Fixing an Ugly Rough Ditch Erosion Problem With Creek Rock

[@timpedzinski230]

That looks great Mik! Now we need a follow up video in about 10 months.

[@johnsadler8637]

That looks really good! Those guys know their business. The test will be the first rain that fills the ditch to capacity. Please get video for us!

[@boatworkstoday]

Looks great Mike!

[@royosborn7869]

Looks good today - it will be interesting to see it over the next couple years. Hopefully it does well.

[@stevewarner8880]

Looks good Mike. I used to repair highway drainage issues in my career prior to retirement. My only concern is the velocity of the water. It appears to have lots of fall and a big area to drain. It’s good that you have a well defined channel for the water. Many just dump rock in a ditch which just causes the water to dig channels around it. Just take a video of the ditch in a heavy rain event. If the velocity is to great you might need to install ditch checks to slow it down.

[@danacross3427]

Good advice here

[@TractorMike]

There was a section of ditch toward the bottom of the slope in the video that was eroding at an alarming rate when we moved here after several abnormally large rains. I started putting rough field rocks in there and it seemed to stop. It didn't look all that great, but it let the water flow through and kept any soil before in place. That all got dug out when the new rock came in, it did it's job.

[@mrslkungpowchikn1206]

@@fastrivers812I don’t see why larger angular ballast rock that’s compacted to lock wouldn’t stop That from happening as long as you put in geotech fabric at the bottom and up to the road (I like to pin mine in place with larger anodized steaks and then OCD me using concrete or landscaping caulking around and on top of each stakes in spike to BLOCK a path of least resistance situation causing water migration.). Also I would also suggest lining the geotech fabric with a smaller angular rock like 3/4” angular rock (I used clean but needs vibrating compaction ) to compact down so that the bigger stuff with more significant sharp edges don’t pierce or wear down the fabric as much. After the base layer is the smaller rock is compacted you can add the larger angular ballast rock - I used 1-3” with no fines but you could go a little bigger also. But make sure you get small enough angular rock with no fines close to the edge so that the water will go in there vs makes its way down the edge of the road because you didn’t put the geotech fabric or 1-2” angular rock close enough to prevent the water from falling off the asphalt or concrete edge making a Little dirt / mud canal. Make sure the water can’t deep down and underneath the road by wrapping the fabric up and around, pinning to the edge if you have to. Also, I put a rapid set asphalt concrete mix ontop of my fabric and the cut asphalt and it stuck very well but make sure to wet it down with a sprayer first. My 100 ft of driveway edge along the weak city asphalt “crust” is built strong enough to handle a school bus 4 x per day using it!

[@michaelhiteshew4052]

Looks gorgeous, and that rip-rap should have no trouble carrying lots of water. Should end the erosion too. Good solution.

[@martyb3783]

Wow that looks really nice. Maybe the next time it rains hard you can show us the water flow. Great video.

[@rvdawg6231]

Good looking and efficient ditch that will be fun to watch water run down during a heavy rain. Thanks for sharing

[@swampwhiteoak1]

That method will work great for a long time. Definitely a lifetime guarantee for you!

[@kraut39]

Thats some beautiful work! Love to see it in action after a downpour!

[@Gyrine1969]

Nice job , I have the same problem put 6" drainage tile and wrapped it in septic cloth , covered by 2" trap rock . Works for me !

[@a.saintango1311]

Looks so much better. Those guys know what they’re doing for sure. Seeing the red layout line and the final product, they probably dug out a few tons of material for ya.

[@peterskowronski6248]

Would love to see a follow up on this ditch and how it worked out for you.

[@johnmedlin5894]

Wow, Mike that looks marvelous! They did an excellent job. I will say, if there's no landscape fabric underneath the rock, you will definitely end up having to spray in spots down the road, but that is easy enough with that nice 3pt sprayer you have. Again, looks great. Merry Christmas to you and your family.

