Soil is very dry, help!

12 years ago

Hello all, I live in Illinois and just planted my first garden. I brought some Earthgro Organic Humus and Manure 40 lb bags and mixed well into the soil. My dirt dries up really quick. I am concerned my plants won't last long unless I do something soon. I've been collecting compost material but it won't be ready for a while. What should I get to spread on top of my dry soil? Should I buy more Humus and Manure compost and spread it all over the top? Is there something else I should do? Is this what I need to do to help the soil from drying out? Help! Thanks!

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PianoFury

11 years ago

last modified: 9 years ago

I recently moved to Florida (sand) from Southern California (dry), so I know a little bit about dry soil. The first and most obvious thing I can tell you is to add water, and make sure that you give your plants enough of it.

Because you say that this is your first garden, to water properly you should apply enough water to wet the whole area of your plant roots and a little beyond, so they can grow roots deeper. To know how long to water, or how much water it takes to accomplish this, right after you water, dig a small hole with a hand trowel and see how far down it went. Different soils act differently, different plants have different depth of roots. Once you have watered deep enough, don't water again until the soil is dry at least half way down in the root zone. You can't know how long that takes without digging to see, and considering changes in weather. As your plants grow larger root systems how much water each time and how often changes! Most people do not water properly, so this exercise (and regularly digging around to see what's up) will give you a "green thumb", and your plants will be "drought tolerant" from deep roots. Once you have established your plants through proper watering, it becomes less important to do it correctly. Don't buy any kind of gadget to test the moisture... dig a hole.

What to add to the top of the soil? I recently moved from California, and I have found that garden products are not the same here. I am currently using a product from Wally World called "Earthgro Potting Mix" (might be the same thing that you used, or might not). It is about $3 per 1 cubic foot bag. The label fine print says it contains "regionally formulated compost, peat moss or forest products sand and perlite". In other words, they don't tell you what it is. It has a nice color and texture, smells like compost, and it holds moisture. There is very little sand and perlite in it. No other Earthro product that I tried had any good qualities about it, and they were full of sand (which is what I have too much of). There might be similar products sold in various brand names as "soil conditioner" or "seed topper" or "planting mix", and you need to be sure that what you are buying is not mostly sand with little brown bits and fertilizer pellets in it. It shouldn't smell like steer manure (even if it contains steer manure), so you will need to find some broken bags or purchase a variety of products to find something that is good in your area. Before I found this "potting mix" I liked best a Scotts product called "planting mix" (I think?) with fertilizer pellets in it (I think?) sold at Home Depot and Wal-Mart. I think it was .75 cubic feet for about $2, no smell at all, but it was soft fine wood chips and dark soil-like matter. You just want something that retains moisture, that's the main thing.

Don't lay it on too thick (like people who add 3 inches of some kind of mulch) or you might be burying your plants too deep. Don't pile it against stems or trunks of plants, which can cause rot. Add maybe an inch of it to the top. If you can work it into the soil lightly with a trowel that is better than just laying it on, but either way will help to slow down evaporation.

Many people use "mulch". Various colors of shredded rubber or wood bark chips. I personally don't like the way that looks, and it doesn't allow you to dig around unless you move that stuff to the side, etc. so it is better for permanent installations of shrubs than the kind of garden where you add new plants all the time or try to start things from seed. It does help to hold in moisture and reduce weeds, so it might be what you are looking for. I personally like to have plants growing in all of the soil, and low spreading plants can shade the ground under taller flowering plants or veggies. I "mulch" only with stuff that can be dug into the soil when I add new plants later, so that the soil is always getting more and more amendments.

You have options. Honestly, learning how to water properly is the most important thing. Seeing dry soil does not mean that your plants need water, but it might not look nice. If you water just the top inch, then the soil might look moist, and the plants are still not getting water where they need it (deep). If you don't dig holes to see what the moisture level is deep down, then you might over water, and the plants become sick. You can grow plants anywhere, in the worst soil if you learn how to water properly. As you improve soil more, it will hold moisture better, and you don't have to water as often. After plants have developed deep roots, you don't have to water as often. It is most difficult when you are starting a new garden, and it gets easier.

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Comments (16)

