Mud removed from pond

[djayz]

Approx. 3-4 weeks ago I had our pond dredged, but I made the mistake of assuming that the mud removed from the bottom would be hauled away (as I've seen umpteen times before at other places). Anyways, my heart sank when I returned to see that this was not the case - the guy with the digger just spread the sludge/mud around. Now it's drying out and forming a hard crust.

Question: would it be ok if I had it ploughed into the soil or should I hire another guy with a digger to scoop up the drying mud and haul it away? 

 

Rant warning! It irritates me that I can't trust a single person here to do anything right. Rant over.

[khwaibah]

42 minutes ago, djayz said:

assuming

You do know what this word means..???????? You or your partner did not understand the way it is done. The dredger did as he understood. When you dig out a pond you need to hire 6 wheel trucks. My area they charge 250 baht per load even for you to move the fill on your property. That 250 per load also includes the earth excavator and a tractor to level out the fill. So you can now hire your own tractor to level and plow in OR hire a digger and trucks. You need to read my thread again..  

 

Edited November 18, 2019 by khwaibah

[tifino]

just fingers crossed the same guy (wearing multiple hats) doesn't appear.

 

 -   when you get your Septic pumped!!

[djayz]

12 minutes ago, khwaibah said:

You do know what this word means..???????? You or your partner did not understand the way it is done. The dredger did as he understood. When you dig out a pond you need to hire 6 wheel trucks. My area they charge 250 baht per load even for you to move the fill on your property. That 250 per load also includes the earth excavator and a tractor to level out the fill. So you can now hire your own tractor to level and plow in OR hire a digger and trucks. You need to read my thread again..  

 

What irritates me the MOST is that when discussing it with BIL, who has had this kind of work done a million times, forgot/failed to point this out to me... 

It's amazing how they never offer up information/make suggestions. 

Anyways, I'll reread your thread. Honestly, I had completely forgotten it last month when making the arrangements. 

Thanks for the info. 

My main concern is: Can this mud be ploughed into the land without causing any further (longterm) problems? 

[djayz]

14 minutes ago, tifino said:

just fingers crossed the same guy (wearing multiple hats) doesn't appear.

 

 -   when you get your Septic pumped!!

Heavens forbid! 

[kickstart]

4 minutes ago, djayz said:

What irritates me the MOST is that when discussing it with BIL, who has had this kind of work done a million times, forgot/failed to point this out to me... 

It's amazing how they never offer up information/make suggestions. 

Anyways, I'll reread your thread. Honestly, I had completely forgotten it last month when making the arrangements. 

Thanks for the info. 

My main concern is: Can this mud be ploughed into the land without causing any further (longterm) problems? 

I would say this mud should be OK ,if they was any fish in the pond they droppings would be they ,any leaves old duck weed  etc  could well do the land some good  ,PH could be a bit low with all that mud .

Have a word with TV's Drtreelove  he is our soil expert. 

[farmerjo]

Unless you want a rice field i would get rid of it.

Gypsum will break it down over time but it's not exactly topsoil.

[khwaibah]

9 hours ago, djayz said:

My main concern is: Can this mud be ploughed into the land without causing any further (longterm) problems? 

 

As far as I'm concerned YES. If you can I would add copious quantities of rice straw and cow pies. A few years back the wife had a pond builder (same gentleman that built her new lake) come in and dig out our small pond at the main house and HQ for her cow operation. That pond is about 100x60 feet. He spent 8 hours with his earth excavator and only did it from the west side. He was able to reach about half way across and go down about 18 feet. All the muck was put over onto the land on the west side of the pond in a long high row. There must have been 8 6 wheelers parked just watching. The wife let it dry out for about 3 weeks then she had her uncle with his kubota spend about 1 day and spread the fill out in that area. If you use google earth go to gps 14.4791140296, 103.579686175 that mark is the center of the pond. To the right you can see the silver like roof of the cow operation, the red roof is the main house. AND just to the west or between the pond and the road you see a long green strip that is where the muck was spread out and that long dark green strip just to the west of the pond is Napier grass growing where the muck was spread.????

