I saw those for sale at our nearest Lowes store a week or so ago. They were located right at the checkout in the garden center. Lisa

I should add that the one I saw at Lowes looked like the first one Cori Ann showed, the one that looks like a pipe. I have been considering one of these after Cori Ann recommended one previously. I was concerned about having difficulty getting it into the ground, since I'm not very strong these days. The pipe one looks especially difficult. When I researched a bunch of different kinds and read reviews, I found that one reviewer said his practically was "self drilling" if he turned the water on WHILE he inserted the irrigator. That sounds like a great tip. That one was called "The Bully Root Soaker". Lisa

I also think applying bagged compost as your energy allows is a great idea, Ingrid. I buy bags small enough to handle because I am rather small and can't push/carry large loads either. My husband can't do everything. I think it will all gradually help.

The one I have really is self drilling when the water is on and hooked up to it. It's by Ross and has a yellow handle and a long metal ice pick spike that the water shoots out of from 5 different holes at the end. I'm not sure how well the white pipe one works, but it looks cool. I like the metal spiked ones because I can make "aeration" water well holes wherever I want instead of having to install one at each plant. The pipe kind would be good if you just have a couple of spots where you want to make sure the water penetrates deeper though. I wonder if roots would end up clogging it over time. The metal spike just seemed like a simpler design to me.

Ingrid, here we have products that break down the waxy barrier that forms during prolonged dry periods. They can be sprayed on with the garden hose, or they also come as granules. Do you have anything like that? Trish

There may be another easy fix. See if you can add an attachment between your spigot and your drip that allows for adding fertilizer, but put liquid dish soap in it instead. Set it to about 1 teaspoon per gallon.

:-)

~Christopher

I'm not sure that adding ANY random kind of organic matter can cure this problem as the water repellency is caused by waxy organic matter residues and certain fungi and it is indeed encouraged by large sized soil particles (i.e. sand). Which means even if you could spread lots of organic matter it could very possibly make the issue worse..Don't do it unless you can really incorporate it in the soil which you cannot do and even if you could find somebody to do it for you plant roots would hinder this. Lots of rain can incorporate organic matter from the surface into the sand soil but if you had lots of rain you wouldn't have this problem in the first place..

Different types of organic matter have different properties (see the link below). Prime example of a organic material that easily becomes hydrophobic if left to dry is peat.

I would just shallowly cultivate the soil around the root area and at the same time create watering rings or holes but I understand this will be difficult for you to do. Maybe you can hire somebody.

Having said this, are you SURE you have a water repellency problem and not the much more common 'not-enough-irrigation-water' problem or the also common 'watering-on-a-slope problem'? Please do some tests by increasing the amount of water you supply, making sure you irrigate during the evening to minimise evaporation and by monitoring the absorption rate of a small quantity of water on your soil. Do a few drops seem to stay ON the surface for long? If not you might not have an absorption issue.

Make a small watering hole or, better create a watering puddle by raising the soil around it a bit and fill it slowly with 2 inches of water. Does it take a lot or a little water to fill it? How long does it take for the water to be absorbed and how far down does the soil appear to be wet after it has been absorbed for some time? If it takes very little water to fill it, the water stays there for long and does not penetrate deep ( at least 10 inches) you may have an absorption probem. Otherwise you are just not watering enough..

I supply my irrigation water (either by hose or drip) in irrigation holes or rings around the plants in virtually every plant I irrigate (since most of my property is inclined).

Adding some wetting agent in the drip system or spraying it on the soil is a good short term solution but only if your problem is indeed soil water repellency.

Soil water repellency

Thanks so much for all the comments. All the roses are planted in holes with mounds around them to keep the water in. I always water for a long time so there is no way that I am underwatering. However, as the roses grow larger it's not really possible to maintain the circle and a few roses are on a bit of a slope. However, I've found that even the roses that are planted inside a ring and are thoroughly watered do not have deep water penetration. It doesn't penetrate anywhere near 10 inches. During the last rainy season, however, when it rained frequently and deeply, the problem did not exist. When we first plant a rose and the hole is dug, we fill it with water several times and let it sink in to ensure the rose has a good start, and of course water deeply and mulch it well. After that it's on drip water and it begins to grow well, but after some months without rain the problem begins. I always irrigate in the evening. The roses that have only morning sun (not even until noon) do best in terms of the soil retaining water. The remainder, and also the trees and shrubs, have the problem of being bone dry just a little way below the surface.

