Site Preparation Demo Day Results L.A. Brown, L.A. Brown Co. The idea for Demo Day came to me while attending the 2020 IOWPA Conference’s Site Preparation session. That day I heard attendees express different ways and results in prepping sites for sand line systems. It made me think we needed to try out these different ways in person and try to decide what worked best.
A View of Demo Day from a Soil Scientist Gary Steinhardt, Purdue Extension
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Brett Ricker from Huntington Co. Health Department said it best that day when he asked, “How can a regulator tell an installer he is doing it wrong if he doesn’t know for sure what is right?” Brett also said that he had been on three sites with the same installer, using the same tillage tool, and there were three different results. This motivated me to start formulating a plan to demonstrate the real world variables and issues that installers face when prepping sites. The hay field on my farm seemed like the perfect spot for a demonstration since we could try different things without “screwing up” a septic site. With everything in place I hosted the first Demo Day for Site Preparation on August 14, 2020 in Bluffton, Indiana. Demo Day
We were blessed with a warm sunny day and nearly 100 people from all sectors of the onsite industry came. Twelve soil scientists, four designer/engineers, many personnel from various health departments, and of course, lots of installers arrived bright and early to learn and to share in the field. Some had travelled 100+ miles to be there. While local equipment companies dropped off mini excavators and skid steer loaders for us to use, several installers brought their machines and tillage tools, too. Also a local sand supplier had donated two truckloads of Spec 23 sand for Dick Blazer’s demonstration. Findings
Soil Pit: We started the day by digging a soil pit on the north end of the field. Carl Walker, a soil scientist, did an excellent job of briefly describing the soil profile and explaining what tillage does to soil. Excess Vegetation Removal: Since excess vegetation removal is talked about in the Rule, I wanted to include a demonstration of how best to remove the vegetation. Weeks before the event I laid out the hay field in a grid. We left some of the grass 16” tall, mowed some down to 6”, and mowed another strip down as low as possible with a lawn mower. The grids were laid out so that the tillage tools would pass through the different areas and we could observe how the soil-sand interface would look. There was a lot of discussion about how to remove vegetation without scalping the surface. Dick Blazers “power rake” (a Harley rake) did the best job of removing all of the grass without disturbing the surface. It was agreed that the more vegetation you removed the better the tillage job was. Tilling the Soil: - Moldboard Plow: We started the tillage demonstration by plowing with a two-bottom moldboard plow. It became obvious very quickly that using the moldboard plow in heavy sod presented challenges. The soil ‘stood on edge’ with the top one foot higher than undisturbed ground. The designers in attendance immediately questioned how they could correctly determine the elevation of the pipes in the bed with that much elevation change. A discussion followed about where the installer would take his elevation shot with so much variation. The soil scientists pointed out the moldboard plow was the reason so many Article continues on page 12
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IOWPA sponsored a very beneficial Demo Day on August 14, 2020. Installers and soil scientists together got a chance to examine and discuss the effects of various strategies to remove vegetation and till the soil. For many of the participants it was their first opportunity to dig behind chisel and moldboard plows and examine how well the sand for the mound would weld to the existing surface. Soil scientists were able to examine soil properties and characteristics and discuss advantages and disadvantages. Highlights include: • Various techniques and implements were examined to remove vegetation at various grass heights. • It was readily apparent that past practices in farm management leading to soil compaction have a great impact on potential problems. • It was also clear that vegetation present when the soil was tilled had a major effect on the ability of almost any implement to blend the sand and original surface. • The moldboard plow had significant limitations in addition to the usual concerns about a plow pan that is not removed by tillage • Chisel plows are not at all the same. Each has characteristics that can be an advantage or disadvantage depending on circumstances. • Wide spacing may help with depth for example, but not be nearly as effective in disturbing soil that is too dense. The most beneficial part of the day for me was the opportunity to talk with onsite professionals from a variety of backgrounds about matters of mutual concern. We do not do enough of this. All of us have a wealth of experiences and it is helpful to others when we share what we have seen in our work. I hope we will have more of these kinds of programs where we share with one another.