natural ground due to the compacted layers as I backfilled it.
You don't need gravel or perforated pipe. Just keep the water infront of you.

Yep. That fine mud with the blue-gray tint will hold water if it is left in place until Judgement Day. It will not drain and in this part of the US, the clay holds that water - it does not drain. I pushed it up and let it dry. Then I would go back and walk it down with the dozer. Those mud balls are so hard you can ride up on then with a D3. It took all summer before I could get it all worked to one end and walked down. That is why I said, it is not going to produce the best result if you have to do it in 3 days.

inyati I am still trying to make sense of these two posts. No gravel and perforated pipe. Take all summer to do if you have a dozier.

I have a dozer. A hoe too. French drain fixes it now. Doesn't take all summer. Soft foot is never a concerned when you get an 8 inch rain one afternoon.

 

[inyati13]

Yes. I backfilled my pond in 2010. I picked the lowest point and backfilled toward that point. I did it over a summer. When I finished, it would support the weight of my Cat D3G.

My brother had a guy fill his pond which is about this same size. He worked toward the center. If you work toward the center and do not allow the water to drain and dry infront of the backfill process, you can end with some soft spots. The advantage I had was I had my own dozer. If you are filling it in 3 days, that does not give it much time to drain in front of you.
I will try to get a picture of the finished area. I seeded with endophyte free fescue and mow it on a regular basis. It is probably more solid than the natural ground due to the compacted layers as I backfilled it.
You don't need gravel or perforated pipe. Just keep the water infront of you.

Yep. That fine mud with the blue-gray tint will hold water if it is left in place until Judgement Day. It will not drain and in this part of the US, the clay holds that water - it does not drain. I pushed it up and let it dry. Then I would go back and walk it down with the dozer. Those mud balls are so hard you can ride up on then with a D3. It took all summer before I could get it all worked to one end and walked down. That is why I said, it is not going to produce the best result if you have to do it in 3 days.

inyati I am still trying to make sense of these two posts. No gravel and perforated pipe. Take all summer to do if you have a dozier.

I have a dozer. A hoe too. French drain fixes it now. Doesn't take all summer. Soft foot is never a concerned when you get an 8 inch rain one afternoon.

The problem with backfilling ponds in this area is not the "free standing water". The problem is the "bound water". The clays and sediments form a "mud cake". I could put a cubic foot of it on your kitchen table and come back an hour later and there would not be a thimble of water on the table top. You almost have to put it in a drying furnace to remove the moisture.

It would be an absolute waste of money putting in perforated pipe or a french drain. The free standing water is best removed by displacement. Then you are left with a pond of "mud cake".

To produce a backfill that will support traffic be it cows or tractors, you need to push up the "mud cake" and let it dry. Then go back after drying and walk it down. I am not saying it has to take all summer. Since I had my own Cat 2005 D3G for the first three years at the farm, I took all summer only because I was doing other projects.

But you do need enough time to dry out the mud cake. Look at dun's post on page 1. His post makes the same point. Here is his words,"That stuff will hold water seemingly forever. We had one pond cleaned and filled a swale about 3 foot deep with the stuff. It wasn;t until the drought of 2012 (5 years after it was cleaned) that you could drive across it." The water he is talking about does not flow out. It has to dry out. Perforated pipe and a French drain in mud cake is as useless as teats on a boar hog!