Using Soil : How to Break Up Clay Soil
Tips, Tricks
To transform clay-like soil into healthy, life-giving soil, break it up with a mix of Gromulch and about 25 pounds of gypsum per five square feet of soil. Help your soil support life with the aid of this free video on using soil. Expert: Rick Feldman Contact: www.gardensbyrick.com Bio: Rick Feldman, founder and owner of Gardens by Rick in Los Angeles, California, provides a wide array of landscaping and gardening services. Filmmaker: John Baldino Series Description: Growing the perfect garden means using the perfect soil for the specific plants you want to raise, taking drainage, pH balance, nutrient levels and other factors into account. Get helpful soil tips from a professional landscaper in this free video series.
Comments
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try planting in thailand, its mostly red clay. the damn shovel bends if you can actually get it 4 inches into the ground when its wet. when its dry you need to hack it out with a pickaxe. i bought good dirt which is just brown clay filled with rice plant roots, i spread that over the land, let it dry in the sun then drive over it in a minivan for hours till the lumps break down into baseball sized bricks. then i have to beat the shit out of those with a hammer.......if it rains then next day its all turned to cement again!
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what's the difference doing it while soil is in heavy wet and muddy conditions?
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I searched 'using dynamite for planting in clay soil'. This is what came up.
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I made it with woodprix handbooks !
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Gypsum is calcium sulphate. It comes in different grades depending on the source. Some gypsum is man made, originating from a byproduct of industry filters. So it can also contain heavy metals. Use a horticultural/ agricultural grade and also ask company where does their gypsum originate from. This guy in the video is a bit enthusiastic about applying it. I certainly would not use a pick near my tree roots. Use an air spade to mix in amendments in spring or Autumn. Or just mulch with bark.
It's a misconception that gypsum floculates clay. It don't. Gypsum is used to displace sodium or as a source of calcium without raising pH like lime would. If you have a low pH then you could use lime to floculate clay.
Always test your soil before adding fertilisers. You might find that this guy already had enough calcium or sulphur in the soil already and could produce a toxicity.
Test your soil people! Expose your tree flares Cut your girdling rootsAnd feed your mind -
This Feldman guy is a moron. He's recommending around 100 times the amount of gypsum you need.
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You use 25lbs of gypsum per 5sq feet you will ruin your soil. Using too much gypsum will cause clay soil to "plate" which means it will become even more dense and compacted than before. In small amounts gypsum can be a help but only as part of a broader system. I hope nobody took this idiots advice.
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The soil is dry. But!...if the soil was soaked (real muddy ), how to work?
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What’s gypsum? Where to find it? Thanks!
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Thanks for the info I'm in Atlanta and just planting here for the first time and this red clay is a lot to work with and my soil has been so dry and I have used Mushroom compost and miracle gro and its still dry
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I think you need to take some time and go to woodprix website to learn how to make it.
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Rick, I hate to say it but you're fooling yourself. That soil you're working with does not have much clay in it. Real clay soil does not break up that easily. You could hit the clods in my yard with a hammer and nothing would happen except the hammer would bounce off. The only cheap, sure way to break it down is to add sand and plenty of organic material, tilled in year after year.
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I'm trying to dig a hole to do something (not decided) with. However I have four words to explain why that won't happen easily. Georgia Red Clay EVERYWHERE. It's like f**kin' Mars.
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Thank you!!! been looking for a solution other than every other "Replace soil" solution :)
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Don't break your back/bank tilling. Go to your garden shop (organic), purchase a bio-inoculant, mycorrhizae inoculant, molasses (dried or liquid), earthworm castings and either source or buy a good compost (preferably fungal/vermi-compost). On a wet day (preferably during your rainy season) lay down an ample layer of compost, wormcastings, molasses(if dry) and soak w/ inoculants. Put down cardboard or newspaper on top of wet mixture. Put down about 3" of compost (including any composted manure or coffee grounds you may have access to mixed in) and 3" or more of shredded wood mulch (you want the mulch to vary in chip size). Inoculate bed with more soil fungi & microbes, you may also include beneficial nematodes during this process. Apply inoculants once a/every other week and keep damp but not soaking until noticeable biological activity. This should not be a problem due to the heavy wood content( if it is add more wood mulch and lay down tarp to regulate). If it smells bad it is either too wet or has too much nitrogen or both, add shredded woodchips/pine needles/shredded leaves. Contrary to popular belief the activy of microbes, fungi and more macro organisms like earth worms will till and aerate the soil passively while the high content of woody organic matter will regulate moisture. This will result in fluffy nutritious soil that will hold plenty of air for tree roots (if you're nervous about mulching this heavy around your trees then only do this up to a little before the tree's root skirt, or just lightly apply covering). With open areas you can also plant alfalfa, comfrey and red clover to hurry the process along. Not only will they help choke out invasive weeds but condition the soil as well. Alfalfa's long taproot will burrow into that hard clay pan and can be cut for feed straw or an excellent veggie bed mulch. Red clover is a nitrogen fixer and great for bees. Comfrey has a wonderfully deep root system which will dredge up minerals from subsurface rocky soils. All of these can be chopped and left as a ground cover (adding nutritional value to the soil) or can be composted and added as is or applied as tea, the end resut is the same (pro tip: harvest from comfrey as it grows and make cold brew with leaves, spray diluted w/h2o for good trace mineral fertilizer). Once it has gone through winter it should be ready to plant with grass, annuals/perennials or veggies. Every year the bed will grow in quality with less inputs. Learn from nature for she is the grand architect and her creations are the engineers who passively push the system forward. Work with the grain and ride the wave👌☘🍄🍂🌲🌱🏄🏽
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I do not buy the contention that gypsum will break up clay soil. I think it's apocryphal and was started by some marketing person in the gypsum industry. I can't see where loosening clay is a chemical process. Gypsum Is calcium sulfate di hydrate that's all. I've tried it over a several year process to attempt to break up the clay soil here in inland Southern California and have had zero success. My take is loosening clay is a physical process not chemical and the best way to do it is too separate the fine particles of clay with lots of organic matter. Gromulch being an example but compost and commercial organic supplements will work just as well. The key is to put in a lot like 5x what is shown in this video. Gypsum has its place as a soil nutrient for instance if the soil is poor in calcium but I have never seen where gypsum has any effect on loosening clay. I would like to read a scientific explanation on how gypsum loosens clay. Have yet to see one.
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Is this the the same gypsum that is used for construction?
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I am trying to amend the clay soil in you front yard. I have about 900 sq ft and its much worse than yours because its all rocks attached to the clumps of clay and it takes forever to get down 12 inches into this ground. Also the gypsum is expensive for this amount of land. So wouldnt I be better off to just dig up and get rid of my clay rocky soil and replace it with new good soil for cactus and succulents which need good drainage. I tried to add the products you mentioned but my soil just forms smaller clay balls if i try to break it up with a shovel. I was told also to add the gypsum at the bottom of the hole that I am putting the plant into. There seem to be so many different ways to deal with clay soil and I just spend a lot of money on succulents and cactus and other water wise plants so I am worried that if I dont prepare the soil properly my plants wound thrive as I want them to. Whats your advice?
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I don't believe in quick fixes. You only did 1/2 square metre. Probably better to wait until after the rain when the clay is not like concrete. In the autumn perhaps. Mix the soil with leaves. This has to be repeated every year. Clay consists of microscopic minerals, held together by hydrogen bondings. These particles that are about 0,000002 metres in size don't allow water and air to sip through. Organic matter is the best way to fix the problem but it can take years.
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How much Gromulch?! You've given us gypsum measurements/ratios - great! BUT HOW MUCH GROMULCH?
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