permaculture

["Steven & Margaret Eisenhauer" <eisenhauerdesign@earthlink.net>]

Hello,
We have heavy clay soils here in the Champlain Valley of NY.  Albrecht and
his students, such as Dr Arden B Andersen talk about the importance of the
ratio of calcium to magnesium in the soil compaction phenomenon.  Albrecht
indicates a 7 to 1 calcium to magnesium as an ideal ratio.  Turns out
Calcium flocculates clay allowing air to enter into it while magnesium in
the wrong percentage to calcium causes clay soils to become waterlogged.  So
a sandy soil can be toughened up with magnesium while clay soils can be
flocculated with calcium.  When spreading lime watch out for the dolomitic
limestone It contains up to 40% magnesium and may throw off the calcium to
magnesium ratio causing clay soils to stick to your boots and become
compacted.  We have applied hi cal lime here and it has caused our clay to
be way less sticky on the boots when wet.  The interesting thing about
calcium is that it is constantly washed down into the soil profile and so
must be reapplied yearly.  I have seen photos of a pit dug in heavy clay
that due to calcium applications for many years was flocculated down to a 3
foot level with no clay sticking to the boots.  

Check out "Science in Agriculture  Advanced Methods for Sustainable Farming"
by Dr. Arden B Andersen

Hope this helps
Steven Eisenhauer
Eisenhauer Design Inc.





-----Original Message-----
From: permaculture-bounces@lists.ibiblio.org
[mailto:permaculture-bounces@lists.ibiblio.org] On Behalf Of Lisa Rollens
Sent: Tuesday, January 03, 2012 2:02 PM
To: permaculture
Subject: Re: [permaculture] Drainage

> 
> Will those with experiences of soil drainage in wet climates please share
those experiences, observations and advice.
> 
> Steve
> Indiana USA
> 
Steve, I feel your pain.  I lived outside of Cincinnati for 7 years, all the
while with flooded ground.  I literally could not get the spring crops out
until about the third week of Jun, and that's definitely not spring any
more.  Very discouraging.  The  one thing I wanted to say was that one of my
neighbors put in drainage lines underground.  all was fine during wet
springs, but the one dry season while I was there....all his raspberries
died from the drought.  In that year,  I grew potatoes that were out of this
world.  Two potatoes would be all a dinner plate could hold.  Sweet potatoes
did well there, but I dug them with a water hose, to loosen the dry clay to
get them out without breaking.

I had access to stall straw and manure and put many truckloads in the garden
for 7 years, and even tho it increased the organic matter, I didn't see a
difference in the flooding problems.  Raised beds didn't do any good at all
because the water stood t the top of the beds, and therefore flooded the
root zones.  I also planted fruit trees, and they eventually died.  :^(

One thing I did learn was that if I had crops planted and we got flooding
rains, go back and put a nitrogen source on the crops, blood meal, dilute
urine, etc.  That actually did work because almost all nitrogen is lost when
the ground floods like that....as you know!!

another thing I learned is to till the soil even when it was wet, lightly
and shallowly, to break the surface and help it dry. Yes, I know you're not
supposed to do that, but if you do it, let the chunks dry somewhat, and then
till again, the chunks will go under the surface and soften up and you won't
ruin the texture of the soil like you usually do when tilling wet.  Of
course, we know that no till is better, but on that soil, the surface would
become concrete and stay wet almost forever if the surface wasn't broken a
bit and I probably wouldn't have been able to grow anything all summer.

Carrots did surprisingly well.  Potatoes did OK if I could keep then from
rotting from flooding (plant on mounds), melons did poorly because by the
time I got them planted and growing well, we were back to cool and wet
weather in August, not good for ripening melons.

Now I am in the MO Ozarks with sandy soil.  Different problems, but I never
miss the mud!  Good luck!

Lisa


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