Justine Burt asked:
I have two orange trees, one Meyer lemon tree, a fig tree, a cherry tree and an apple tree in my small backyard. I love having fruit available year round. Unfortunately, our clay soil does not drain well but our fruit trees still do OK. Any advice on improving our drainage?
Actually there are many ways to improve drainage using several soils that are readily available for purchase, but if you want to improve drainage in a cheaper and easier way (at least I think so), use a sponge . Yes… you read right — a sponge!
The Agriculture Guide’s Foolproof Way To Improve Soil Drainage Using A Common Sponge:
- Buy several sponges or collect them throughout your home.
- Locate a pair of scissors.
- Begin cutting your sponges into pieces that are the size of a walnut or hazelnut.
- Mix these small sponge pieces into the soil around trees or plants that need better drainage.
This surprising technique is commonly used at our farms in Turkey. Of course there are many ways to improve soil drainage, but I’m particularly partial to using the sponge method which my father’s associate brought to our attention.
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Land is so generous that it makes up for every piece of hard work. Mustafa Kemal Atatürk
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Really? Sponges? That’s so interesting! I suppose it’s one way of opening up the soil so it can absorb more water and help water flow through. Thanks.
Very useful idea, indeed. Instead of using the rather expensive expanded, baked clay pellets (Hydroton, hydrokorrels) as a reusable growing medium, pieces of sponge can play a similar role in the soil (water retention, aeration, …).
I use a rather considerable layer of sponge pieces in the bottom of containers (pots, bottles, trays, …) to create this double function of water stockage and aeration.
When positioning a vertical cilinder of sponge pieces along one or two sides of the container wall, one can also enhance the water retention capacity in containers, thus avoiding irrigation water standing too long at the bottom of a container.