We're going to try our luck with the deep water emitters to begin with and see how that works. I'll let you all know how that works out.

I was going to recommend mulching with more organic matter, of a kind that doesn't pack, until Nik silenced me. About not having the strength to do hard work, has hiring a strong energetic college student for a few hours gone clean out of fashion since I left the U.S.? Don't you have a college or university nearby? My experience in Olympia was that the Evergreen State College had an office with a list of students available to work, and I never had any trouble finding someone when I needed a job done.

Melissa, we're away from everything, delightfully so, and it would be easier to hire an undocumented worker locally, which I don't want to do. My husband and I have always valued our privacy, and introducing organic matter would probably take years and would be an ongoing process. I know how long and hard you and DH have labored to do that very thing. We're researching various methods of introducing water to deeper layers because it takes the least effort and might be a permanent solution. At the very least it's an interesting idea that will surely teach us something more about how to handle this situation.

It might be a good idea to test for soil hydrophobia though. Apart from the tests I mentioned above, you could do a comparative test in two nearby irrigation spots of the same size you can construct with soil mounds taking care so you don't disturb the surface. Using the same amount of water and using a bit of dishwashing liquid in one of the two, see if you have significanty better penetration with the surfactant. If you do have this issue after all, the fastest method to temporarily cure it is to use some specialized wetting agent (not soap) of the kind golf courses use.

I think that is an interesting test, and it's something I will do when the temperature goes below 105 (that's today, with 107 expected tomorrow). It's very simple to do and I'll be interested in the results. I don't have a problem with attacking this problem from more than one angle. We've already ordered two different kinds of water distributors depending on whether it's for our trees or roses. To be doing something to solve a problem always feels better than to sit by helplessly and watch a situation deteriorate.

Please keep us updated after you brave the elements and run the test, Ingrid! Personally, I think someone should be offering honorary science degrees to the cooperative teams of forum members who brainstorm, hypothesize, test and report discoveries on threads like yours. Carol

Ingrid I was reading in the lawn forum about spraying shampoo to help the soil, this may help you too, more than the dish soap. There are a bunch of threads on it, but look for Morpheus explanation of why it works. I tried it last year in some hard packed clay areas in our yard and I do think it helped. Of course my climate is way different than yours!!

Carol, you couldn't be more right; the advice I receive here has been invaluable, and I so appreciate the feeling that everyone is rushing to my aid which does wonderful things for my morale. I know of no other place like this and cannot even imagine it ceasing to exist.

Dingo, that must have been mentioned somewhere because I was planning to conduct the test with baby shampoo, thank you!

WHAT are the chances? A thrifting friend found this at the local Restore for $1 and immediately thought of me. Of course without this post I wouldnt have realized what a useful thing it is! Being vintage it's super sturdy metal and has a space for fertilizer too! I read Jobe make special fertilizer that slowly dissolves in the receptacle.

You lucky dog, Vap! I was just reading a review the other day by by a man that had used one for 30 years. He finally ordered a new one of the same brand and model and was disappointed by how much the quality had gone down. Parts that were solid metal on his old one where now cheap plastic on the new model. Score!!! Lisa

Appropriate 'plastic' is better than metal when using fertilisers due to their better corrosion resistance...

Once soil dries out it seems hard to get it wet here too. I can stand over a plant watering it for what I think is a long time, only to find that the soil is still dry. Where does the water go I wonder? Someone here, Michael in mtns I think, has tried cat litter. It's absorbent, and then releases moisture . I used to add leaf compost every spring in truckloads but now that I don't have a truck I don't. Still, it didn't seem to make my soil much more moisture retentive. I have a lot of roses in pots, and some are next to roses that are planted in the ground. I water the potted plants. I think these act like slow release water reservoirs, or like thick layers of mulch. It stays a little more moist underneath these pots. It's not quite the same as watering for five minutes. It's a slower release than that. My theory about rain is that it is the duration of it that makes it so much better than hand watering. It has time to penetrate. That and how it covers the whole area, not just a spot, of course.

