Location: NW Alabama
Soil type: clay, low ph, around 4.5-5
Size: +/- 0.5 acre total,
Objective: stabilize the soil and prevent runoff.
Discussion. A small portion of our property was a “wildcat” coal strip mine. Wildcat, meaning, illegal. It also had the clay pigments mined for mortar and stiff. Needless to say, it’s barren and very difficult to establish. And I mean nothing. Its a muddy, clay mess when raining, full of rock slag, coal slag, etc. After several years of liming and trying to plant wheat, rye, buckwheat, sorghum, millet, I have almost given up on stabilizing the soil in this area. The only thing I haven’t tried is renting a grain drill. Not as easy as it sounds. We do have a 2 row planter now and I could try to plant sorghum or something.
Erosion is causing significant damage. I have witnessed multiple inches of erosion after a single rain event (evident by a small rock stacked on a column of clay).
Potential solution for comments: there are pine trees surrounding the area and some pine trees growing in this type of soil. Near some of the larger seeds are 1’ pine seedlings. My thought is to dig them up in “shovel slices” and transplant in this area. I was thinking 5x5’ spacing. I don’t know if I have enough seedlings to do the whole area, but I would start on the banks of our primary ditch where erosion is the worst. Has anyone ever transplanted native pine seedlings? Would it be better to just buy them?
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Soil type: clay, low ph, around 4.5-5
Size: +/- 0.5 acre total,
Objective: stabilize the soil and prevent runoff.
Discussion. A small portion of our property was a “wildcat” coal strip mine. Wildcat, meaning, illegal. It also had the clay pigments mined for mortar and stiff. Needless to say, it’s barren and very difficult to establish. And I mean nothing. Its a muddy, clay mess when raining, full of rock slag, coal slag, etc. After several years of liming and trying to plant wheat, rye, buckwheat, sorghum, millet, I have almost given up on stabilizing the soil in this area. The only thing I haven’t tried is renting a grain drill. Not as easy as it sounds. We do have a 2 row planter now and I could try to plant sorghum or something.
Erosion is causing significant damage. I have witnessed multiple inches of erosion after a single rain event (evident by a small rock stacked on a column of clay).
Potential solution for comments: there are pine trees surrounding the area and some pine trees growing in this type of soil. Near some of the larger seeds are 1’ pine seedlings. My thought is to dig them up in “shovel slices” and transplant in this area. I was thinking 5x5’ spacing. I don’t know if I have enough seedlings to do the whole area, but I would start on the banks of our primary ditch where erosion is the worst. Has anyone ever transplanted native pine seedlings? Would it be better to just buy them?
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk