Rick,
You have "hydrophobic" soil. Some soils, even loose ones, have an incredible ability to repel water. Some popular, bagged mulches will also add an inpervious surface to your soil.

Here's what I suggest. Get a hose end sprayer. Ortho makes one. Spray the surface of your soil with liquid detergent, about a teaspoon per gallon of water. It should wet the soil surface immediately. Then water before the surface dries. The ability for you soil to absorb water will last as long the surface is damp. When it dries fully, you may have to perform the routine again.

One other thing you can do is apply a water absorbing mulch layer over the soil. This should improve the permeability of the soil surface.

Bob

Bob B,

Thanks. You have been quite helpful. Learning the "hydrophobic" terminology (soil can have phobias??) let me plug the term into a search engine and I came up with tons of information. This problem is so common that there are many products for it- basically surfactants. They should be more long lasting than soap/detergent though not permanent.

Ironic about the mulches though. What you say was confirmed in articles I wrote. Bark mulches specifically. Though I would think that worm activity should counteract the effect, but I don't know.

Best Regards,

Rick Clark

Oh yes, I've had the same problem throughout SD. There are surfactants that you can purchase. Working lots of organic matter into the soil will help too, although it may not be right for your succulents. Try Walter Anderson's Nursery. They have some sort of patent medicine whose name I've forgotten that will so the trick.

Note;

When I wrote "What you say was confirmed in articles I wrote."

Should have been "articles I read".

I am so, like, duh ;-)

Thanks jxbrown,

I have a Grangetto's near so I'll try them first. Walter Anderson is far.

Regards,

Rick Clark

i have the same problem and compost does help, but it takes a looooong time. at least for me. i just purchased some "liquid rototiller" that i am hoping will do the trick. the company rep (envirepel) told me for my soil i would have to apply it (hose on) every week for 6 weeks. if it works, i'll let you know. i am so happy to have the term ! trying to get my point across accurately to nursery personnel has been frustrating. i finally told this guy it was "sandy soil with the consistency of termite poop...." and he then knew exactly what i meant.

tracyjo,

Just an update- research tells me that what I am looking for is a "nonionic surfactant". One brand available through Grangetto's Escondido is "Naiad".

However I am starting to rethink this idea of chemicals altogether.

Due to the water repellency problem, I have a couple succulents that are stressing out to the point of going totally brown. I decided not to wait until I made up my mind about the chems, and go out and try to rescue them ASAP. Feeling I had nothing to lose, I just tossed aside all the hydrophobic sandy loam out of the planting hole of a bright green aloe that had gone brown, and replaced it with a low grade potting soil (as distunguished from potting mx) and I swear that in only one day, this brown plant has put on a very noticeable amount of green. I am truly amazed.

So maybe "the gods" are trying to tell me something. something like "amend, don't spray".

I was reluctant because it being a sandy loam cactus and succulent slope, it seems "natural" to not amend too much. But now I'm thinking that for the time I'm spending researching, locating, and fretting, I could could just go up there and one plant at a time fix the holes......

Regards,

Rick Clark

me again - the stuff i'm going to use is organic. the big deal ingredient is humic acid. it's highly touted by bruce asakawa and his gang at Garden Compass. the john and bob's soil conditioner is granular and works like a concentrated compost. you only amend with it every 6 months. i used it on some of my beds and i was pleased. it is supposed to work well with our soil, because it has humic acid as well; but i'm not going to apply it until i have used the liquid rototiller. the john and bob's needs water to be activated. if you called garden compass, i would be interested to hear what they said about our phobic ridden dirt. it's real easy to get through. AM radio 8-9 saturday mornings at AM690 or 1360.
and congratulations on your aloe success!!!

I have the same hillside behind my house, half of which has old Eucalyptus trees. I have a shredder in which I shred the TONS of Eucalyptus leaves for mulching (but making sure no rocks also get into the shredder is a bit of a pain). I have had success with digging a small terrace with berm around the plant and continually adding the mulch. The berms and small terraces hold the water well (no choice) and the mulch keeps the water in. Note that the shredded Eucalyptus leaves decompose into the soil about 10x faster than just throwing the whole leaves inside the berm. Either way, the leaves help the soil (my plants are looking great) and keep other polyphobic dirt from filling in the berm area.

I've also been plagued with this type of sandy soil here in north Orange County so it's nice to finally learn something as to the cause and cure. It's so frustrating to water the lawn or garden and have the water just sit there. This even occurs in my perennial garden which is heavily composted. I'll try a detergent cocktail first and I'll keep on the lookout for Naiad.

greetings from Australia, home of the water repellent soil. Wetting agents (detergents and other surfactants), such as you've tried, will only increase infiltration for a few months or until the soil fully dries out again. The water repellence will return with a vengeance. Addition of organic matter, especially eucalyptus mulch or potting mixes/soils will only increase the water repellence over time as the water repellence is due to the sand particles being coated with waxy/fatty materials produced by the natural breakdown of organic matter. best longer term solutions are:
1. always create a basin of soil (like a small well) around plants, especially on slopes, to hold the water you apply. If water is held over water repellent soils for long enough the water repellency reverts and the water runs in(can take from a few minutes up to several hours in the worst cases)
2. addition of clay to the soil when you plant can also provide long term benefits (e.g. builders clay) as clay, having much smaller particles, has a much greater surface area and so is a lot less prone to becoming fully coated and water repellent. Addition rates need to be about 10kg (22lb) per square metre (or sq. yd) dug into the top 100mm (4") of soil
3. consider pebble mulches over organic ones, as they help retain a moister environment at the soil surface and help retard runoff without adding extra organic matter. Remember the soils where these plants naturally occur contain almost no organic matter.
4. The main force acting on water in and out of the soil is gravity. Water applied to slopes will almost always runoff unless you create areas that can hold it until it can infiltrate. This may include pockets, depressions, mounds along contours, even shallow depressions above plants, larger rocks placed below plants, etc. This will in turn waste a lot less water too.

good luck

steve

I would also suggest the addition of berms to hold water at base of plants, and a pebble mulch to retain moisture within the basins. You might also find it useful to use drip emitters at individual plants, which apply water at a slower rate and will work well for getting water into the hydrophobic soils. Also, it is a good deal easier to get new plants established in such soils if you time your plantings with winter rains. Using a shredded bark mulch such as coarse redwood bark, often known as "Gorilla hair mulch", will also help absorb water and keep it from running off too quickly, and works very well on steeper slopes because it is stringy and coarse, staying in place and not prone to blowing away or washing off.

With the dryness of your climate, and the sandy nature of your soil with very low organic content, you are not going to find that worms will populate your soils, even with regular applications of mulches on a slope. Gophers and moles are actually more useful natural methods of mixing soils and creating better water penetration in southern California situations such as yours.