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| Hi all:
I have a lawn with several fruit trees that is in a low-lying area with a fairly high clay content in the soil. After a rain storm it seems to stay slightly soggy for a day or two longer than the rest of the neighborhood. Can I add anything to the soil to make it not retain water for so long? Gypsum? There are two ditches on the sides of the lawn that drain water pretty well, but it seems like the soil doesn't want to let go of the water. I worry about harming the roots of my trees and that I'm not doing enough for these guys! Thanks for any help! Charles |
Follow-Up Postings:
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| Clay soils are well known to not drain very well and the solution to that problem is the addition of organic matter. Organic matter will open up the pore spaces between the clay soil particles and allow water to flow more freely through the clay. |
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| I would argue that the best solution would be the right plants for the conditions. Another option would be French drains. However, those may not always work in low spots since the water needs somewhere to drain to. |
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- Posted by toxcrusadr (My Page) on Fri, Mar 30, 12 at 10:50
| How big are your trees? If they are well established they probably don't care or they wouldn't be there. If you are planting new, in clay you should dig a fairly shallow and wide hole so that the root ball is 1/3 - 1/2 above the ground, and mound soil and mulch around it to cover. This will help with the drainage problem until the tree gets established. If the clay is deep, and it probably is, improving drainage in the first few inches by the addition of gypsum and organic matter is only going to go so far. Once the water gets down past that it will still pool up on the heavy clay beneath. My neighbors have this problem, soggy backyard, and they planted a row of river birch and a cypress tree (which are meant to grow in swamps). Those suck out a good amount of water. |
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