question

47farmallM · Feb 16, 2011

alright Ive been around farms all my life here in Texas but i have never of "Tile" what excatly is it and what does it do for land

Zachary Hoyt · Feb 16, 2011

Tile is used in damper climates. It is basically perforated pipe, in
my experience, and it is buried in wet spots in fields to promote
drainage of the water out of the field. I have never personally
installed it but I have seen it done.
Zach

IA Farmer · Feb 16, 2011

It is for field drainage. It is buried in the ground 3-4 feet deep. In the early days, it was clay. Today it is black plastic. You run lines from a ditch,creek, or river into the field to drain wet areas. A necessity here in Iowa.

Bob Bancroft · Feb 16, 2011

Here in central NY we have a decent season, a decent climate, and decent soil, that's usually too wet! Artificial drainage started with stone ditches. A hand dug trench with stones either placed to try to make a throat, or cobbles just thrown in- water would work it's way around them. Many still working. Then clay was formed into a tube,(and several other assorted shapes)baked, and we had drainage tile! MOST of the land I work was drained by hand. Much of it pattern drained with a "tile" every 50 feet or so. Dad used to call it 2" "Springport tile"- apparently from where it was made. It really only has about 1.5" ID average. I should have said "tiles" were 12"-16" long. Placed tightly together. Water would work it's way in the seams.

47farmallM · Feb 16, 2011

Thank you guys, the old saying of " you learn something new everyday is true.

Brad Gyde · Feb 16, 2011

When the ground thaws a bit more and my uncle gets back to laying tile again, I'll try to get a few pictures.. He figures he'll be back laying tile next week.. I guess we'll see

Brad

JayinNY · Feb 16, 2011

They have also used crushed glass around the drain tile here in NY. Seemed to work good.

BCnT · Feb 16, 2011

its like field lines on a septic tank but instead of leaching out,they take water in and move it to ditches or creeks.

paul · Feb 16, 2011

Must be kinda dry where you are?

We got great ground here in southern MN, but it's saturated with water for several months a summer, esp after the snow melts. Need those perferated pipes in the ground to let the water leak out so we can plant a crop. The pipes lead to bigger pipes, which lead to open drainage ditches, which lead to natural creeks or rivers. Back in the 50's around here the govt got some money together & put in the ditches and sme of the bigger tile.

Spent $5000 2 years ago, $21,000 last year, tiling on my small farm.

This spring we hope to put in a private 15 inch line 2200 feet to help get some neighbor's water through my farm to the county ditch. That's a big tile in my mind, I already have a 10 inch tile and 8 inch tile going that direction, but are overloaded; once the tile is there everyone adds on and more and more water comes your way & floods you out.

--->Paul

Old Roy · Feb 17, 2011

In my younger years I rode the back of a machine similar to this, ( the tile layer set in between the metal walls and hand laid separate 4" clay tile
about 2' long).

sure has come a long way. watch the entire vid it shows what they do to get rid of big rocks. and some good still pics of the machine

sure has come a long way,
to this

Earl Gray · Feb 17, 2011

Tile contributes to some of the flooding we have in
MN, allows the water to drain away instead of
soaking in. Humans have increased the flooding in
the Minnesota and Red river valleys.

onefarmer · Feb 17, 2011

Here I am putting in some plastic tile

jwmfarms · Feb 17, 2011

Not entirely true. By tiling wet ground, you are letting out some of the groundwater that would normally have the soil saturated. But you are letting it out at a controlled rate. When you get a big rain, the soil has a higher holding capacity. This keeps a lot of that water that would be runoff in the soil, again to be released at a slow, controlled rate. since the soil acts as a filter, the water out of the tile is also cleaner than normal runoff water. Tiling is actually good for the environment.

supergrumpy · Feb 17, 2011

I would contest the decent climate part

do have great soil

paul · Feb 18, 2011

Tile with open intakes, from decades ago, in some ways that is true.

Patern tiling that is done today, in general helps to lessen flooding issues more than hurts.

The tile pulls water out of the over saturated soil, so when we get a heavy rain, the ground has the capacity to hold it for a time. The water gets released slowly, controlled, and more cleanly than without the tile.

Right now in southern MN, we had a lot of rain last fall, very deep snow drifts, and the potential for a lot of spring flooding. However, the ground never froze much, the rivers, creeks, and tile were running all winter, draining water away when there typically is almost no drainage. This is really going to help for spring flooding, making it a bit less than what normally would happen.

It's not a black & white issue, modern tile can be a better thing for flooding, by allowing excess water to drain away over time, and leaving room in the soil to hold heavier rains.

--->Paul

eastexan · Feb 18, 2011

When we need rain here in TEXAS, we just lasso a passing cloud, pull up a stool, and milk it till it's dry. 8)

Jim In NY · Mar 19, 2011

need to build a coffer dam in soil

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47farmallM

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Zachary Hoyt

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IA Farmer

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Bob Bancroft

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47farmallM

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Brad Gyde

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JayinNY

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BCnT

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paul

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Old Roy

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Earl Gray

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onefarmer

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jwmfarms

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eastexan

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