what is a field drain

[pieman]

Help...someone suggested a place a field drain in my spring to channel water to a new pond. Problem is I don't know what it is that I need to do! Any specific directions out there?

[eeyore]

Originally Posted by pieman

Help...someone suggested a place a field drain in my spring to channel water to a new pond. Problem is I don't know what it is that I need to do! Any specific directions out there?

its a drain in a feild

no seriously - what they probably meant you to do was to dig a trench and fill it with course pebbles before turfing back over the top. These work okay for a bit but have a tendency to fill up with sediment over the course of time

a better bet is a french drain , where you dig a trench , put in some perforated drainage piping then back fill over the top with pebbles before turfing over

this will clog up in time too but the drainage piping will keep the pebbles out of a channel which you can clear back out with drainage rods.

[forfi]

Originally Posted by eeyore

this will clog up in time too

The drainage in the fields in what was formerly an estate of several thousand acres in my home area was done c1840-50.I expect to have to get out the rods any day now.