Am I doing it right?

[HasthorpeGrange]

Mole ploughing a grass field which is being ploughed out
Am I doing it right?

Pulling from dyke
Don't know where drains are so straight lines

 

[Hammer]

Moling is only likely to be of much benefit if you know where the drains are and if they are stoned and to what depth, and then mole field accordingly.

 

[DrWazzock]

If it's clay underneath that will maintain the shape of the mole, and if the slope is towards the ditch and you aren't smashing through the existing drains then it might be beneficial.

 

[HasthorpeGrange]

It is clay but the field runs up to the dyke so not sure it will have the desired affect
Been getting to stone and found out where some of the drains run now

 

[shakerator]

Are you ploughing after then?

 

[HasthorpeGrange]

We are yeah

Solid full of worms but not gulls

 

[Dockers]

Filthy picture !!!

 

[HasthorpeGrange]

Why's that?

 

[Shutesy]

Why's that?

Its a picture of a P-L-O-U-G-H in the DD section

 

[HasthorpeGrange]

Weren't sure where to put it
Thought you guys did a lot of mole ploughing

 

[Shutesy]

Weren't sure where to put it
Thought you guys did a lot of mole ploughing

Nothing wrong with the moleplough its whats in todays picture thats the problem

 

[mikep]

Success with a mole is a bit more difficult than first appears. It depends a lot on the clay content of the subsoil and the amount of sand, the more clay and less sand the longer the moles will last.
It's usually better to mole in the spring when the top soil is dry and subsoil wet but this year I suppose most places the subsoil is now wet!
Try to mole at an angle to the slope not straight up and down. If you mole with the slope the water runs faster in the moles and will cause premature collapse. Also the channels will be at a better angle to intercept water running down the slope.
Most mole ploughs are poor design and rely on following the ground contours so you are limited to fields with unimpeded falls to ditches unless you can run headers with the mole or have fixed headers.

 

[HasthorpeGrange]

Field outline in black
Rough guess of where drains go
Green line is the way i mole ploughed
Is this the most effective way?

 

[mikep]

Would need more detail such as distances and falls moles are limited even in the better subsoils to about 3-400 metres or premature collapse will occur. From a rough guess it looks like it falls on three sides left right and bottom. If this is so future moling would be best diagonally from the top right to intercept the lower long drain as the first run and then parallel each side. Don't redo it for goodness sake as this will make a quagmire!
Moling is nearly always intercept type drainage where you want to intercept water running down a slope.
With drainage imagine the field is a flat table. Put some marbles to represent water at on end and lift that end. The marbles run straight down as would water. If you wanted to stop the marbles moving down you would have to put something across the table so you can see that to intercept the water your drains want to be at an angle not straight up and down or the water would run between them.
If you are interested get a decent level off eBay and learn to use it. The eye can be very deceptive especially if unused to suveying. Map your fields to see where the moles should be, they should be where they are needed not necessarily all in the same direction.

 

[mikep]

New AHDB booklet on drainage arrived today well worth a read.

 

[Kevtherev]

Mole at a shallow angle always.
Is there a ditch around field?

 

[Kevtherev]

This is what a correctly formed Mole should look like.

 

[yellow belly]

looks ok to me which was is the slope on the plan

if the slope allows I would have done a few runs into the drain running up from the bottom

if I do not know where drains are in a field have a look at google earth satalite for green lines then get a digger in the field to find if there is gravel on the drains

once I have found a drain work out the direction then dig 22 yards from it then 44 yards once I have 2 drains then it is often easy to find more drains

some time drainage was done with gravel on every other drain sometimes they did not put gravel on because they ran out