How to repair compacted soil

[quicksandfarmer]

I have an area of about a quarter acre where the soil is heavily compacted. This area used to be good grass pasture, some summers we even mowed it and kept it as lawn. A tenant kept pigs there, and the pigs rooted through the soil and removed every living thing and then packed the soil down with their hooves. The high spots are rock hard and the soil now doesn't drain at all, where there are low spots the water pools and creates a thick goopy mud. There are spots that didn't dry out at all this summer.

The question is what to do about it. The soil needs to have the organic material returned. There's enough mud in there that I don't like to take the tractor in, I think it just makes it worse to chew up the mud. Part of me wants to just dump spoiled hay into the whole area and let nature take its course. Our soil is very acidic and I've read that adding lime helps loosen soil up, so I'm thinking of liming it as well. I'm not keen on the idea of tilling or plowing the area because unless the soil is dry I think it would just compact it more.

I would appreciate any suggestions.

Thanks.

 

[RNeumann]

They are adding lime to soil right in front of my work to help compact the soil under the road. I'd read up before going that route.
Without getting the tractor in there hay on top will do little. Adding sand and tilling would be nice. Organics can be added at the same time- hay, manure etc. Since this isn't the "show" area near the house I'd only shoot for 2-4" of tilling. It isn't a garden that needs a ton of depth. Just enough to germinate seeds.
If you can't till I'd just added sand and manure to level things and see what happens. If nothing grows you can always till it in the next dry season.

 

[jeff9366]

A Moldboard Plow is the traditional implement for "opening" land.

A 12" plow will open land 5" to 7" deep. A 14" plow will open land 6" to 8" deep. A 16" plow will open land 7" to 9" deep.

As you only have 1/4 acre you should do reasonably well breaking up the compaction with a Middle-buster (also known as a Potato Plow) or a Subsoiler.

VIDEOS (2): tractor middle buster - YouTube

tractor subsoiler - YouTube

 

[jeff9366]

They are adding lime to soil right in front of my work to help compact the soil under the road. I'd read up before going that route.

Yes, caution advised. Lime is an important constituent of cement.

While you are researching lime for modifying your specific soil conditions also research gypsum.

 

[newbury]

And consider that if you add lime and hay or straw you could be making brick.

 

[joeu235]

If you are concerned about your soil ph, get a soil test done.

Looks like the University of Rhode Island does it for free on October 28th.

Soil pH Testing - University of Rhode Island

 

[Egon]

[video]http://www.graymont.com/sites/default/files/pdf/tech_paper/lime_treated_soil_construction_manual.pdf[/video]

There are different types of lime!

 

[jeff9366]

I know. I live in Florida.

On my land we have Key Limes and Persian Limes. There are probably various 'island' Limes grown farther south.

 

[TemporaryKubotaOwnerMark]

Adding sand and tilling would be nice.

Yes, adding sand would be good.... if your end goal is concrete.


quicksandfarmer, this isn't complicated. Get the tractor in there with something to break it up. That's what plows and cultivators are for - breaking up hard ground.

Bury it deep in organic matter, and let it winter over. In the spring, plow in the organic matter that's left. Repeat as needed.

I'd use wood chips before I'd use hay or straw, though. Leaves are also good. Grass not so much, unless you shred it together with dry leaves or wood chips so that it doesn't form a mat.

Post an ad on Craigslist or call some local tree companies and you can likely get buried in leaves and wood chips for free. They will be glad to not have to pay the dump fees.

There are no short cuts for this.

 

[RNeumann]

That is laughable!

 

[Egon]

That is laughable!

Yeper's; and so is a lot of the other advice given on this thread.r

Now for them that may be a little confused about Lime and over consume the product of a Lime tree mixed with ethyl Alcohol a reference to the mineral "Lime"!


[video]https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lime_(material)[/video]

[video]https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agricultural_lime[/video]

 

[CalG]

Clover roots run deep! So do the roots of comfery. Radash can add a lot of organic material in one season. There are many useful long grasses that run 20 feet deep or more!
Deep frost can break up the deepest compaction, but the coast of RI may not see enough cold. Can you keep the snow off the area?

 

[MidTn Mark]

Daikon Radish is a great choice. 1/4 acre isn't very big. Hand seed it and cover it with hay. If you have close access to any wooded area peel the top leaves back and get some of the loose soil. Put that down before any hay or anything else.
Let the radish grow and die in place. it will break up the soil and then as it decays it will add organic matter.

Once that is done cover it with wood chips 4-6" deep and let nature take care of it.

 

[Creamer]

If it is too hard to seed get a plug aerator and let the seeds fall in the holes. Radishes, turnips, grasses, clover, alfalfa, etc. are great for long term conditioning of soil. The other option is to jsut seed it with grass, radishes, turnips etc. and cover with hay or straw and let nature do its work. Over winter will make a big difference but a few years and you will be surprised. Roots and the organisms they bring will do wonders.

BTW - the freeze thaw cycle helps to crack up hard ground as well but since you are coastal you might not get much of that.

 

[TemporaryKubotaOwnerMark]

That is laughable!

Not nearly as laughable as the as the idea of adding sand to hard dirt to make it usable.

Have you ever seen what a thick layer of wood chips will do to hard soil? Add some green to balance out the nitrogen needs and you have... uh, yeah, that's exactly what healthy soil is made of.


His ground is in that shape because the organic matter was removed. That's what it needs to restore it, not sand.

restoring land after hogs at DuckDuckGo

 

[LouNY]

It needs a subsoiler run thru 12-15 inches deep and a cover crop planted, as suggested radishes are a very good deep tillage crop, the correct variety, not the common garden one's.

 

[kthompson]

LouNY hit it on the head. Subsoiler is designed totally to break up compacted soil, period. To do it right you need to find at what depth is the "hard pan" and run the subsoiler an inch or two lower to "crack" the hard pan the hogs made. It will allow the water to drain through and the roots to grown done so a crop can grow. It needs to be dry for this but you may have to do what you can with it wet and muddy and as it dries come back and run subsoiler again and again to get it open. You can use a shovel to dig down to find the depth of the hard pan or if you have a good sharp metal rod may be able to push it into the ground to find the hard pan. I have heard it cracking like rocks from water just setting on it. Believe it or not some sandy soil can be bad for this.

 

[Creamer]

Yeah! Everybody has a subsoiler laying around in case they may have to use it once.

 

[K5lwq]

We had a similar problem once in a small area. The first thing we did was drill through the hard pan in a few spots and back fill with gravel to allow water to drain off. Our hardpan was pretty deep so we had a friend with a drilling rig help us out. Yours might not be as deep so a post hole digger might just do the trick. Then you can subsoil and plant vegetation as described above. You can find single shank subsoilers fairly inexpensive even if you buy new.

 

[quicksandfarmer]

Daikon Radish is a great choice. 1/4 acre isn't very big. Hand seed it and cover it with hay. If you have close access to any wooded area peel the top leaves back and get some of the loose soil. Put that down before any hay or anything else.
Let the radish grow and die in place. it will break up the soil and then as it decays it will add organic matter.

Once that is done cover it with wood chips 4-6" deep and let nature take care of it.

I'm going to try the Daikon radish, I just ordered some seeds. It's recommended to seed in early fall and I'm a little late but it's been so hot lately I think it might work. Other than adding whatever mulch I can find I think I'll leave it alone over the winter, there are still muddy spots and I think driving on it when it's wet will make it worse. Hopefully we'll get some freezing and thawing that will help break it up.