Like the others, the only thing we have found that works well in our drainage swale/ditch is the weed eater type string trimmer. Yes, it is annoying work, but it gets the job done.
We do not trim it every time the lawn is mowed.
Would skipping it so it is only done every few mowings make it something your handyman is more willing to do?
I agree with Simkie above, ask him what he wants to mow it with.
Trubandloki and Simkie, you are both right. I asked him last night- he said he’s fine with it as is now that he’s had time to think about it. We don’t do it every time we mow- once a month, maybe every three weeks. It doesn’t take him much time- I bought the best Stihl our dealer has. He just doesn’t like summer I think. I may still look into something the golf courses use to slow growth if it’s safe to use.
Is hiring someone else for this task an option? If he is great at everything else and he really hates this one task, it might be worth getting someone else just to do the ditch area.
Glad to hear he has come around to just trimming it, that really is the best option. We really don’t need any more chemicals in our drainage ways, they are accumulating all the way up the food chain & in your water.
I hate weedeating, so I get it, but I just grit my teeth & get it over with. Native vegetation is the best thing for a drainage ditch - reduces flooding by aiding with infiltration & stabilizes soil better than any man-made thing. Rip rap (rocks) is not effective, soil just washes away from underneath the rocks. Plus it’s ugly, provides no habitat (except maybe hides for a few anoles), no food value for wildlife, & reduces groundwater recharge.
If you own this ditch (as in it’s not a DOT right of way), you can also look in to transforming it into a “raingarden,” which uses native plants & natural ecosystem services to reduce runoff/flooding while creating lovely landscape features & wildlife habitat. It’s a huge upgrade from a grassy ditch & it doesn’t require mowing . Just Google rain garden to learn more if you are interested.
As I was curious, looked at what is in Roundup Extended Control plus weed preventer. It’s definitely a very wide range herbicide; Glyphosate, Diquat, Imazipic. Each of these 3 have varying types of herbicide control and varying types of how they act on a plant as well as different times they may remain active in the ground as well as potential impact to surrounding plants.
My personal preference would be to select a product with a single chemical… but that’s just me.
Interesting article from Michigan State University on different Roundup products.
https://www.canr.msu.edu/news/understanding_roundup_products
Wildlifer, that’s a cool idea. He likes environmental stuff. I’ll look into
it. Trubandloki, I thought about that-but my fear is that will be a slippery slope downhill. Thank you, all, for ideas, resources (paper from MSU) and support!
@NaturallyHappy something else to float around in your decision process.
If you hire a professional yard/maintenance person they are usually licensed to apply chemicals and/or strengths that are not available to the home buyer. 
There is a contractor not far from me who does a lot of work for the county and local towns who has a few tractors equipped with the “long arm side cutters” noted above. He will also do private work. Last time I checked it was $75/hr. with a two hour min. I don’t know how long your ditch is but that machine makes short work of roadside vegetation, doesn’t require chemicals, and would need to be done a few times a year. I have over 4 miles of creek banks and have considered hiring him for the drainage swales. I’d be pushing some of the environmental rules if I were clean out some of the creek banks. So I don’t. But the areas around the house, barn, and drives would be candidates. Right now I’ve got a person so will do the work for a reasonable hourly wage and this no need to “go industrial.”
Check you Yellow Pages or Google and see if you can find folks like my local contractor. If you ditch is long enough it might be economical. And, while he is there, he can so some low level tree pruning an other like tasks that are difficult to do with hand labor.
Good luck in your program.
G.
I need to keep my drainage ditch bottom mowed for better runoff. We are the low end of surrounding ground, so everything wet comes our way.
Over time the ditch has reached a 3 to 4ft width at the bottom, mostly flat, so I can push the weed trimmer along without too much trouble, cutting things VERY short. Not my favorite job, though not terribly hard. Sides are about 4-5ft high half the length, slope away fom the bottom, so probably 8ft or so for most of the top edges in width. There are some lower, flatter places on one edge, allowing water to flow in or flooding out to expand into the pasture if needed. Sometimes the water is too much volume, just can’t leave fast enough for what rain is coming down.
The last of the banks heading into the drain tube are rather steep on both sides, not much vegatation survives the water flow there. I tend to only mow once or twice a year, during dry spells when the dirt is dry. Less tripping and snagging wheels in mud. But I need the grass/weed growth on the bottom removed for faster water flow during and after heavy rains. Any kind of growth over an inch or two impedes the flow, leading to ponding across the road at the neighbor and in my pasture. The water really runs hard thru the ditch into the buried tube leaving our place. Can’t make it pretty and useful both.
