Best way to "Fluff-up"

[stoopeechee]

What's the best way to lighten up clay soil?

[Ruth_10]

Add as much organic matter as you can get your hands on. Leaves, compost, manures (okay, keep your hands out of it), etc. It will take some time to build up the organic matter if you have lots and lots of clay.

Some people suggest adding sand, but hitting the right combination can be tricky and it's hard to reverse if you get it wrong.

[Suze]

Long-term - regular and copious additions of organic matter are your best bet. Shredded leaves, good quality compost - which you make yourself or have delivered from a reputable source, manures, growing "green manure" crops in the area then turning it in, and so on.

Med to short-term if you need to prepare an area for this crop - raised beds, lasagna gardening, lots of shredded leaves piled up in rows/mounds as informal raised beds in your growing area, etc.

Organic matter can also be tilled in if necessary, but short-term, a lot is going to be required to significantly lighten up a heavy clay area.

I am not particularly dogmatic about till vs. no-till either way, other than to say that if your clay is really heavy and you have a fair amount of some good organic inputs to work in, it can definitely help you get started with your soil building the first year or two.

Gypsum can sometimes help, but this is dependent on the kind of clay you have, and the pH.

Another thing I will add is if anyone tells you to add sand, my suggestion is that you ignore that advice and add lots of organic matter instead. Now, sand can sometimes help, but it takes a LOT, and depending on the type of clay you have, you might just very well end up with a mix of sand and (still heavy) clay.

[stoopeechee]

Thanks suze!, I'll check the ph then figure it from there. Someone told me lime might help to?

[fortyonenorth]

Like Suze said, gypsum is often recommended to loosen clay soils. It contains about 23% available calcium and 18% sulfur, so if you already have adequate or high levels of these it might be inadvisable to add more.

I'd recommend getting a soil test to see the entire profile of your soil. Then you can make an educated decision about how to approach the issue. Find you nearest Cooperative Extension office or use a commercial lab - I use Logan Labs in Ohio.

Good luck!

[TZ-OH6]

I hacked a couple of garden plots out of yellow and blue clay subsoil and mixed in semicomposted wood chips (brown but still chunky)... about 6 inches of wood chips to 9-10 inches of clay. At the end of the first season the soil looked like coffee grounds, but with some clods still present. A rototiller would have smoothed it out better but I have only used a shovel to break it up but it is pretty good dirt now. The first year didn't grow fine rooted crops well, but tomateis did fine. I followed that with a cover crop of Winter rye. The roots help infiltrate and break the clay clods.

Some of the good topsoil around the house is fairly high clay and because of packing it needs to be loosened up each spring for planting. Digging in the previous years mulch [grass and or leaves] didn't seem to have long term effects on the soil texture.

[tuk50]

I had heavy clay in a new garden plot and it took me 3years to get it fluffy ... the town I lived in then gave away free Christmas tree mulch each winter and I put about 10 or 12 inches each year and turned it in by hand... I also was given a pickup load of pecan hulls the second year and that was good stuff.. any kind of nut hulls... I also bought a few bags of the small size bark mulch .. about an inch cover .... I really hated moving after 6years .. it was fabulous soil by then.

[sprtsguy76]

I have heavy adobe clay soil here too. Compost for the long term is good if you have plenty of it. Another cheaper way is pine or fir bark fines along with some compost or some sort of good manure. Little bit of lime and gypsum is good too.

Damon

[RickCorey]

I agree that the first necessity is adding lots of organic matter. I like to compost it first, but most people say that's not crucial.

I think that crushed rock, grit or very coarse sand sand (IN ADDITION TO lots of orgainc matter) can help with friability. Perhaps that is only true while working on getting ENOUGH compost to correct the clay. It helped me, probably because I haven't bought, made and added enough compost yet. ideally, i would like to add one part clay to 2 parts of compost, but instead I am more like three parts clay to one part compost.

But my "miracle ingredient" is pine bark mulch: fine or medium. Not the woody moldy junk they sell at Home Depot, but rather somewhat more expensive stuff from a decent nursery. I think it greatly aids drainage and aeration through having big chunks and fibers.

I know it will break down over a few years (slow-acting compost), but meanwhile it keeps my clay from reverting to soup or pudding.

And one of these years I'll budget for YARDS of compost and do the job right.

Corey

P.S. Raising that clay up away from the water table will help. Pile up a raised bed or cut a drainage trench from the low corner to some lower spot.

P.P.S. The first rule, even first-er than adding lots of organic matter is DON'T RE-COMPRESS THE CLAY. Don't walk on it ever. Don't work it at all if it is at all wet. Don't let it get too water-logged or its own weight will compress it. I think that heavy rain pounding on it copmpresses it (coarse mulch on top helps there.)

All this is my opinion, with some experience. I'm no soil scientist.

[Stepheninky]

leaf mulch and lots of ashes and char from the yard burn pile is what I used

[dice]

Winter cover crops help, too. I have used winter rye, bell beans
(related to fava bean), hairy vetch, let chickweed cover them
in winter, etc. The first few years I mowed the cover crops and
then turned them under a couple of weeks before planting.

I have been no-tilling them since, although this year cold winter
weather killed most of the winter cover crops off and minimized
spring growth, and we had a lot of spring rain to compress
the soil, so I covered the beds with grass clippings and turned
them under in mid-April again to counteract the compression
from the rain.

(I dig a hole for each plant and surround the seedling with
mowed cover crop top growth, grass clippings, compost,
horse, rabbit, or llama manure, or whatever whether I turn
the soil over before planting or not.)

[Tom C zone 4/5]

I'm going to echo, lots and lots (and lots) of organic material yearly. For three to five years working into clay.

Interesting and I think beneficial additions that were also mentioned of bark mulch, and (not briquette) charcoal. I beleive my clay soil benefits from smaller additions of these two, too.

[dice]

Winter rye puts on a lot of top growth and can be hard to turn
into the soil. I simply cut it, rake the top growth off to the side,
turn the stubble under if the soil still needs it, and then spread
the top growth back out on the soil. Softer cover crops are more
easily turned into the soil, top growth and all, but only a few of
them survive cold winters and put on more growth in the spring.
(Winter rye and hairy vetch are best bets for cold winters.
Everything else is experimental for me.)

I always try to get a fresh layer of organic matter on top each
year, even if I am not turning or tilling the soil. It can be cover
crop top growth, a few inches of composted manure, grass
clippings, compost, decaying leaves, straw, or alfalfa (covered
with a thin layer of dirt to inoculate the decay process, to let the
sun warm up the soil, and to keep it from completely drying out
as soon as the sunny weather arrives.)

If you have hot summers and put on a thick organic mulch to
slow evaporation, that can serve the same purpose.