Poor drainage (forum)

Therese starts with ...
We have yard on solid sandstone, and drainage isnt that great. We are having trouble with mango tree (i think my husband may have asked about this), also Orange, lemon, panama berry, passionfruit are not happy; they seemed to have done very little growing. While we attempted to drain our yard they were growing in pots for 2 years; we then transplanted them all almost 4 months ago; the ferjoa, banana and paw paw have taken off, but the rest have hardly grown an inch, do you have any suggestions (fruit &/or nut trees)as to what we could grow instead that would handle soil that isnt drained that well, it can be breezy/windy sometimes, and half the yard can also be very hot as it has an east/west orientation. We need realtiveley fast growing, lot sof foliage for privacy and shade. Cheers Therese Malone

Time: 21st April 2010 9:04pm

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About the Author Therese
La Perouse, Sydney
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Rhys says...
How deep is the topsoil before you hit the sandstone? Have you tried a drainage test?

Here's is a link to a useful guide about drainage, and it can actually be quite a complex issue:
http://www.onlinegardener.com/care/Soil%20drainage.pdf

Certainly, the citrus and passionfruit do like good drainage so i'm guessing this is why they are struggling. You may have no choice but to build some raised beds.

Time: 22nd April 2010 4:24pm

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About the Author Getafix
Newcastle
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Therese says...
thanks for the site, Ill give the drainage test a try, Ill need to get hold of a post hole digger though as I dont have enough room around trees to dig a hole, as Im growng herbs and veges in same area. Isuspect that it will show up as a poor drainage area.

There was no topsoil above the sandstone, we built up a garden on sandstone that about 70cms tall using railway sleepers; in one part we werent able to do this, but made a concrete rectangular planter box about a meter wide and 3 metres long and 70cm - 1.5m deep as land slopes away. This particular trough has very little drainage, only a smallish hole at the bottom at one end (at the end where it slope away), it has lots of blue metal and ag pipes under the soil though. I was really wanting to plant a couple of fruit trees as the area needs shade and privacy. Does that make sense, I dont knope if i cold build raise beds on it as it already a raised bed.

Therese

Time: 22nd April 2010 7:51pm

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About the Author Therese
La Perouse, Sydney
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Rhys says...
70 cms sounds pretty deep and i would've thought that would be enough for OK drainage, but there is still the question of what happens to the water once it has drained through the 70cm of topsoil and hits the sandstone. I reckon sandstone would be more porous than other rocks, but could still cause issues.
A sloping site should help with drainage, but there could be other things preventing runoff. In the planter box you mentioned, could the small hole be blocked with something? Is it in this trough that you want to plant the fruit trees

Time: 22nd April 2010 8:05pm

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About the Author Getafix
Newcastle
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Therese says...
It is possible that the hole is blocked, and it is a place where we are trying to grow fruit trees, but they are very sickly. The hole is about 1.5 metres deep, it could be blocked, but I put blue metal in first, the a layer of this cloth that helps prevent soil from getting through, then the soil, but the inside of planter box is painted with water proving paint(recommended by a landscape gardner/permaculture person)this may also ad to the lack of drainage, it was recommeded that i drill holes at ground level to help drainage which i havent done yet (I actually forgot until now), this should improve drainage to 1/2 way down, but the bottom is still going to have water in it;

Time: 24th April 2010 8:21am

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About the Author Therese
La Perouse, Sydney
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Posts: 3
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