How do I amend black clay?
maden_theshade
16 years ago
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Comments (19)
TxMarti
16 years agorunjbells
16 years agoRelated Discussions
To amend or not to amend? Clay soil...
Comments (22)"It seems that it is highly recommended to plant peach trees in raised beds from the experience on this board. Does anyone have a good link or more detailed directions as far as how to do that? What type of soil do I need? How deep do I dig the hole? How high should the bed be?" For my peach trees I use mounds and terraces. It doesn't seem to make a difference how tall the mound is. Some of my mounds are 1' tall, others started out 4' tall (before settling). The peach trees do about the same either way. Some people enclose their raised beds with a raised border of some kind. I think that's fine too. I don't think it makes much difference what soil you use for the raised beds/mounds. Several years ago, I installed drain tiles in the orchard area (The drainage was horrid and I was tired of losing peach trees.) In places we had to excavate to a depth of 4' to install the tile. What we dug out was pure clay. I used this material for some of the mounds. The peach trees have done fine in the clay mounds. Per the above posts, I would only use mounds if the drainage is poor. But since you mention puddling, I strongly suspect you could benefit from raised beds/mounds. Mounds not only provide good drainage, they also loosen the dirt so there is minimal resistance for the roots to spread. Mulching on top keeps the soil moist longer into the growing season, further encouraging root growth. It's hard for peaches not to succeed when they have moist (but not overly wet) loose soil with no weed competition and plenty of sunshine. Here's a picture that's a couple years old. You can see some tall and shorter mounds. Some of the older trees aren't in mounds. The drainage tile helped them. Here's a pic of some terraces I built last fall for planting peaches this spring. By the way, I don't bother with mounds for more water tolerant trees like apple, pear and plum, unless the drainage is really bad....See MoreCan I plant in just-amended clay?
Comments (8)While some people think this totally unnecessary and bordering on parnoia the Center For Disease Control, National Institute of Heatlh and the USDA all recommend that animal manures used in gardens be applied from 90 to 120 days from harvest. If you are growing crops that the abvove ground portion is the edible part the manure should be applied not sooner then 90 days from harvest and for those crops where they edible portion is the root (carrots, beets, etc.) not sooner than 120 days. Potatoes should not be planted in freshly manured soil....See MoreHow do I amend my dirt???
Comments (4)If you have clay, One can add gypsum, expanded shale and lots of compost. I have stick to your boots red death clay at my old house and in one small spot now. Decoposed granite is good only if added with lots of compost. Everytime I worked my land I add compost, if nothing else. I read a thing where a person took a whole bunch decomposed hardwood mulch and mixed in the dirt and let it sit for a year to decompose further and had really good luck with that....See MoreHow would you amend clay?
Comments (14)Having the right amount of clay is beneficial to a building a productive garden bed, but when there is too much of it and too little of the other materials that make up soil, the very small particles become packed together so tightly that it becomes impervious to air, water, and even plant roots. Without oxygen, water, food, or space to move around, there will be no living organisms that are needed to build a healthy soil. Simply adding mulch, regardless of the type or quality, will have little impact when there is too much clay and the bed has become too compact. As the others have said, you need to start by getting the amendments mixed in to what you have for them to be of any use. Once tilth has been improved mulching will become a much more effective way to build better soil. AMENDING CLAY SOILS How to improve clay soil Estimating Soil Texture...See Morejustintx
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