About an acre of my property needs to be built up because it is constantly under water. When it's not actually flooded, I still can't do anything with it because of the mud. Top soil is at a premium so what are my alternatives? Can I get a cheaper kind of dirt that I will still be able to grow grass on?
well, you really need to give some more information. Why is it "constantly under water"? Is it in a flood plain? If so, you may not be legally able to fill it in. Can you put in in some drainage tiles/ditches to get the water to move out faster? Or does it just sit there until it evaporates or soaks into the soil? If it wants to sit there, maybe just make it a pondl. LOL. In any case, if you want to raise it one foot, it would take about 1725 cu yds of dirt or about 70 single trailer semi-loads at 25 yrds/load. Also, don't know what is available in your area.
Here in Michigan, last time I bought fill sand it was about $8/ cu yd delivered. People put signs up around here on their property looking for "clean fill", which means they'll take stuff from excavations and such for "free". That's the way a lot of property gets raised, but it takes a while to get it done. Best way to do it would be to fill it with whatever you can get then put 6" to a foot of topsoil on top.
Next question is: where will the water go AFTER you fill it?Make sure you plan for that or you'll be posting back again with another problem.
I grew up on an old rice field. It was low and really held water. The county was cleaning out ditches in the area. My dad let it be known that he would give a dollar a load to the county dump truck drivers. He built up the pasture pretty fast. But he had to spread it. There was a little garbage, litter.... But, I think it was a pretty fertile topsoil.
roujesky - That's a good idea. I'll keep an eye out for work going on in my area.
jml755 - It is constantly under water because the creep who owned the property before me scraped the top soil and sold it. After I get it raised it will drain onto the property that borders mine, but that's not a big deal because the guy doesn't use it for anything. Plus, he has the same problem so if he ever does want to do something there he will have to raise his property too.
Another option is to look into local horse stables and see what they do with their manure. The barn where we stable our horse has over 50 horses boarded there and the manure pile is as big as a house and you can take all you want for free. Mix it in (rototiller?) with your existing dirt. Of course, it may take a while to get it raised to where you want it using this method.
Also, look into wood chips. Many forestry services will have piles of wood chips from tree trimming/removal on their lots and some have "free" signs out front. Wood chips will take nitrogen out of the soil as they decompose so I use them on paths through the woods as stuff doesn't grow as easily and they're great at keeping the mud down. But you could use them for "volume", then deal with the chemistry of the soil later.
I like the pond idea best. You don't have to excavate the entire acre because you can use the soil you dig out for the pond to raise the level of the area near the pond. (I have 160 acres with 12 ponds and have other places calling to me begging to be a pond.) Building a pond requires a net addition of soil of ZERO to get started. Hire a dozer and operator or rent a dozer and get with it. Sometimes when you dig a pond it won't hold water and has to be lined with clay or ... In your case a few tenths of an acre below the surrounding grade (after dozer work) that doesn't hold water should be much better than what you have.
With the above solving your immediate problem of an acre of mud you can look for cost effective means of correcting any inadequacies in the soils fertility. You may be able to get cheap or low cost soil tests from your county extension agent. Soil tests will remove the guesswork from adding amendments and tell you exactly what to add and how much to prep the soil for the grass or whatever you want to grow.
Pat
"I'm not from your planet, monkey boy!"
Yeah, filling it in wont be easy. However you could try the old rock fill type for the base where it has washed away and top soil over that. If you have a tractor you can pack the rock fill in and make it pretty solid.
What is the land going to be used for? I might have missed it, fighting a nasty migraine. A friend of mine had a similar issue and ended up rock mixing the bits of soil left over and now its used only for scenery.
Thanks for the ideas everyoneWhat it's going to be used for is still up in the air. Most likely it won't be anything major. It's close enough to the house that we may put a pool there and maybe some flower beds and possibly another small barn or outbuilding for storage.
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