[@rbhillner]

I had to do a very similar remedy for our driveway. Slightly different problem but the fix was the same. Looks good Mike.

[@bbcobra04]

I love the look of rock. We just did a small 25 to 30 foot length on each side of our driveway. Works great

[@wendyc.5769]

That turned out beautiful Mike!! 👍

[@mikeheilman2560]

Great hat Mike and the ditch job really looks nice too. I hope they got the problem taken care of for you. Stay safe.

[@johnstobbscpa8081]

great video. look forward to the updates as to how will it works.

[@davidhayden6724]

That looks great Mike. I have a much smaller area to repair and that will work perfectly.

[@sth9460]

It looks great Mike. I like your tan colored creek stone better than the blue surge stone we have in NC.

[@davidhaskins9457]

The finished project looks awesome Mike can't wait to see how it works for you

[@lesbecker6412]

Really looks good, Mike!

[@douglaspost5097]

That looks really nice Mike. I hope you can spray it with something to keep the weeds and grass at bay. I wonder if it's level enough to run the brush hog over it once a year or so. I've done that at a customer's place that had something similar. I keep the deck a little higher so it doesn't pick up any stones. It's higher than the surrounding grass, but at least it's uniform and doesn't look unkempt.

[@ATR-42]

I really enjoy the project videos! great job!

[@davidpennington9125]

Well looks good Mike there's some areas like that that I would like to even have done that way we normally just throw rock over in those areas and not so much dig it out but then again I don't have so much equipment as far as excavating more as far as hauling in material

[@markhampton3599]

Looks great ! But it would have been nice to see part of what they did !! Thanks Mike ! Always enjoy your video s !

[@tonyparris5278]

Looks great, they done a awesome job.

[@johnjennings4435]

They did a really nice job

[@bobwollard9105]

Fine job Mike.

[@meusatrumtempestas]

Awesome results👍

[@billchriswell2925]

Looks good! I need to put drainages through my orchard. Gotta figure how best to do it with my subcompact😖

[@akwolf1434]

Very nice Mike!

[@patrickbramlett7515]

I've got a similar ditch going across my property and this is what I've been wanting to do. I have to be careful because I have two gas lines that go diagonal across my area that aren't very deep that will give me issues digging down enough to get water to flow in the direction it needs to go.

[@MrMayham]

Nice video. Do you have a 1 year follow up?

[@earlyriser8998]

i love the finished project

[@rickhamilton3009]

Looks real nice. Time will tell.

[@tonnielchin233]

Permeable pavers work great as well

[@jims3650]

Great Job Mike!

[@GreenMountainDIYGuy]

Looks Fantastic!

[@tacarms]

I have a similar issue. Currently, the ditch can't hold that volume of water and it runs over my gravel driveway, washing it out. We have a landscaping guy coming next week to redirect and deepen the ditch. I like the rock idea. I'll have to see if the new ditch corrects the issues.

[@d.a.ballou9740]

Looks good from my house Mike! 😁🎅

[@austin3626]

That looks amazing

[@melvinpeay9918]

Looks great 👍

[@stephenrhodesianridgeback7418]

Yes you finally got it done 👍 hilarious I was just thinking I should messenger you and ask what you did with the ditch . That was me Stephen Gentile that sent you those pictures 😉 You guys did a great job . Up here in ontario we call it gabion stone or rip rap . The sharper the stone the better too lock in . It stops tumbling or movement in rapid water movement . And yes it still looks the same as the pictures I sent you . Lime stone also purifys water . It’s great for the Enviroment and excellent for ponds where water runs into it . Well Done Mike 👍👍👍

[@TractorMike]

Stephen, thanks for giving me the inspiration, we relied heavily on your advice. I wish the rock was a little sharper but that's about the best we could come up with.

