Assessing root compaction and dysfunction

[richy_B]

Does the airspade do a reasonable job on London clay? We do a lot of hand digging and often it's solid clay from 80mm below, not clay soil - solid damp clay. Generally a horrible spoil to work with.

[David Humphries]

9 minutes ago, richy_B said:

Does the airspade do a reasonable job on London clay? We do a lot of hand digging and often it's solid clay from 80mm below, not clay soil - solid damp clay. Generally a horrible spoil to work with.

 

Rubbish in those conditions from my experience, move to the coast 

[richy_B]

 

Rubbish in those conditions from my experience, move to the coast [emoji3]

Ha! Sounds about right.

 

I've been looking for a 'silver bullet' for years for this. Yet to find anything more effective than a shovels and spades (anything less back breaking would be a God send!).

 

Happy new year to you all.

[Gary Prentice]

6 minutes ago, richy_B said:

Yet to find anything more effective than a shovels and spades

I find the easiest way to do anything like this is to have a clean hi-viz jacket, clipboard and camera - then direct someone else where and how to dig.

 

I've never suffered back ache this way ever 

[David Humphries]

At work this weekend looking at trees and stuff, but had an opportunity to join a group for an hour or so looking at the local soils for the presence of & identifying earth worms.

 

 

 

 

 

There are 3 main types of earth worm in the UK, the compost worm, (found in the upper 10cm or so of the humus rich layer) the earthworker (which is busy tilling the soil by burrowing down a couple of feet or more) & the root dwelling worms which are seldom seen near or above surface as they're usually to be found down amongst the decaying tree roots. 

 

The Earthworker worms (these are the ones that Darwin studied extensively) are the ones that create the worm tents that can often be seen on the surface where they pull down and digest the vegetative part of leaves, leaving behind the indigestible stalks.

 

 

 

 

This is potentially a good way of assess certain aspects of soil health across the site, so although the group 

were mostly looking at grass areas where there is less compaction we're planning to take it in to the woodland path areas to assess the soil living conditions.

 

 

[sean]

34 minutes ago, David Humphries said:

At work this weekend looking at trees and stuff, but had an opportunity to join a group for an hour or so looking at the local soils for the presence of & identifying earth worms.

 

 

 

 

 

There are 3 main types of earth worm in the UK, the compost worm, (found in the upper 10cm or so of the humus rich layer) the earthworker (which is busy tilling the soil by burrowing down a couple of feet or more) & the root dwelling worms which are seldom seen near or above surface as they're usually to be found down amongst the decaying tree roots. 

 

The Earthworker worms (these are the ones that Darwin studied extensively) are the ones that create the worm tents that can often be seen on the surface where they pull down and digest the vegetative part of leaves, leaving behind the indigestible stalks.

 

 

 

 

This is potentially a good way of assess certain aspects of soil health across the site, so although the group 

were mostly looking at grass areas where there is less compaction we're planning to take it in to the woodland path areas to assess the soil living conditions.

 

 

 

[RDB logs]

That's really interesting work, where I work at an nt property, we have an oak avenue, the application of wood chip has significantly reduced compaction along with moving the path, and also there has been a noticeable increase in vitality of the trees. However, we have also lost several large trees due to compaction, with visitor numbers increasing I think we are on a loosing battle. As an aside I did read an article about the major oak and the over wood-chipping. Thank you for sharing,