How Do You Improve Soil Drainage? One common way to improve soil drainage is by mixing organic matter like manure or compost into your soil. Other recommendations for better soil drainage include soil cultivation (digging the beds) and installing a dedicated drainage system.
Dig a trench from the wet area to the desired drainage area. An 18-inch-deep trench will usually work for most landscape drainage situations. The trench should have enough of a slope to move the water to the drainage area.
One way of doing this is slowly tilt the pot to its side and then gently tap the container, the soil ball should now be loose within the container. Carefully re-stand the pot up when completed there should be small air pockets between the pot wall and around the soil ball.
There is no truly quick fix to wet, soggy soil. To help speed the process, break up and turn the soil to expose more of the water to the air. Mix in some dry compost or other organic material.
Apply a liquid fertiliser such as PowerFeed All Purpose including Natives as this will help to feed both the plants and the soil. Being a liquid it goes to work immediately to promote strong healthy growth. It also helps to improve the soil structure, improving nutrient uptake by plants.
However, rest assured that there are tried-and-tested methods of fixing a plant that has been overwatered and getting it back to a healthy and thriving state again. The measures can be as simple as stopping watering until the soil dries out, to moving the plant or repotting it into a new soil mix.
To re-wet, repeatedly sprinkle the surface lightly, making sure there is no run off. Covering the surface with a mulch such as straw, leaves, wood chips, or compost will also help. Eventually the soil will become moist enough to break up. A gentle, steady rain will also do the trick.
How to check for root rot. The main signs to look out for are: yellowing, wilting leaves, wet soil that isn't drying, black, wet roots, quickly declining health, and stunted growth.
Use soil wetting products and organic matter
These products, available in granular, liquid concentrate or hose-on form, can dramatically improve water penetration. “Soil wetting agents help by penetrating through the waxy layer, enabling water to be absorbed throughout the soil,” she explains.
Adding lots of organic matter such as compost, farm manure, or shredded leaves to clayey soil will allow it to drain more easily and hold the right amounts of water and air for better plant growth and increased biological activity.
Dig a hole 1 foot deep by 1 foot wide. Fill the hole with water and record how long it takes for the water to completely drain. The ideal time is between 10 and 30 minutes. If it drains in less than 10 minutes, the soil is drought-prone and most suitable for plants that need dry or well-drained soil.
Use Absorbent Materials: Apply materials like sand or gypsum to help absorb excess moisture and improve soil drainage.
If your ground is waterlogged, it'll have a natural tendency to compact. In the short term, do your best to help water to drain away by using the tines of your garden fork to puncture the soil surface. For more long term problem areas, try to avoid making a bad situation worse.
Roots growing in waterlogged soil may die because they cannot absorb the oxygen needed to function normally. The longer the air is cut off, the greater the root damage. The dying roots decay and cannot supply the plants with nutrients and water. Damage caused by overwatering is frequently misdiagnosed as pest damage.
Plants and trees play an important role helping to intercept rain before it hits the ground. Large leafy plants, shrubs and trees scattered throughout your garden will absorb groundwater through their roots and catch some water on their leaves.
It may be a case that your soil has become hydrophobic or water repellent. This means that the soil or potting mix is unable to absorb any moisture and therefore, plants are not getting the water or nutrients they need. Hydrophobic or water repellent soil can also lead to water pooling and beading on the surface.
No matter what your soil is composed of, putting sand on top can actually cause drainage problems and dry pockets in the soil. And there's more.
You can treat the soil with quicklime or hydrated lime to dry it out quickly. Put on some gardening gloves to keep your hands protected and spread 2 inches (5.1 cm) of lime over the surface of the soil. Let the lime sit for about an hour to allow it to evaporate the excess water in the soil.
Overwatered plants can sometimes recover on their own, but it depends on the plant and the extent of the overwatering. If the roots have rotted, the plant will likely not recover. However, if the overwatering has only caused the leaves to wilt, the plant may be able to bounce back.
When a plant is first becoming overwatered, leaves turn yellow. If soil doesn't have a chance to dry out before you water again, leaves start to wilt. When overwatering is the problem, wilted leaves are soft and limp. (If too little water is the issue, wilted leaves are dry and crispy.)
You can usually apply most non-liquid granular fertilizers to wet grass, but not saturated ground. If there are ponds or heavy rain, it's best to wait until the ground processes the water before applying any type of fertilizer. If there's light rain, it's okay to spread dry granular fertilizer.
Organic amendments like compost, manure, and peat moss have high water-holding capacity, acting as sponges that absorb and slowly release moisture to plant roots.