Page 1 of 1

Best way to fix deep ruts

Posted: February 13th, 2020, 2:15 pm
by falcon
Hello,

I moved to a new house last summer with a detached barn that required me to drive over parts of the lawn. I drove mostly over an area that is basically packed dirt, but I also had to drive over a softer part of the lawn and it left several ruts that are 3-6" deep.

I'm wondering what the best way to rectify this is. I live in Reading, MA and I have not had a soil test yet, but the neighbors told me that the old owner had a huge garden there and would have compost trucked in every couple of years. That's now the best part of the lawn - minus the ruts!

So, should I just fill these ruts in with topsoil slowly? What is the ideal time of year to do this?

Thanks for the help!

Re: Best way to fix deep ruts

Posted: February 13th, 2020, 7:51 pm
by andy10917
How long is the area that needs to be fixed? It matters because the best way to fix it is manual,

Re: Best way to fix deep ruts

Posted: February 13th, 2020, 10:45 pm
by TimmyG

Re: Best way to fix deep ruts

Posted: February 15th, 2020, 8:43 am
by falcon
I would estimate that there are 3-5 ruts close to each other that are 50' long each.

Re: Best way to fix deep ruts

Posted: February 15th, 2020, 9:54 am
by andy10917
The technique that actually fixes the problem is to use a spading fork (often incorrectly called a pitchfork) to lift the compacted area as much as possible. That may be too much work for multiple 50' tracks. Just putting dirt on top hides the compacted soil but leaves the actual problem.

Re: Best way to fix deep ruts

Posted: February 15th, 2020, 1:08 pm
by falcon
andy10917 wrote:
February 15th, 2020, 9:54 am
The technique that actually fixes the problem is to use a spading fork (often incorrectly called a pitchfork) to lift the compacted area as much as possible. That may be too much work for multiple 50' tracks. Just putting dirt on top hides the compacted soil but leaves the actual problem.
Great. Thank you. I'll do it by hand...the yard needs a ton of work anyway!

Re: Best way to fix deep ruts

Posted: February 15th, 2020, 1:16 pm
by falcon
Is top dressing the lawn appropriate for other low spots that are not caused by compaction?

Re: Best way to fix deep ruts

Posted: February 25th, 2020, 11:05 pm
by Green
[quote=falcon post_id=338352 time=1581787019 user_id=9691]
Is top dressing the lawn appropriate for other low spots that are not caused by compaction?
[/quote]

Yes. But don't top dress with compost. It'll break down over time.

Re: Best way to fix deep ruts

Posted: February 26th, 2020, 1:45 pm
by falcon
Green wrote:
February 25th, 2020, 11:05 pm
falcon wrote:
February 15th, 2020, 1:16 pm
Is top dressing the lawn appropriate for other low spots that are not caused by compaction?
Yes. But don't top dress with compost. It'll break down over time.
I assume topsoil is the proper material? I see all kinds of people using sand online which just seems...strange.

Re: Best way to fix deep ruts

Posted: February 29th, 2020, 10:53 pm
by Green
Those people are using sand because they have sandy soil, and it does not break down at all. You can always add organic matter, but you can't remove it. I personally mix sand and compost, but not too much compost; I don't want to overdo the organic matter because it'll just sink again. More like 2/3 sand and 1/3 compost. It will sink some over time, but not as bad as pure compost, and it won't compact like pure sand, either. Plus, it matches my soil better.

Re: Best way to fix deep ruts

Posted: March 1st, 2020, 1:12 am
by Green
And I'll add: topsoil is really just a name for a soil that is derived from upper layers. A sandy loam topsoil, though, is just a specific combination of compost and sand, basically. Buying sand and topsoil and mixing it yourself can be cost effective.

Re: Best way to fix deep ruts

Posted: March 1st, 2020, 10:33 am
by andy10917
A sandy loam topsoil, though, is just a specific combination of compost and sand
That is not so.

There are four components that make up a real-world soil - sand, silt, clay and organic matter. The USDA publishes a triangle chart that identifies all soil types, based on the percentages of sand, silt and clay components. Organic matter is not a component of the mineral soil, but does affect TEC. The chart is available in the "Soil Management Part 1" article.

Re: Best way to fix deep ruts

Posted: March 1st, 2020, 10:55 pm
by Green
In other words, Organic matter is not one of the 3 base components of the soil, but is something that comes later. So that means the soil base is an inorganic mixture of the other 3.

Silt is the one of the 3 I know the least about. I know what sand looks like and what clay looks like.

That said, if one wanted to approximate their native soil better by mixing the correct components, where would you go to buy the silt component to add into your leveling mix? Since that is probably the missing factor in my leveling mixes. And then you need a soil structure test that determines roughly how much of the 4 components are needed. Is the jar test useful for doing this?

Re: Best way to fix deep ruts

Posted: March 2nd, 2020, 6:11 pm
by northeastlawn
I remember someone on here, maybe Andy, recommending a mix of.....

Top Soil, Sand, and Compost to fill in spots; like the divot mix golf courses use.

I tried to use something like this to level my yard a few years back when I did my reno. Unfortunately a big rain swept a lot of my leveling away before the grass established, but the mixture did seem to match the native top soil pretty well.

I have also used the pitch fork trick whenever someone parks in my hell strip, It works pretty good. What I find also helps is poking holes in those compressed areas to get the water in there so the grass roots gets that deeper water when it gets warmer.

Re: Best way to fix deep ruts

Posted: April 13th, 2020, 11:50 am
by ken-n-nancy
andy10917 wrote:
February 15th, 2020, 9:54 am
The technique that actually fixes the problem is to use a spading fork (often incorrectly called a pitchfork) to lift the compacted area as much as possible. That may be too much work for multiple 50' tracks. Just putting dirt on top hides the compacted soil but leaves the actual problem.
+1. I've had great success with the above. It's really the best way to do it, albeit a little labor-intensive.

The one gotcha is that if you have in-ground irrigation pipes, the spading fork approach will show you anywhere that your irrigation installer didn't get the polypipe submerged quite as far as desired. (Been there, done that, got the T-shirt...)