Best way to separate dirt from decorative rocks?
Thіѕ іѕ іn a small landscaping rock garden. Thе small rocks аrе οn a 15′ long & 2′ wide galvanized sheet metal channel designed tο direct water quickly tο a front yard storm drain (οr еlѕе ουr basement wουld flood). I’ll need tο remove thе rocks & grit bу hand bυt іt’s a small job. Grit frοm thе driveway аnd dirt hаѕ caused thе channel tο fill up. Whаt’s thе best way tο separate thе grit/dirt frοm thе rocks? Whаt саn I υѕе thаt wουld function іn effect аѕ a colander? Thanks.
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Tags: Best, Colander, Decorative, Decorative Rocks, Dirt, From, Front Yard, Galvanized Sheet Metal, Garden Rocks, Job, Rocks, Separate, Storm Drain
11 Responses to “Best way to separate dirt from decorative rocks?”
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fire
wash them with water
Nearly impossible. Sorry, I have done this in different ways and a powerwasher was my only solution. However, I displaced many rocks. More work upon more work. UGH!
Let it dry thoroughly and use a leaf blower to blast the dirt out of the rocks.
Build a screed for this job. You’ll need about 4×4 feet of 1/2″ hardware cloth and some 2×4 lumber, Build a square frame, that is elevated at one end, nail the cloth to the frame, shovel the material on to the cloth and let gravity do the work. the dirt should fall through the cloth and leave you with rocks about 1/2″ and larger to put back in your trough.
Once you get it cleaned out, you might consider a settling area near the storm drain to catch the dirt before it gets to the drain that can be easily emptied with a shovel. As long as this dirt has no oil in it, it can be mixed with good topsoil and used for a garden.
I had a path made of small stones that filled up with soil. I scooped them out and set them on the drive way and then blasted them with a hose sprayer. It washed the dirt away and left the stones nice and clean. I scooped them back up and put them back in the walk.
You might want to try using this technique if you have someplace to blast the stones with a hose sprayer where the soil can be washed away.
Pick up and move all the rocks. remove and discard smaller stuff. replace rocks.
I’m running into the same problem but with a much bigger rock bed and bigger rocks. I do not have sheet metal lining the rock bed, just smaller rocks at the botton and bigger rocks on top. But the function of my rock bed is more as a retention basin until the soil can absorb the water.
Anyway, I think the key for you is to do what others suggested and either make a screen to screen out the dirt or blow it out with a blower. I screened gravel once before and it’s a tedious task, but works well.
The leaf blower may or may not work for you. It all depends on the power of the leaf blower and the size of your rocks. If the leaf blower is too powerful, it’ll also blow your rocks out of the rock bed. I have a real problem with this. My electric leaf blower has two speeds: turbo and super turbo. I also have a battery operated one, but it has pretty weak power and is more of a sweeper. If you go this route, I’d rake the rocks a few times before you blow them (if they are small enough) to loosen as much dirt as possible.
I think a way to help prevent this in the future is to ensure that you’ve got clean rock in the river bed. If you end up screening the dirt out, I’d lay out the rock on your driveway or something and spray it down with water and dry before you put it back. This will get any remaining sand and fine grit off the rocks. Also, if the rock bed is on a downhill grade, you may want to occassionally spray it down with a power hose nozzle or a pressure washer, forcing the dirt downhill and out of the rock bed, before it gets too clogged up.
It’s time consuming any which way. Here are more & different ideas:
- scoop out what you can and replace with new (expensive option).
- build a sifter out of 2×4′s and steel screen (search ‘dirt and stone screen sifter’ for instructions). After drying the stones, you can power wash, blow, or shake the dirt thru the screen. I use my sifter for a lot of other garden projects as well.
- you can soak your rocks in a 5 gallon bucket of a bleach solution, then rinse thoroughly
-the sun has strong bleaching action too, so rinsing and leaving them out for a time in the sun and then flipping them will help.
First, the rock bed should be built on an expanded metal tray that is held up on a few bricks just above a shallow trough. The trough can be made of inexpensive, thin concrete patio blocks — 8 x 16 x 2″ blocks. Then you can hose off the rocks, and the dirt and water will fall through the metal tray to the trough. Then use the hose to wash out the trough.
For small areas, I use a strong shop vacuum with a small piece of metal screen material (about 1/2 inch mesh) bent over the vacuum inlet. The screen stops the rocks from being sucked up. but the vacuum still gets all the dirt and seeds. For leaves I use a blower.
Both these methods avoid your having to move all the rocks again and again.
I have 1.5″ red rock around my house. Use an an oven rack on top of a wheel barrow. Scoop the rock and spead across the oven rack. Shake it and 95% of the dirt falls through. Spraying helps, but I wouldn’t do it. Just spray the whole rock area when done. Major dirt will return in 5-10 years anyway and then you don’t have to get muddy. I’ve done it spraying 20 years ago and it sucks either way. I just did it again yesterday and did not spray. You can put the first 4 feet of the red rock on cement, until you have enough area to work in after laying down black plastic or landscaping fabric. At the point, then you can just throw the red rock on the new landscaping fabric. Be sure to slant the water away from the house. The hardest part is to scoop up the red rock. Always have the aluminum grain scoop shovel just below the red rock and rest it right on the bottom black dirt. I wear heavy cement gloves made out of heavy leather and just swipe them on the shovel like you are petting a dog. Or you can use a hand help 3-prong rake. Buy a good solid rake without any welds on it. It WILL break. Yesterday, instead of using a used oven rack, I used a ceiling 2′x2′ lighting egg carton grate. It was pretty fragile, but worked ok. It took 5 hours to clean out a 8×6 area that was caked full of dirt and red rock. You can rent a machine that sucks up rock at a rental shop. I thought I had a small job, but it was awful.