jrmckins
12 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
any kind of mulch. That's what it;s for (keep down weeds, keep in water). I just used some straw from a bale I had leftover from a halloween party from last year.
Laurel Zito
12 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Maybe you could install a drip? In the short term lots and lots of compost type materials on the surface and dug into the soil if possible will help. There are lots of different brands try to find one that is either made of forest products (woody) or peat moss or something that was once alive instead of just top soil which will only be more sand and clay and stuff that is inorganic. Then on top of the compost or organics you can put something else like microbark. This is the full treatment. If I use the compost first thickly then top it with a thick layer of microbark, it never seems to dry out at all in my climate. I can check underneath days after watering and it is still damp.
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Laurel Zito
12 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
I am under the impression in place like Illinois it often rains in the afternoon. In Ca it won't rain at all in the summer, so we have to water. But, if you are used to getting rain and it stops for a while you would have to readjust your watering schedule. If you can water early in the morning that is a good plan. If you have a drip on a timer, you still have to monitor it and adjust it, but if you find you are too busy to water, it's great to have the back up insurance of a drip system.
toxcrusadr
12 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Other garden mulches...grass clippings if you haven't sprayed with herbicides; bark or wood mulch; compost, even half done, covered with whatever you like for a nice appearance; free wood chips from the power co. tree trimming crew; etc. etc.
ceth_k
12 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
To me dry days are often a blessing, and watering plants during dry season is a very enjoying thing. Dry weather more often than not means good sunlight, and you know what good sunlight will do to you plants.
mackel_in_dfw
12 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Humus is a catchall phrase for garbage. Plus maneur that is probably not composted, in a voodoo mix, and all you gurs say, add more nebulous pieces of god knows what. She has pH problem maybe, drainage problem maybe, a trust problem now from the "organic" label on the product...easy, why is this so hard to diagnose?... I tell you why, belief in the superstition...soil test first from major university and organic lab...then...talk about all the garbage that can compost on to her soil fer her...I use Garrett juice whenever I have sick slow surly soured or, establishing plant...and...unadulterated vegetative finished compost will cure the ill...with time...sooner or later...

Mackel
Kimmsr
12 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Illinois is not the tropics and it does not rain often in the afternoon, around this area of the world we can go several days with no rain.
Humus is not a catchall phrase for garbage. Humus is the residual organic matter in soil, what is left that the Soil Food Web does not want to digest at this time.
How much of that Earthgro did you put in the garden and how large was that garden.
What kind of soil do you have? Sand? Clay? Loam?
Is the level of organic matter in your soil near 6 to 8 percent?
How well does that soil drain?
How well does that soil retain Moisture?
What is the tilth (workability) of the soil?
What does that soil smell like?
What kind of life is in that soil?
Laurel Zito
12 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
I found this entry from a poster here with a blog. It is basically saying that in certain areas that do get summer rain, if it stop raining they get discouraged rather than make adjustments.

I have to go out and take photos of my fern that has the double treatment. Compost on the bottom and microbark on top and a drip line. The fern is in almost full sun, but never dries out. This fern Woodwardia fimbriata can live with more sun due to the system. I am sure this system will work. You may even risk over wetting and rotting the roots of plants that are not ferns.

Here is a link that might be useful: Dad and the Drought
coconut_head
12 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Lots of questions before any helpful answers can be given. That is except for MULCH. You never really want bare dirt, so always use mulch, grass clippings, straw, shredded leaf, etc... even plastic is better than nothing.

How deep are you checking when you say it is dry? just looking at the top? Digging down 6 inches? 12 inches?

kimmsr forgot one also, what does the soil taste like?

;)
mackel_in_dfw
11 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
*Ding Ding Ding*

Round 3-

1. Humus is a meaningless word when it's percentage is not listed, so it has become a catch word used by merchants to put a voodoo spell on the consumer.

2. Earthgro contains -peat moss and horse poop- I've used it, it dries out the soil. They sell it at Lowes.

3. Peatmoss is the worst amendment in a droughty soil bar none. Hydrophobic as the bed dries out.

4. Manure in a -droughty and *untested*- soil is a double bad idea, because salts can quickly exceed healthy levels when there's not enough rainfall to leach it down.

5. All you had to do was google it, Kimmsr...

Man Up
mackel_in_dfw
11 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
My recomendation to the OP is, from this point forward, use pure and unadulterated vegetative compost as an amendment or top dressing, and this will cure any ills. It's the only responsible recomendation to make at this point. Don't bother with all of these products with fertilizers in them. Now's not the time for that. Plus what the piano man said about proper irrigation. What you need right now, is no more hocus pocus. All of you fellers here come up with a lot of complex answers to a simple problem. Sheesh...
jrmckins
11 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Complex answers? I said to add mulch. That's not complex ... and it's correct.
mackel_in_dfw
11 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Right you are, Jrmckins, near the beginning of the thread. And it only took you two lines. Simple is the way to go almost always. I think mulch that breaks down fairly quickly is called for, and you mentioned straw, not too shabby of a call. I use compost when I'm having a problem, and the reason I reccomend it as a mulch right now is becuase it will break down the peat faster, and buffer some of the potentially excessive salts. Please accept my acknowlegement, and I'll be more careful to read what you have to say in the future. That's m-c-k-i-n-s, got it.

Mackel
jrmckins
11 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Yeah, read what I post ... I'm a genius :-:
blazeaglory
11 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
We forget that some people like the sound of their own voice or in this case the look of their typed words.

Mackel, just get a tape recorder and speak into it saying "Im right and everyone else is wrong". You can play that back to yourself constantly for self encouragement...lol

Soil is very dry, help!

PianoFury

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