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Northern IN | I have three of them on a farm. They were installed a few years ago and were added to existing tile that was installed in the 60s. They are used to hold back water through the winter which is supposed to reduce nitrates released in the water when drained later. I pull the boards up in the spring preferably when the air starts to warm up. The water does have a little silt in it for about the first half hour and then clears up. I put at least part of the boards back down later in the spring to hold back water for later in the season. This year was on the dry side and they have been dry since spring. Most years we can hold some back well into July. This farm gets cover crops almost every year and I have not had trouble with roots in the tile so far. If the tiles are completely full of water that means the water table is at to above the tile and roots won’t grow below the water table. From what I understand roots plugging tile are usually in a low spot that pools water. The combination of air and water are what encourage roots to grow there. | |
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Tile water level control structures
