Waterlogged yard

Amanda3 starts with ...
I'm planning to plant as many different varieties of fruit trees in my yard, however half of the yard is next to a creek and the soil gets waterlogged in heavy rain, it usually goes away fairly quickly but I was wondering if anyone can tell me which plants would be ok to put there and which ones should I plant somewhere else?

BJ says...
Jaboticabas love it wet and can survive a long time nearly fully submerged. Many garcinia (Mundu, yellow mangosteen, achacha, madruno, bakupari) seem to tolerate seasonal flooding and wet feet. Rollinia loves water and tolerates some flooding. Bananas like being wet, but depends on how wet we're talking. Pachira nuts, some syzygium, Wongai, Bignay/Herbert River Cherry, Star Gooseberry, Acai Palm, Jujube, Panama Berry, guava, Abiu, Surinam cherry should do okay if flooded for shortish periods. Star Apple, Matisia, Black Sapote are all supposed to like wet soil.

Plants to avoid are things like citrus, avocados, mangoes, and most other things.

Mike says...
I has another 180mm of rain last night.The 5m deep streambank on a council easement behind my place collapsed in several places last night taking half of my ducasse's and threatening a jackfruit,bilimbi,neem,carambola and a few more bananas living on the edge.Bananas toppling over in windy weather on the bank slope take out big lumps of soil that slides into the creek.I may have to do some erosion control measures today if the rain stops and chop out the most vulnerable bananas.

Brendan says...
Speaking of rain/bananas Mike, so far we haven't had any wind, but the small gully near mine is flowing. You can still see a bit of sulphate of potash near the trunk :-) (bloody scrub turkeys scratch around the base of my bananas after worms & lobbies!)

You have had a lot more rain than us down here!

Lucky bananas like water! :-)

Pictures - Click to enlarge
Picture: 1

MaryT says...
Wow water water everywhere guys. Brendan don't lose that lovely hand of bananas that I can see at the corner of the picture! Mike sounds like you have a massive repair job. I can only spell council with four letters.

Mike says...
Correction 245mm last night and it is still pouring.It is amazing how it varies in a short distance with some northern parts of the town getting way less than 100mm.

BJ says...
Mike, Brisbane is also a summer rainfall area. just get around 1/3 of what you get. We often do get a bit around June though, and can count on a good shower when Avocadoes, Mangoes, Lychees and Loquats are at their most vulnerable!

Just hoping it will ease up a bit sometime soon. The garden is looking like a jungle. Pigeon Peas and vomit papayas are getting out of hand.

MaryT says...
I can only imagine how quickly everything must grow in all that heat and rain, Mike. Haven't you trained your geese to mow the grass yet?

MaryT says...
Well Mike I know you'll sleep well tonight. While you're out see if you can round up more geese. Wonder if you can rent a goose.

MaryT says...
Oh what a mess you have on your hands Mike. Hope you have help. Take it easy; have a good night.

David says...
Mike how do your avos stand up to all this rain your having ,surely it must be the ultimate test for them

David says...
you must have them mounded for sure .

David says...
At least nearly all the soils up your way Mike are able to take it and then drain away.

amanda says...
and it sounds like WA and Northern Aust are going to have to get used to this weather too.... Floods on your side..drought on this side :-(

David says...
All i know is its heading our way, but dont expect as much rainfall as you Mike , just to let you know 1 Ackee put its head through as well as 1 marang.Happy happy happy.How big does the black sugar cane grow ,man the colour is magnificent.

David says...
Weve got some great clumps of black Bamboo, should go well with them, Mike i have high hopes more heads will pop through ,early days.

David says...
Mike it had 2 good shoots on it,any idea how long the santol to shoot the seed is pretty hard.

David says...
Mike i suppose all this rain is tempered with the fact that you generally have a dry winter

Mike says...
I had almost 200mm again last night in an angry storm between 8pm and 10pm and thankfully the rain has eased.I am sure it will be blazing sunshine tomorrow.I see that Townsville also had inclement weather in the wee hours with some real wind problems and damage was done.

Mike says...
It quickly loses its glamour if it has rained every day of the month and already topped 1000mm for March.It has caused flooding,road cuts and grief but now that it hasn't rained since lunchtime all is good.It is dry and the porridge mud set enough for me to mow the lawn after neglecting the mowing for over a week.
The water that flows to the sea is not wasted. It is vital for healthy river systems and provides marine/intertidal nutrients for fish and crustaceans of commercial and recreational value.If rivers don't flush and groundwater is not replenished with flood flows ther can be big environmental impacts.Trying to 'green the desert' has failed and caused harm many times in the past.
Weather systems seem to be migrating poleward in WA faster than other places but not that fast.There have been big temperature fluctuations not that long ago.About 5000 years ago temps were 3 celcius higher than now and seas were almost 3m higher.70 000 years ago world temps dropped 7 to 9 celcius immediately after an giant Indonesian eruption.The world human population apparently crashed to just a couple of thousand as a result.Sorry for rambling folks.

amanda says...
PS - here is a link to our biggest man made inland 'sea' for those interested. It's a very interesting place.
Be aware also that "red dirt" can carry naturally high levels of heavy metals like cadmium (for eg) it's one of the reasons that the roe has to be removed from scallops in some northern parts of Aust. The heavy metal contamination is too high.
Scallops with the roe on fetch much higher prices...(and taste much better too!)

With land run-off comes fertiliser and pollution run off too. It may have been ok 100yrs ago..it may not be desirable now..?
Lake Argyle is man made...I am not aware of any marine research that has been done to determine the effect of it's massive overflow into it's feed area...
(except anectodal reports of a heap more salties... :)

http://www.westernaustralia.com/en/Pages/Attraction.aspx?pid=9001211

(and L.Argyles discharge rate is higher than the higher than the highest discharge rate of the Canadian great Lakes....
The volume of water used in one day in Sydney - is discharged in 26 seconds from L.Argyle...I would suggest that is a "waste" myself..?)

Mike says...
David it is as dry as a bone after a day of blazing sunshine.I have mowed the lawn,erosion has been contained and all is good.

Mike says...
Our problem was that it sat on us for 5 days when it was juiced up.If it has any sting left in the tail, 40kn and 150mm in 12 hrs is manageable.

BJ says...
We didnt get much from that huge band that hit the sunshine coast then drifted out over the bay. Looks like it will just be patchy for at least a few more weeks yet.