Planting trees

[Haironyourchest]

Is there an option to plant something else which would be more tolerant of clay soil?

[Gary Prentice]

4 hours ago, Ruskins Trees said:

You have to drain it to somewhere.  A lighter soil found in rootball and backfill mix will cause moisture in the heavier soil to wick across into the lighter soil. It will fill up like a sink and drown (waterlogged soil) the specimens unless they are a species suited to sitting for prolonged time in waterlogged ground.

 

A drainage layer in clay will not  work unless it has somewhere to drain to (no matter how many times landscape architects produce drawings only showing a drainage layer).   

 

A soakaway will not work unless it breaks through the clay and finds a strata that can facilitate drainage.

 

The only option if there is no option to drain is to mound plant*.  Plant above ground (or partly above ground) and bench soil upto the rootballs. This way some of the roots will always be able to breathe (undertake gaseous exchange).  

 

Once did a tree survey in a woodland where all trees (around 200no 80 years old) were planted on 3-4ft mounds all doing well.  The developer had permission to fell most, I wonder how he dealt with the ground prone to waterlogging.              

 

* If you have a slope, just dig french drains to the lower level (or insert sloping land drainage pipes to  the lower level) . 

Great post

[Jack.P]

24 minutes ago, Haironyourchest said:

Is there an option to plant something else which would be more tolerant of clay soil?

Not really as trees arriving next week .it has been hard work with the client trying to work out what to get  . Initially they were set on the idea of olives or holm oak both not suitable with lower chance of survival so I had to say it's waste of efforts  .I tried to suggest hornbeam but they weren't very keen .as others have mentioned it all depends how deep the clay layer is .if I'm digging the holes and I've reached the max 1.5 m depth and still no good then I'm not sure what the next plan will be .the site is along a boundry fence line 

[drinksloe]

That golfy used augers to full depth then stuck an extension on it and drilled again.

But depends how deep u need to go.

 

Take a bit of digging to 1.5m by hand, to deep for even shuv holers, they strugle after 4ft.

If ur tress are arriving soon i'd get some test holes dug sharpish to see if it would work or on to plan C or D

 

[Jack.P]

Hi I've bought a manual auger 150mm x 1m which I can use to full depth then once done I'm going to extend it with a bit of welding or jubilee clips so could even go to 2m depending on stones etc .might also pick up few bags of agricultural gypsum and dump it in there at clay level not sure it will do much though but possibly worth a try .

[Steven P]

If waterlogging is going to be a an issue then is it possible - given the layout of the site - to dig a trench out of the garden with gravel in and to use that as a drain / soak away. If not would a land drain to the house drains be a possibility (I am not sure if you are allowed to do this)

[Jack.P]

Hi guys .thanks for input so far on this tricky subject 

I have been back at the job today to work on the drainage but it didn't go to plan .my idea of drilling the ground isn't going far enough into the ground to do anything  as the clay is so thick and dense .(the trench is already 1.5 feet deep though from when I dug bamboo out ).anyway I've had a better look at what's going on today and most of the clay seems to have a run offwhich  is going right next to neighbors garage (within a foot ) Its far too close to put in a big soakaway so the only option might be to now linking it into main drainage. I have almost run out of ideas and worried I could of actually made it worse today .if we have heavy rain tonight it might flood over the trench .its very annoying now as I needed the job finished this week 

 

[eggsarascal]

Pictures Jack, pictures! My work is drainage,both surface water and foul.is there anywhere the excess water could be pump to, is there a ditch on the boundary?

 

tapping it into the house drains is a non starter.

[Gary Prentice]

As eggs said, photos to illustrate the soil horizons would be really good. 

 

Is/has the trench filled up just from precipitation falling directly into it or is draining through the topsoil elsewhere, pooling on top of the clay and then moving sideways into the trench?

 

its really hard to get a clear idea of what's going on.

[Jack.P]

I will get pics tomorrow on the job .it looks to me like it's collecting some rain run off from next door ./ surrounding area . I had pumped out around 300l before I had a better look and we've got had showers here in the last week or som.apart from mains drains can't see a way to channel it somewhere.looks like the clay is very deep and I've been told it's the same soil in neighbouring gardens .doing a soil test which will show soil profile should have the results tommorow