I have 300 yards of "playground mulch" coming Monday to refurbish my riding arena. It will arrive in roughly 9 35 yard truck loads, assuming it doesn't rain.
My question is what would be the optimal directions to give to the truck drivers as to how to distribute the loads in the arena, and the great unknown is how good they are at doing anything besides dumping it in a pile. The other unknown is what will work the best to get it distributed evenly, and that I hope you can give me some suggestions for.
Background: this is a 75 ft by 163 ft arena, designed for Fibar, which is an "engineered" wood chip product which I can't get any more, mostly because I can't get the semi trucks in my driveway and backyard any more, and then there is the cost. So I make do with the various products that can be had locally. If the wood is too chipsy, it floats off in the rain, if it is too finely ground it deteriorates too fast. This playground mulch is the closest, but it is, as was the Fibar, a real bugger to spread, even by a pro. Rolled up in a ball in front of his dozer for example. The last time we did it, the pro allowed as how the most cost effective thing was to recruit his teenage son and a couple of his buddies and we used my Gater and a pitchfork to distribute it. Took a week or so of after school times. I would like to do it this time, with the little tractors if possible, lacking access to some cheap teenagers.
Here is what makes it challenging: the arena is crowned, and layered very carefully to make it drain. There is a stabilization mat covered by compacted road base that is crowned. There is a 1 inch layer of washed sand over that, and then there is supposed to be 3 inches of wood chips over that. The original instructions say to go around with a screwdriver with inch marks taped off on it to make sure you get the depth right for chips plus sand. A perfect project for someone with OCD
. The border to keep the chips in is railroad ties and is up off the base by an inch to let the water drain under it. The arena has been in for almost 25 years and works like a champ, but you have to be careful not to let too much organic material accumulate in amongst the chips (eg leaves from the @#$ walnut trees) or to use anything much more than a chainlink drag on it. About every 10 years you have to take it down to the roadbase and relayer the sand and the chips, which was done about 5 years ago. So I want to get 3 inches of chips on top of what is left without disturbing the sand layer.
So I am puzzling about best way to get it evenly distributed. I don't want to shove around any small piles with my bucket because that will almost certainly shove the sand layer with it. If there are 9 piles distributed 4 to a side just off the midline along the long side, I have room to back up and attack them without backing into the fence (hopefully), and could distribute the bucketfuls along the track one at a time. Alternatively I could have them try to drive and spread, and then try to even it out with a landscape rake? I can experiment on my techniques, but I only have one chance on the directions to the truck drivers. As potential tools, I have the L3560 with R4s, FEL with bucket, and back blade, and the B2650 with turfs, smaller bucket and landscape rake, as choices to do this with. The B and its turfs don't dig up the arena, and I have used it and the rake to smooth out the surface to get it ready.
Suggestions?
Thanks guys!
My question is what would be the optimal directions to give to the truck drivers as to how to distribute the loads in the arena, and the great unknown is how good they are at doing anything besides dumping it in a pile. The other unknown is what will work the best to get it distributed evenly, and that I hope you can give me some suggestions for.
Background: this is a 75 ft by 163 ft arena, designed for Fibar, which is an "engineered" wood chip product which I can't get any more, mostly because I can't get the semi trucks in my driveway and backyard any more, and then there is the cost. So I make do with the various products that can be had locally. If the wood is too chipsy, it floats off in the rain, if it is too finely ground it deteriorates too fast. This playground mulch is the closest, but it is, as was the Fibar, a real bugger to spread, even by a pro. Rolled up in a ball in front of his dozer for example. The last time we did it, the pro allowed as how the most cost effective thing was to recruit his teenage son and a couple of his buddies and we used my Gater and a pitchfork to distribute it. Took a week or so of after school times. I would like to do it this time, with the little tractors if possible, lacking access to some cheap teenagers.
Here is what makes it challenging: the arena is crowned, and layered very carefully to make it drain. There is a stabilization mat covered by compacted road base that is crowned. There is a 1 inch layer of washed sand over that, and then there is supposed to be 3 inches of wood chips over that. The original instructions say to go around with a screwdriver with inch marks taped off on it to make sure you get the depth right for chips plus sand. A perfect project for someone with OCD
. The border to keep the chips in is railroad ties and is up off the base by an inch to let the water drain under it. The arena has been in for almost 25 years and works like a champ, but you have to be careful not to let too much organic material accumulate in amongst the chips (eg leaves from the @#$ walnut trees) or to use anything much more than a chainlink drag on it. About every 10 years you have to take it down to the roadbase and relayer the sand and the chips, which was done about 5 years ago. So I want to get 3 inches of chips on top of what is left without disturbing the sand layer. So I am puzzling about best way to get it evenly distributed. I don't want to shove around any small piles with my bucket because that will almost certainly shove the sand layer with it. If there are 9 piles distributed 4 to a side just off the midline along the long side, I have room to back up and attack them without backing into the fence (hopefully), and could distribute the bucketfuls along the track one at a time. Alternatively I could have them try to drive and spread, and then try to even it out with a landscape rake? I can experiment on my techniques, but I only have one chance on the directions to the truck drivers. As potential tools, I have the L3560 with R4s, FEL with bucket, and back blade, and the B2650 with turfs, smaller bucket and landscape rake, as choices to do this with. The B and its turfs don't dig up the arena, and I have used it and the rake to smooth out the surface to get it ready.
Suggestions?
Thanks guys!