I do spray glyphosate on totally dry ground, ditch bottom once a year. It aids in less mowing needed. Not going downstream to contaminate the river water. The advantage of PROPERLY MIXED glyphosate, is that it disapates, effectiveness stops after about 24 hours after application. I never mix herbicides, to make “my own formulas.” That idea scares me after reading label warnings! You can buy premixed herbicides containing varieties, which is probably the best (safest) way to get multi-use products.
The only wildlife living by our ditch are some crustaceans that burrow deeply into the ground in the dry times. They also live in the pastures, damp areas around the farm. You can tell locations by their piling wet dirt way up around the holes, like a castle tower. Look like mini lobsters, 2-3 inches long! However the only time we got curious enough to dig up a burrow to find that “hole maker creature”, son was down over 2ft to finally catch it. We were rather amazed to learn of it’s existance, here on farmland, not lakes! I figured he would find a salamander or frogs. They do molt their entire shells, so we find tiny lobster shells laying about now and again.
Thank you! This is very helpful.
Hi. newbie here. If you’re willing to shell out a grand or more get a 36-48inch deck walk-behind mower, they are much better on steep slopes than riding mowers. otherwise, weedwhacker or pushmower are your only real options.
onplanners
Thank you, cowolter. I don’t know anything about those. How would that make it easier??
These are crayfish. There are hundreds of native crayfish species in the US and many of them are endemic (only live in a small geographic area). They are fascinating & super fun critters – they are one of the four taxa I study as part of my job. There are lots of rare species too – if you are open to biologists visiting your property, you should contact your state natural resource agency & let them know that you have burrowing crayfish & you would like to know more about them. Crayfish are way behind in terms of research/survey, there’s so much we don’t know & while I don’t know who the crayfish person in MI is, I know I am always looking for landowners willing to let me come check things out. I’m sure at the very least they would like to know if they are native or invasive species.
Here’s a good primer on MI crayfish: https://mymlsa.org/michigan-crayfish-understanding-our-native-and-invasive-species/
And here’s another: https://www.canr.msu.edu/news/explore_michigans_wonderful_world_of_crayfish_msg16_schroeder16
Also, I am now jealous that we don’t have a species with as cool a name as the “Painted Hand Mudbug,” but seeing as we do have a lot of undescribed species, I might be able to do something about that…
Habitat use varies by species, but some crayfishes are “primary” burrowers – meaning they live in burrows most or all of the time. They dig their own burrows, which can be very deep & complex, I’ve dug some down to at least 4’. While they are often associated with wet areas, some species can make a burrow about anywhere – one of the NC endemics has been found in the middle of a packed clay garage floor! Species which are secondary or tertiary burrowers spend more time in streams/ponds/wetlands/ephemeral pools/ditches & may only use a burrow seasonally or not at all.
We don’t know yet what the exact purpose of the chimneys are – not all crayfishes make them. They may be used for temperature control, gas exchange, or something else entirely or all of those things.
Crayfish do molt their exoskeleton regularly – males shed every time they go in & out of breeding condition. And of course, individuals molt as they grow, just like snakes or lizards. Every once in a while, you find a female “in berry”, meaning she has an egg mass adhered to the bottom of her abdomen, it looks like she is carrying around her own scoop of caviar under her tail.
If you have any other crayfish (also called “mudbugs” and “ditch crickets”) questions, fire away!
I’m still considering ways to do this. Our road frontage is long and the ditch is not nearly as deep. I’d do the d*** weed eating myself if I didn’t have some physical problems. Has anyone used the DR Pro trimmer XLT 22 “ trimmer/ mower? I could put it on the tractor and do alot myself then. I tried to add the picture but I had no luck. Thx!
I tried a DR Trimmer on a slope and it did not work well. Have gone back to the weedeating.
Would love to hear more about a rain garden solution
Did you use the DR trimmer you walk behind? I have one of those and it’s awful. This is something you attach to a tractor. I hate to buy anything else from them until I know someone whose tried it.
Are you talking about this?
If you’re not comfortable taking a ride on mower in the ditch, why is this any different?
Yes, that’s the one! Thank you for attaching the link. I was wondering if I could drive the tractor beside the ditch and lower this onto the bank. If it can’t do that, I think I could use it along the road. That isn’t deep at all. I’m physically limited as to what I can do due nerve damage from chemo and radiation. I was hoping someone may have used this. There other trimmer I bought didn’t work well at all.
If you can drive the tractor along the flat side of the ditch, maybe what you need is a sickle bar mower for the tractor.
Thank you! I’ll investigate those!
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