[@stephenrhodesianridgeback7418]

@@TractorMike Your welcome Mike . In the dry summer days I take the tractor and slowly and carefully compress the stone with tires once and awhile . This keeps the stone compressed nice and keeps a nice convex Shute . 👍

[@kevinashby3784]

That looks great

[@gretaknebel8495]

Very good job!

[@SirNC16]

Tractor Mike, you need to usea pond scoop, you will be surprised how well they move dirt.

[@johnspoon923]

Well done

[@kh867]

Really enjoying these videos you make. Beautiful and functional. Would love to see another video of how it looks on a heavy rainy day. Is there anything different you would’ve done?

[@JCWren]

Looks great!

[@scrhino40]

Keep it spray with weed and grass killer to keep the rock uncover. Looks good.Have a great day be safe.

[@jimputnam2044]

I would put a BIG O plastic 4 in. drain pipe in the bottom the kind they use around foundations, moves water fast and the rock work as a French drain. With just the rock it will fill up and spill over, same problem again.

[@Bob-vb8lc]

Wow, what a difference. I really like the looks and functionality it will provide. I was wondering how long it took them to do that? Thanks for sharing Mike.

[@TractorMike]

About three days. It would have taken me three years :)!

[@Bob-vb8lc]

@@TractorMike Thank you for the reply. It would have taken me all of that too lol

[@BrickyardPowerMan]

Looks great

[@Ok-Mardy]

Looks good Mike! My big concern over time is weed growth👍

[@TractorMike]

Yeah, mine too. I'll have to keep after it to keep it from looking like what it did before. At least if I kill the weeds the rock will be below. Any weed killer applied before would just result in an ugly brown area.

[@moniquehamilton7391]

Hi Mike, I just happen to see your video while looking for a different solution for our ditch. We tried the rock solution a few years ago and it looks awful today with all kinds of weeds growing through. How is yours holding up?

[@TractorMike]

Good so far. I walk by it every day and pull out a few weeds. It has Bermuda grass growing in one end that may take it over someday, I may have to break down and spray it. It looks great right now, but it hasn't been installed a year yet.

[@kevinwhite4541]

Nice job

[@tomvonkamecke7136]

Does look good.

[@john65645]

I know that cost a pretty penny because I just had 55 tons of rock landscaped around my house and shop. I have rock in my drainage areas but I'm going to need a rock bucket due to the rocks filling up with the sandy granite soil. Looks like your ditch should be okay since it's surrounded by grass and asphalt.

[@semco72057]

That is nice looking work and the contractor did a great job of placing the rock so water should drain and leave the rock in place. I need to do some work around my place and there is rock in places along our road which was washed off and the county didn't push it back into the road so I have been thinking of getting it using one of my tractors and using it to fill in areas where the water have washed away the soil over the years to repair the land.

[@Raul28153]

What did you do for Side Adjacent support for the soil under the driveway?

[@mikemorrison6023]

Very nice !

[@luvbigiron]

Looks great. I live in the mountains in southwest Virginia on forty acres with over half a mile of gravel driveway that is pretty steep in areas. My solution was to rock the ditches as you did and put run-off culverts to control the volume of water. In your case you don't appear to have that option. If the slope isn't too bad I think you should be fine. As one commented said, you might have to put up a few rock dams to slow the water but you need a gulley washer to test it out. As far as weeds go, I have to spray once or twice in the summer to keep them knocked down. But it is an easy job instead of weed whacking. I also have a leaf issue in the fall that requires a leaf blower to clean the ditches. You don't seem to have that much of issue with that. Can't wait to see how it works. Great video. How old is that cycle mower?

[@TractorMike]

I'm guessing we bought that sickle mower in the early 80's. It got used for years to mow under apple trees before harvest, it doesn't get used that much anymore.

[@luvbigiron]

@@TractorMike Thanks Mike. As a small tractor owner I really enjoy your informative videos and especially your "insider" knowledge of the implement business.

