Did the neighbor compact our soil?

9 years ago

Hi. I have a really nice next door neighbor. He and his wife are about 10 years older than dh and I, and they are raising their grandson who is 2 years older than my 9 year old daughter. Anyway, my neighbor is, or was a contractor all his life. He recently retired.

I mentioned to him last week when we were in my backyard talking, that I hate our upper deck that came with our house. I said that dh and I were thinking of taking it down, ourselves. He said I'll tell you what, I'll take it down myself, and I'll attach it my house. He said the deck was very well made, worth thousands of dollars and he didn't want us tearing it down.

So he got another neighbor who has a loader to come and take the deck down, all in one piece, except for the stairs. I love how our house looks without it. I wish we'd done this sooner!

But what I'm writing about it what he and the other neighbor did. If I had any idea they would do this I would have stood in the backyard and made sure they drove in a different way.

They pulled onto our property in a way that was totally unnecessary. They drove right over our septic system AND right in between my maples! One car was a jeep with a trailer to haul the stairs and wood away, and the loader came onto our property the same way to take away the deck in one piece.

Could a one-time drive thru with those vehicles compact my soil? I read online that compacted soil is the worst for trees.
I also was told when we bought the house to never drive over the septic system, which we never have.

Does compacting a soil take many times of driving over it, or can one time screw things up? Thanks in advance.

Ann

This post was edited by ilovemytrees on Sat, Aug 30, 14 at 9:01

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Comments (6)

dbarron
9 years ago
Think of soil as a newly risen loaf of bread...does it take multiple pressings to squash all the air out of it ?:) The answer I'm looking for is...not necessarily.

Having said that...here in summer, the ground is SO hard and dry, there would be no impact (or very little)...however, when the ground was soft in early spring, there'd be 2 foot deep ruts.

So...can you tell the soil is lower where he drove? if not, probably don't worry much about it.
Toronado3800 Zone 6 St Louis
9 years ago
I drive in my yard sometime. Not the best thing to do but I do it. Heck, my MarkVIII is parked near the Bradford right now so I can get the Mustang, Aurora, Town & Country or it out without moving anything else. My guess is it would take repeated trips to really damage the soil.

Personally I would be more concerned about the septic than the trees. I do not drive over any part of mine with anything heavier than my mower. Maybe your neighbor has more knowledge than me in this area though.

Let us know.
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whaas_5a
9 years ago
Depends on the moisture level and the type of maples trees you have. Weight of vehicle matters as well.

My neighbor just regraded his front yard in June. Small dump trunk rolled in his front. I cringed because it was right over a mature sugar maple.

Sure enough the tree is turning to its fall color on the side that was driven over.
arktrees
9 years ago
One pass "CAN" be more than enough, but as others have alluted, it depends. From previous descriptions of your soil, I would expect you would have some compaction. If there are depressed areas i.e. tire ruts, then there is no doubt. As I recall your trees are still fairly small, so it may not matter allot. How far away are they from the trees. Here's another thing to keep in mind. Repeated freezing and thawing can go a long ways toward breaking up that compaction, and winter is not far away for you. Also root systems of grasses are excellent at prying these things open over a period of time.

Several years ago we had a large tree planted by the nursery, as the rootball was very large Scarlet Oak due to the species. They used a "Bobcat" with an arguer, and to move the heavy tree. As expected 2.5-3" deep ruts. But I had planned for this and told the S.O. where they were to drive across. But they still crossed the root zone of a Shantung maple. Skip ahead, the Scarlet Oak is doing great, and the Shantung is none the worse, and the ruts are years ago gone.

IMHO, you are likely to be fine, but don't press your luck with frequent repeats.
ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
9 years ago
it would depend on how big the trees are.. and whether they compacted the ACTUAL root zone ...

i would not give a whit about it otherwise ... crikey ... trees grow on rocks.. everywhere ...

it damage to roots there.. that is the issue ... not that your trees.. in the future.. can not put roots in compacted soil ...

all that said ... if he saved you a grand or two .. in removal costs.. and you really love the FREE renovation ... dont worry about it all ... you can buy a new tree or two with the money saved ...

i dont know what to tell you about the septic ... if they didnt sink in.. i doubt there is an issue ...

ken
ilovemytrees
Original Author
9 years ago
Good morning.

There were no marks, even in the grass, after they left. I would have never known they had even drove where they did had I not been out there.

"not that your trees.. in the future.. can not put roots in compacted soil ..."

Oh! I thought it was both. Well, then I'm not worried at all. The Maples are only 4 ft tall, 18 feet apart from each other, so when they drove between 2 of them, there is no way they drove over any of their roots. They were just planted 3 1/2 months ago.

They actually drove over our entire leach field, start to finish, well finish to start since the septic tank field starts at our house and goes out and they came in driving right up to the house over that field.

But again, there were no lines anywhere in our yard from where they drove so I'm not concerned. I guess it's just I remember the previous owner saying NEVER ever drive over the septic system. I never forgot his words so when this happened I got scared. Septic systems are expensive out here! The reason I know this is because during the home inspection when we were buying the house, evidently the inspector flushed the toilet as part of the inspection, and the wife of the seller was there when this happened. Apparently the toilet was backed up in a way that signaled to the inspector that the septic field needed to be completely replaced. We heard she was pissed! We were told be thankful that inspector caught that because if this had happened after closing, dh and I would have been on the hook for it.