[Grumpy John]

I used to spit the dummy when the local clowns wouldn't do as I had instructed.  Fair dinkum mate, if you get a job done here you need to stick around an watch what they do.  When I had my shed built I was never away for more than an hour.

[OOTAI]

djayz

You didn't say how thick the guy left the sludge when he spread it out. If he left it nice and thin then I reckon you could simply plough it in. If however he left it quite thick then I would suggest you get in and break it up and spread it out a bit more before ploughing it in.

As with most of the rice paddies here the mud he dug out would be fine material which when it dries becomes almost like concrete. Also as it is so fine there is no spaces between the soil particles for plant roots to grow into and for water to drain through.

So as I think was suggested by kickstart get as much organic material as you can find i.e. rice straw, cow <deleted> etc. and mix it in with the mud.

 

I was amused by your statement about never getting what you think you asked for in this place. When we were building our house I designed a tank stand for 2 x 2000L tanks had to be able to stand up under the 4tonne of water and every morning when I checked I would have to do a revision to the design because they hadn't done what I had asked. The when they were building our outside toilet/washroom I told them what length the posts needed to be and showed them my plan drawing. When they put them in they made a great joke about how I had got it wrong and they had to cut the tops off the tops. I bought out the plan and showed them that they had put the posts in the wrong place, no more laughter.

[djayz]

1 hour ago, OOTAI said:

djayz

You didn't say how thick the guy left the sludge when he spread it out. If he left it nice and thin then I reckon you could simply plough it in. If however he left it quite thick then I would suggest you get in and break it up and spread it out a bit more before ploughing it in.

As with most of the rice paddies here the mud he dug out would be fine material which when it dries becomes almost like concrete. Also as it is so fine there is no spaces between the soil particles for plant roots to grow into and for water to drain through.

So as I think was suggested by kickstart get as much organic material as you can find i.e. rice straw, cow <deleted> etc. and mix it in with the mud.

 

I was amused by your statement about never getting what you think you asked for in this place. When we were building our house I designed a tank stand for 2 x 2000L tanks had to be able to stand up under the 4tonne of water and every morning when I checked I would have to do a revision to the design because they hadn't done what I had asked. The when they were building our outside toilet/washroom I told them what length the posts needed to be and showed them my plan drawing. When they put them in they made a great joke about how I had got it wrong and they had to cut the tops off the tops. I bought out the plan and showed them that they had put the posts in the wrong place, no more laughter.

Thanks Oothai. Generally, the sludge isn't that thick - except at the entrance where it's easily a foot or more deep. So, taking your and previous posters's advice, I'll let most of it be ploughed in together with as much organic matter as I can collect. 

 

I had to laugh when I read your 2 examples about them not following instructions carefully (at all?). I want to have a simple chicken coop and run and a garden / storage shed built this coming year... I know what I want, have measurements and drawings almost finished but, I have sleepless nights fretting about what these guys will actually build... Haven't found the courage yet to get the ball rolling. I KNOW I'm going to have to take time off work just to baby sit them and make sure they stick to the design, size, etc. 

[OOTAI]

djayz

Don't be a spoilt sport just make a plan draw it up and make a couple of copies then get your Missus to explain to the "builders" what you want and give them 1 copy of your drawing.

Now go away enjoy yourself and come back and be surprised. Surprised that you got what you wanted or how they stuffed it up. If you want to survive here you need to not take things seriously or it will do your head in.

I have a motto, "just keep banging the head against the wall" it will stop hurting one day.

Good luck with the chicken coop.

[essox essox]

On 11/18/2019 at 9:31 PM, farmerjo said:

Unless you want a rice field i would get rid of it.

Gypsum will break it down over time but it's not exactly topsoil.

so would LIME I THINK....but take a long time...