Clay heavy soil

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timbudtwo

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I have read on other threads that you don't really want to mix in too much store bought soil with your native soil when planting your rhizomes. However, I live in northern california and my soil is very clay heavy. I wouldn't think that the soil would have enough drainage for the hops. Would it be okay to mix the native soil with store garden soil and sand?

I'm going to try growing cascade hops.
 
I would think it's OK. I would dig a MUCH larger hole that what you need and mix in compost, and topsoil. Possibly even replace the clay with new topsoil in the hole. If you do add sand make sure it's coarse sand. I have been reading and they say fine sand has negative effects when trying to correct a heavy clay soil.
 
Heavy clay is probably the biggest problem we have to deal with. Many many problems that are compounded - especially when you get excessive rainfall. Amending the soil with organic matter is a great idea but when you look at the big picture you end up creating what is called the 'teacup effect'. Been there and done that. After about 25 years of trying to deal with this I've come to the conclusion that some years are better than others when it comes to harvest. I've done some serious amending with different materials but water will always seek the path of least resistance and usually end up in the teacup. During wet years this leads to water-logged roots that place the plant under stress putting it at an unfair disadvantage concerning it's ability to deal with disease and insect pest issues.

Most of my plants now grow with heavily amended subsoil and in somewhat of a raised bed situation. I don't know whether it works any better or not but at the end of the day it sure makes a chilly IPA taste a little better!
 
I live in Texas where there is very high clay content in the soil but it is also incredibly dry during the summer. From mid-June to September it usually rains maybe 3-4 days per month. I will definitely be waters every day.

Should I consider not trying to adjust for the clay so that the water stays available to the roots?
 
why not try a raised bed with a mixture of native soil, organic matter and course sand? just a thought.
 
I have heavy clay soil as well. What I've found that works best is to heavily mulch the beds each year. This isn't an immediate solution to your problem but will make a noticeable difference after a year with continued improvement after that. What happens is that worms and insects will migrate to the areas with the mulch and start working it into the soil. The result is a very healthy, deep, dark, friable soil after a couple of years.

EDIT: Forgot to mention, don't use wood or bark mulch but rather composted leaves for this. You can usually buy them by the truckload for relatively cheap.
 
why not try a raised bed with a mixture of native soil, organic matter and course sand? just a thought.

No room, swmbo doesn't want that, yadda yadda yadda.

I will be growing it along a fence. I know, not the highest yields, but that's not a big deal. I only brew one batch a month maybe. I will be removing a dwarf citrus tree that was epic fail and putting the hops there. So it will be going where there has been a plant for about 8 years. Hopefully that will have helped break up the soil.
 
the issue with trying to amend a heavy clay soil is that you have to do it over a large area and very deeply to avoid creating a differential layering effect (of a name that does not come to mind).

Otherwise, you effective create a earthen pot of clay with nice loose draining soil taht only serve to soak/bog the roots in a miniature watershed.

There was once a time when it was advised to layer rock in the bottom of a planting to aid in drainage but it has been proven now that it doesn;t work as it was expected too.

So, it is always a good idea to amend clay soils for planting. Just be cautious of how isolated said amendments are applied.
 
I have heavy clay soil as well. What I've found that works best is to heavily mulch the beds each year. This isn't an immediate solution to your problem but will make a noticeable difference after a year with continued improvement after that. What happens is that worms and insects will migrate to the areas with the mulch and start working it into the soil. The result is a very healthy, deep, dark, friable soil after a couple of years.

EDIT: Forgot to mention, don't use wood or bark mulch but rather composted leaves for this. You can usually buy them by the truckload for relatively cheap.

+1. Peat, Loam, Hummus, Grass clippings, Sand, Rock dust, Leaves, compost, Manure.

What do all these have in common? They are all organic and they are allrelatively quick to break down or improve the texture of the clay. The best practice for clay soil is to load it up with as much organic m,aterial as you possibly can.
 
How deep is your topsoil and how eep is it until you come to natural bedrock
(ie. youcant dig any deeper because the earth is solid)

That is a great question and I have no answer to it. I know I can dig down a least a foot. I would say 18-24" down you would hit bedrock. Might be less because im next to a fault line.
 
What I would do is....Get hold of a 80li plastic dustbin. Dig a hole 12 inches deeper than the bin. Put 6 inches of 20mm grit into the bottom of the hole and place the bin in the hole (the bin will stand 6 inches above the ground level, this will make watering easier). Into the bottom of the bin lay 6 inches of compressed newspaper. Fill the bin with a mix of 30% good quality topsoil, 30% of compost and 30% of well rotted horse manure. Plant your rhizomes into this and go and have a beer. Job done.
 
Here in TN - they dont call it big orange country for nothing. The entire state is made up of orange clay and its deep.

I can only tell you what I have done to ammend the clay.

First get a small excavator and trench out your planting area to 2 feet deep or more by 3 feet wide.

Second - mix in humus and manure(.5cf to 3cf of clay) with your clay you just trenched and fill the area back in half way.(put the sod back in the trench first.)

Third - Add a bit of lime and till

Fourth -remove tiller and fill to top

Fifth - Add a bit more lime and till it in

Note - Do Not Over Lime - this is very bad - soil becomes toxic
PH should be somewhere between 6.5 and 7

Now you are ready to plant.

For times when the plating area is heavily waterlogged - you can use a 3% to 5% mixture of H2O2 (Hydrogen Peroxide) to help with over watering issues as it will add oxygen to the soil and the plant.

Cheers
 
the issue with trying to amend a heavy clay soil is that you have to do it over a large area and very deeply to avoid creating a differential layering effect (of a name that does not come to mind).

\.

Soil stratification


You want to amend your clay soils. Use generous amounts of gypsum tilled as deeply as possible into the soil. Then sprinkle liberally on the surface every watering. The water will carry it into the soil profile. If you cannot find bagged gypsum locally recycled drywall will work it is primarily gypsum with paper added. just crumble it best u can.
 
There are various ways to work with your soil, all of the above are good. I would consider a raised garden.

Today I had the opportunity to pull up four year old hop plants. They were in soil with a heavy amount of clay. What I noticed is they had a large number of lateral runners, but no 'true' tap root going straight down. These hops were football size, maybe larger.

My point is, the soil on top of them was great, they had great sun light and were well watered. That they had less than 18" to grow in, that wasn't an issue.

Surround your hops in healthy soil, be a good gardener, don't worry about the depth. You'll be fine.
 
The tea cup effect is always a possibility in your situation. You should know what is under your soil, it is likely that once you get down 18" or so you hit pure clay, and the bed rock is 20+ feet down. Giving drainage to your cup would be a lot of work, so don't build down, build up. Don't go crazy with the soil that's there (maybe just one bag composted cow poo). Then build up. You don't need to make a box or anything, just a big heap of good soil. Plant the rhizome well above the natural grown height. The tap root is unlikely to be harmed by too much water. It's the shallow roots that need some oxygen.
It's way past my bed time so I apologize for not proof reading this very well.
 
My two cents = for clay soils, source some expanded shale. It's a little pricey but if you till a few inches of it and a few inches of compost into your clay, you'll have a nice workable soil that won't drown your roots or get baked into a solid slab by the sun. The shale won't break down over time so it's a one time cost.
 
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