Another “drainage solution” that makes problems worse

Lack of surface drainage suggests problems below ground

I received an email this week from an arborist colleague who had been sent an “engineering solution” which claims to help with rooting issues in clayey soils or areas where root area is reduced. There was a spiffy diagram accompanying this which I’ve reproduced below.

I could dissect this for you and point out all the problems right now, but instead I’d rather supply you with some factual information and let you apply it to this “engineering solution.”

  1. Planting hole material that is not the same as the surrounding soil will have reduced water, air, and root movement due to the abrupt changes in texture. The hatched material in the pit appears to be different from the surrounding soil, leading to the assumption we’ve got modified backfill. Here’s a peer-reviewed journal article that discusses the fallacy of soil amendment.
  2. “Augured sump drain/root channel bores” are simply modified French drains. French drains serve to move free water (i.e., water that is not in soil pores) somewhere. Where “somewhere” is in this case is unclear.
  3. French drains and other drainage systems do NOT reduce the amount of water that soil holds. Field capacity is the term used to describe a saturated soil. A sandy soil has a low field capacity and drains quickly. The higher the clay content of a soil, the higher the field capacity and the slower the drainage.
  4. “Drainage material” placed beneath the root zone will slow water movement and create a perched water table above the “drainage material.”
  5. Drains as well as soils that are full of standing water have no oxygen. Roots will not grow where oxygen is unavailable.
Stop. Just…stop.

I don’t think I need to belabor these points any further. The bottom line is that you are going to create textural discontinuity problems in the planting pit if you follow these guidelines.  

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Linda Chalker-Scott

Dr. Linda Chalker-Scott has a Ph.D. in Horticulture from Oregon State University and is an ISA certified arborist and an ASCA consulting arborist. She is WSU’s Extension Urban Horticulturist and a Professor in the Department of Horticulture, and holds two affiliate associate professor positions at University of Washington. She conducts research in applied plant and soil sciences, publishing the results in scientific articles and university Extension fact sheets. Linda also is the award-winning author of five books: the horticultural myth-busting The Informed Gardener (2008) and The Informed Gardener Blooms Again (2010) from the University of Washington Press and Sustainable Landscapes and Gardens: Good Science – Practical Application (2009) from GFG Publishing, Inc., and How Plants Work: The Science Behind the Amazing Things Plants Do from Timber Press (2015). Her latest effort is an update of Art Kruckeberg’s Gardening with Native Plants of the Pacific Northwest from UW Press (2019). In 2018 Linda was featured in a video series – The Science of Gardening – produced by The Great Courses. She also is one of the Garden Professors – a group of academic colleagues who educate and entertain through their blog and Facebook pages. Linda’s contribution to gardeners was recognized in 2017 by the Association for Garden Communicators as the first recipient of their Cynthia Westcott Scientific Writing Award. "The Garden Professors" Facebook page - www.facebook.com/TheGardenProfessors "The Garden Professors" Facebook group - www.facebook.com/groups/GardenProfessors Books: http://www.sustainablelandscapesandgardens.com

3 thoughts on “Another “drainage solution” that makes problems worse”

  1. some tree nursery’s grow plants this way in giant pots. They have a horizontal drainage line that draws the water away to keep the ground from collecting water

  2. This has me wondering – is a rain garden (in which soil is removed and replaced with a mixture of sand + mulch + native soil) essentially a perched water table? If not, how does it differ? I ask because I’ve just dug a rain garden and am wondering whether I have wasted a whole lot of time, money, and effort.

    1. Yes. And why did you remove the soil?
      Rain gardens are normally planted with native or non-invasive species that can be happy in the soggy conditions.

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