You have a good point, erasmus. I've tested the soil after rains of short duration and the penetration is very shallow. A rain of long duration does penetrate much further, as I've observed when I dig down deeply and the soil is evenly moisturized. Of course rain has a different composition than tap water and may be able to penetrate the soil more easily.

Nik, the container for the fertilizer is plastic, but the handle that takes the brunt of pushing is metal on mine. That part is plastic on the newer ones.

Ingrid, have you tested the ph of your water? Rain water is generally more acidic, so if your tap water is very basic you might try changing it slightly on an area without plants and see if that helps. It would be easy to do and not take much time.

' I can stand over a plant watering it for what I think is a long time, only to find that the soil is still dry. Where does the water go I wonder'

a. It fills in the micropores. Depending on the soil these can take a lot of water when really dry before the water moves downwards. This is NOT a case of the soil becoming hydrophobic. One just needs to water more. This is what I suspect happens in Ingrid's case but I may be wrong

When the soil becomes hydrophobic then

b. The water stays on the surface for long and either runs off or it evaporates

and/or

c. it is lost down through MACROpores in the soil without saturating the topmost layers. The drier and sandier the soil is the more macropores may be created. One can often see bubbling on the surface when the water disappears down macropores.

We received our deep watering implements yesterday and today and will be testing them. It's still 106 degrees and I don't know if I can make it outside at all, even after dark, although yesterday I was fairly comfortable at midnight. The heat is breaking records all over California, and for that matter probably all over the world.

Nik, I'm impressed by your knowledge of how dry soil acts with watering. Very often the water does run to the sides rather than penetrating and if I understand you correctly that would make it hydrophobic. I have watered one rose for ten minutes and the lower layer was still as dry as dust. If I watered more my monthly bill would probably be $1000. I've kept the drip system running for four or five hours because I forgot to turn it off with the same result, completely dry underneath. The fact that the plants are not dying must indicate that what I do is enough to let the plants survive, although the result obviously is not optimal.

On the other hand, I know next to nothing about gardening on wet soils..

Splitting the amount of water you give in two doses, a few hours apart (maybe early in the evening and then again before dawn) may help. The first dose helps breaking down the soil bonds due to dryness, the second dose is what really provides the needed water. This is a trick an agronomist taught me years ago related to the best practice when fertilising but it might be appropriate in your case too.

I like that idea, Nik, and it makes sense. I'll definitely try that.

You've gotten lots of great help here, Ingrid. I'm eager to hear what works for you, when you find out.

I'm impressed too, Nik. Your knowledge of watering in dry soil is impressive and has been most helpful. Thank you. Your comment about watering in two stages is certainly spot on. I find this technique works very well in my potted roses, as well. I make one round with the hose just to the point of water draining out the bottom. I try to have hose on a gentle setting and saturate the whole container, not just one spot. After all the pots are watered, I take a little break and cool off indoors. After a little while, but before they begin to dry out, I go back around for a second time. This seems to maximize their water absorption.

I don't know anything about gardening in a wet climate either, but since this is my "forever home", I seriously doubt I will ever need to:) Thanks for all your valuable help over the years, Nik. I know you've taught me a lot, and I'm sure countless others, as well. Lisa

No one has specifically talked about this, so here goes.

Years ago, I worked on a rather large project determining sizes of individual particle of sediment in different parts of the Mississippi Delta. I was on the analytical size. The measurements were done by a fairly sophisticated particle size measurer.

What may be of use to you is how we took a sediment sample and broke it into pieces that where measurable as so many microns. Our dispersive chemical was Tri Sodium Phosphate, which used to the be magic ingredient in Calgon. Now to get away from the phosphates, Calgon has a different base, but TSP is still available as a wash for walls, etc. It's a cheap chemical. Poured on as dissolved in water it should break apart many of the particles.
You may want to try this as a low impact (and as a source of Phosphorus).

