How can a bog/wet soil tolerant plant rot?
Heruga (7a Northern NJ)
4 years ago
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ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
4 years agoRelated Discussions
10' x 80' of very wet peaty-soil- any suggestions for plants?
Comments (7)I am mystified by the universal recommendations to use a well drained soil and avoid damp spots for fruit plants of species that will tolerate considerable periods of flooding in the wild. None would probably do you any good in Z6 though. Muscadine grapes and pawpaws are obvious examples, and guavas are another when you consider the escaped reverted guavas in South Florida. Rabbiteye blueberries and mayhaws may be others, though I don't know the exact conditions of wild rabbiteyes other than in broad stream valleys, and don't recall whether mayhaws are recommended just for well drained soil. One aspect that makes this all the more mystifying is that (except for guavas) these plants have only recently been selected and bred. They are still very close, literally just a few generations at very most, from their wild relatives. A good number are simply selected FROM the wild. They are not highly modified from wild plants. I know the experts are not just knee-jerking: they specifically mention experience with root rots on muscadines and pawpaws (and perhaps the others). Yet I see wild muscadines and pawpaws flooded all the time, including occasions (several a decade) with substantial flooding for a week or more in the growing season, in cases when heavily laden with fruit, in cases with 2 feet of water, in rarer cases with 6 feet (after tropical depressions pass upstate). They seem to do fine. I am foraging the fruit a few weeks or month later. What gives?...See MoreHeliopsis-will it tolerate winter/spring wet soil?
Comments (5)I don't have experience with standing water. Heliopsis does well with winter wet and that amount of sun. Most that I can think of that would not mind standing water would be unhappy with dry in summer. If you could dig trenches and mound up the soil using the dirt from the trench.Would help protect crowns. Maybe use straw when ground begins to dry. Mulch is to expensive for me and straw goes a long way. I also so have a no water area. Plants have been loving the straw. Other wise there are some pretty grasses that might work. Maybe tall verbena or rudbeckia hurtia or something that reseeds easily. Collect and save seed over winter. Then next spring scatter right after water goes down. Just pick things that flower in first year after sowing and can handle dry in summer. Might work anyway best of luck to you....See MoreHow wet must clay-like soil become before it kills ...
Comments (27)Some of the old stuff I took in the civil engineering soil mechanics courses are coming back now after thirty years. The suggestion given on digging the ditch deeper, assuming this is a "drainage ditch", and not a dugout, within your property would help during "normal drier times" in lowering the phreatic surface of the ground water within the soil (fancy old fashioned technical word that just means ground water level when not telescoping out into the open as the surface of a lake) . But during floods doubt it would be of much help as the water will still rise to and above the surface if your in the lowest spot and the ditch is not actually flowing, or is too small for the quantity of surface runoff and ground water discharge. You should also watch out for digging the ditch too deep with steep walls because it's sides can subside (fall in) from pore pressure dissipation if your soil is sandy or loamy. In the end though, the ditch needs to flow and be sized for the flow to get rid of it. I had minor "water problems" in this property compared to yours and it was caused by me making the gardens by building 12 to 18 inch high rose beds and cutting the surface runoff escape to the swale.. It took two 9 inch rectangular catchment basins (sewer traps) and about 100 feet of drainage tiles and ditching to prevent the surface water and eaves trough water from ponding against my garden beds at the two lowest spots. I cut off the escape to concrete swale (ditch) that runs across the back of my property. The biggest pain I had was not enough gradient (vertical distance from house to swale) to accommodate the 6 inch diameter weeping tile ... so for the last 20 feet through the garden I used perforated pipe to let it go into the soil and cut two holes though my retaining wall for the discharges into the swale. It would be interesting to see photos of the rest of the situation - I find it very interesting but can sympathize with how it sucks right now especially having dug those holes for a lot of roses. Hope you success in solving it. Good luck....See MoreNew to Bamboo: Root rot bc of wet soil?
Comments (1)It's not clear what you started with. Did you get a decent size root ball? Also, if what you got was some root with a new culm, that would be a portion of the plant that is least well established and likely to fail as a transplant. It's hard for me to comment on your soil. Bamboo usually do well in even poor soil, and have a high tolerance for water (unless they have their feet in standing water for days). Leaf curl is a symptom of too little water or simply that the plant began dying almost from the start. As for whether there is something in your soil that is a problem, I don't know. In addition to all this, the best time to take a division of bamboo and transplant it is when the plant is semi-dormant...late fall through early spring. Unfortunately, from what you've said, I doubt that this plant will recover....See MoreNevermore44 - 6a
4 years agolast modified: 4 years agoHeruga (7a Northern NJ)
4 years agoJay 6a Chicago
4 years agoHeruga (7a Northern NJ)
4 years agodeanna in ME Barely zone 6a, more like 5b
4 years agoHeruga (7a Northern NJ)
4 years ago
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