central coast bananas and clay soil :(

Brendan says...
Hi fruitlover, gypsum will help your clay soil. Try giving it 4 handfulls per sq m, won't hurt the bananas either.
Mine get a lot of cow manure, a good organic fertilizer (I use Super Growth) http://www.katekfertilizers.com.au/Organic-Super-Growth.html, and extra P & K fertilizer, and water.

sternus1 says...
If you build a large mound and plant your banana on this, you won't need to worry about soil conditioning. This is actually what you're supposed to do when planting banana anyway. Dig a m2 hole and backfill with premium potting mix with about 30% sand and a little cow manure mixed in. On to this build a mound at leat a couple of feet high, then plant banana out into the mound. Mulch very heavily with that crap that is supposed to be potting mix you buy at bunnings, a couple of bags at least at first. When they are established rooster booster or dynamic lifter will get them going and keep them very happy.

s

sternus1 says...
If you raise your mound to 3ft or so, it will never be a problem. Unlike the other trees you're growing, bananas are extremely shallow rooted. At 3ft of clearance the roots will probably not ever touch the clay. I'd probably lay down a bed of sand and build the mound on top of this, it will help to stop your mix washing away.

sternus1 says...
Myles,

thought I'd add that gypsum isn't this great and arcane panacea and will disrupt soil chemistry even if not used in excess. Clay actually holds a lot of nutrients, the problem is that it doesn't release them, retards root growth/aeration. There is really only one way to deal with clay, and that's by adding a lot of organic matter to it, and turning it into something better than it is over time. This isn't hard to do really, but it does take hard work and patience, and pretty much just involves turning compost/ mulch into the soil. The best thing to use is pure cow manure or horse manure--that is, uncomposted manure. This contains a lot of fibre, encourages worms and dung beetles which tunnel through the soil and split up the clay. It also helps bring your soil to life in a microbial sense. Here's some pictures of clay I've turned into better soil via this method; I'm on clay too.

sternus1 says...
Yrt, we both know the conditions needed for creating a 'mud brick' (the word you're looking for is cob--you're welcome)and those which involve earth having organic matter tilled into it are completely different.

Here is what I've manage to turn my clay soil into so far. It's not fluffy loam, but it isn't the near-brick that it used to be. The red stuff is what the black stuff used to be.

Pictures - Click to enlarge
Picture: 1

sternus1 says...
You can first sprinkle the area with Gypsum as Yrt has suggested, but as I have said, it isn't a panacea. It will help a little bit, but if you overdo it, it is worse than having not used it as in clay it is difficult to correct the imbalance.

Second stage is to apply a thick layer of cow manure onto the area (or horse manure). If you can get it, uncomposted is best--way, way better than what you get at bunnings. What you're doing at this stage is getting microbes, worms and dung beetles interested in the patch.

Over the top of the layer of manure, you're going to want to spread a layer of mulch an inch or so thick. Use a finer particle mulch, the ultra cheapo brunnings brand potting mix is excellent, perfect for this task. Don't use lucerne at this stage, it won't work; this will come much later.Doesn't have to be thick, all you're aiming for is keeping moisture in under it. You need to water the spot daily or every few days at least for a couple of months. This will condition the soil, and allow the finer particles of mulch to needle down into the clay which will help to break it up(lucerne isn't good for this purpose). While this is going on, worms and dung beetles will be tunneling through the clay. Down the track this will make tilling very easy; instead of getting nowhere by chipping at the soil, you'll be able to lever away large chunks and crumble these up.The mulch layered on top can be folded into the soil, which will break up the clod a lot. Over time, the soil will get darker and more crumbly. The good soil will be shallow at first, but as time goes on it will get deeper and deeper.

The soil I posted in my last message is about 6 months old from the brick like red clay also displayed. So it has gone from that to that in half a year. It will no doubt be better again in another six months. It really is doable.

s

VF says...
I' ve had similar results to Sternus with the clay at my previous property, by just using Sugar Cane mulch. Similar problem to you in that a large area was too pricey to do much else with. Process not as fast as what Sternus achieving, but good nonetheless . What was literally hard-pan clay that was difficult to even grow hardy natives, ended up supporting rainforest plants and fruit trees. I just kept the mulch topped up to about 2 inches, and moist. Surprising how fast it breaks down, and how many worms move in. I guess any hay or straw available would be okay, just add some B & B and chicken manure pellets occasionally.