Unless my very rudimentary soil chemistry knlowledge fails me here, I think that not only is sodium phosphate very alkaline, which may compound the problem of an already alkaline soil, and is also a salt which may increase soil salinity, but it may lead to soil sodicity which should make any water absorption problem more adverse. Sodium salts destroy soil structure. This is the probem with sodium chloride and may be a problem with other sodium salts also.

Ingrid: Any updates on your soil? I recently discovered I had the same problem (inland So Cal), I noticed a rose was declining. I watered it for about 5 mins thinking it would soak up then i can dig and move it to a better location. But to my surprise the roots and soil around the rose was bone dry. I did have a garden fabric and mulch for the weeds, I wonder if the fabric was absorbing all the water and not allowing it to penetrate down to the soil. I have recently removed the fabric and mulch and turned the soil. Once it cools off I will conduct some experiments with watering the soil.

Did you resolve your issue with the dry soil Ingrid?

I have found that fabric tends to compact the soil. I think just removing it will really help.

@stillanntn: when you speak of "Calgon", do you mean the product for washing machines to reduce calcium build up? Is TSP to be found in most anti-calcium products?

I'm finding that using a kitty litter that is made of betonite helps soil to retain moisture. Personally, I think mulch is a big help, too,if only for the fact that it shades the roots and keeps them cooler. Landscape fabric was one of the worst things I ever used, and would never recommend it.

To get water to go down deep,one could also make holes in the soil using an ice pick,hitting it on the head with a hammer to help it to penetrate the hard soil. In any case,don't let yourself get over-whelmed, thinking that you have to do your entire garden in one day, lol! just do it one plant at a time,or even take several days to do each plant-it doesn't matter. It sounds like your roses are surviving,even under the bad conditions. Soil improvement is ALWAYS a long-term project; there's no real "quick fix" even for the most energetic and physically powerful gardener!

when people say mulch... I think it makes a difference in what you mulch with..... here is link to one of threads where I had the same problem..... https://www.houzz.com/discussions/4122019/soil-is-starting-to-she-water-help#n=10

My soil was shedding the water... I am in Florida and have major sand.... when I started my rose garden I dug down 4 feet deep and filled it with horse manure and let it decompose.... then I planted in my nice new soil. I mulched my roses with red much..... however, as that wood started to break down it created a crust on top of the soil.... it and the sand kept my roses from getting water......

I ended up buying some good top soil.... hauled in more horse manure and topped off the garden.... and EVERY year I now use mulch from my own banyan tree leaves that I chop up with a Sun Joe.... My soil seems to now hold water better... however, I what seems to baffle me is WHERE does the soil and mulch go.... after all of the things I have done.... I am still getting sand.....

It is alot of work to keep adding dirt and mulch, and I don't think I am building up the soil.... just keeping even because if I stop I am back to sand.

A little update, so I removed the garden fabric from around two roses watered well and turned the soil as the water ran. The soil absorbed the water, I still need to improve my soil, but the garden fabric I had was keeping the water from penetrating the soil. I noticed that some roots from the rose came up to the surface to get what litter water that was getting through the fabric.

yeah, fabric is BAD, IME! I'm going to try ollas this year...

https://www.abc.net.au/gardening/factsheets/sandy-soils/11485250

Check out this clip from Gardening Australia on working with sandy soils. Humid acid based soil wetting agents, cow poo and mulch are a must.

We have hydrophobic sand here in FL. It’s amazing how much rain we can get on top, but when you dig down the ”soil” is bone dry.

My gardening has been greatly improved by burying organic matter in pits, much like hugelkulture, but below ground. I put the pits between plants, so they can share. I like to plant in threes, so very often I put a pit in the middle of a trio.

We also do “chop n’drop” when pruning, and have about a 4-5 inch layer of mulch everywhere. This has greatly improved our water retention, as all this OM serves as sponges to hold water in the sand for the plant roots. :-)