[@newhampshire-bob1604]

Any fabric at the bottom to try and control the weeds from coming up? It looks fantastic!

[@TractorMike]

No, I'll probably regret it, but we figured the rock would make holes in it anyway and the weeds would be delayed but would still come up.

[@charlesqueen119]

At time 6:25 what are those two translucent shiny things in the rock bed?

[@TractorMike]

That's a single rock that was there when we started and there when we finished. The Mini-Excavator couldn't budge it so we decided that was where it was meant to be. No telling how big it is.

[@rockingrogershomestead]

?question Mike, how would i go about adding a skid steer quick connect onto a 1953 Massey Ferguson TO-30?

[@TractorMike]

Shoot me an e-mail with the brand and model number of the front-end loader and we'll see if there's a conversion kit available. My email address is [e-mail]. I don't think a tractor of that vintage would have had a loader on it from the factory, so it's got to be an aftermarket.

[@neiltsubota]

What was the total cost of this project, and what is the length of the driveway improvement ?

[@theGrayArea2]

Do you have an estimated cost and how many sq ft was this

[@andrewsimmons2694]

Looks nice. I have a similar issue. How many linear feet? Can you do a video 6 to 8 months later and let us know if you had issues with weeds? Also can you let us know what he charged you for it?

[@TractorMike]

About 600 feet. It's hard to know what the ditch part actually cost because it was lumped in with other landscaping and hauling off concrete, leveling out ground in the pasture, etc. It was several thousand $. That's not something I'd usually spend that much money on but I knew if we ever tried to sell the place (and we may downsize soon) that ditch would hurt the value of our place, so I feel we'll get the money back when we sell. I've been wrong before.

[@andrewsimmons2694]

@@TractorMike understood and seems like a good decision.

[@bigbigby4657]

$$ a few 1,000 $$ can make anything look good. Nobody likes turning it loose but a man gotta do what a man gotta do. A good investment if ya got it to do. Invest in a tank sprayer next for weed mitigation = salt, white vinegar, dawn dish liquid mix... Keep it natural weed killing since it's water runoff.👍

[@Traci_S_Aaron]

When you get the big rain and its floods try to get some video and show the results

[@safffff1000]

Might not looked great but I would think all the plants did a good job of erosion control

[@speedracer3033]

Any update as to how its holding up?

[@TractorMike]

Yeah, it looks just like it did in the video and we've had some really heavy rains of late. I see some smaller pebbles floating out and accumulating at the bottom of the hill, the big rocks haven't moved. I'm very pleased with how it turned out. I haven't figured out an easy way to get the mower over the top lip, though. I'm going to have to weedeat it. That's my only complaint and I can live with it.

[@SirNC16]

My antique is 17 horsepower and plenty for that job.

[@markschue383]

Looks beautiful. Always interesting to hear the name for rock types from other parts of the country. Your creek rock looks different that ours. Or does ours look different than yours? :)

[@jilescochran3912]

Ditch looks good to me .

[@joeyshofner639]

Wait until someone drives on it thinking its part of your driveway and messes it up. Beautiful job, well done.

[@fhuber7507]

Almost any rock looks good freshly placed. Be ready with weed killer or you'll be mowing rock.

[@genewilliams7497]

Honestly……. I didn’t see any problem with what you had it was working. Grass, weeds and vegetation with root mass are the best solution ALWAYS….. I appears to me that you have actually created a Maintence problem. In the long run rock never works. It will now erode under the rock after you spray weed killer and the rock will sink over time into the ground and your grass edge will start eroding as well. Good luck with it. I would have kept the grass and installed check damns that you would pipe thru section to section. Mother Nature always tells you how to work things out if you listen and use common sense. As far as mowing slopes and ditches. Buy a Ventrac it mows on 40 degree slope and I mow short banks in ditches with mine that approach 50 degrees.

[@stephengmeiner3264]

Looks great!

[@BobsOutdoorActivities]

Very nice!!