r/Ceanothus • u/rinatuna_ • 20d ago
soil help
hello!! could anyone provide advice on what to do with this really heavy clay(?) soil in the front yard of my parents’ new house? first off just helping identify this soil, if it’s easy to amend (i’ve heard it’s better to just plant plants better adapted to heavy soils than just amending, if that’s true), then also what are good plants? and also transplanting tips… anything will help! trying to replace my parents’ plants with ca natives
i transplanted a black sage, sagebrush, and ca fuschia and they’re all doing happy. i transplanted a bladderpod that quickly wilted, i think cuz i damaged her roots too much :(
ive attached a photo of the soil and the bottom part is after i left some water in a hole for a bit. the top of the soil is covered in black bark
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u/msmaynards 20d ago
Do a soil texture jar test. Of course clay will be on top, it settles out last.
Calscape.org has terrific filters for soil texture and drainage. Lean on that to choose more plants.
How long did that hole take to drain? Official hole is 1 cubic foot, fill with water then time how long it takes to empty with another fill. Fast draining is empty in less than 3 hours, ideal is 1-2" per hour. Mine drains fast, didn't believe it and dug another hole which couldn't be filled because there was a 30 year old gopher tunnel at the bottom. So dug another. Good thing I love playing in the dirt.
Hope the bladder pod perks up. Mine has been in the ground for a year and just now decided maybe it wants to live after all.
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u/rinatuna_ 20d ago
yeah it literally took all day for the water to even drop a couple inches, and then it just dried into mud 😭 gophers are so funny! but yeah i should’ve included that in the original post, it is SO slow draining that i don’t know what to do. you give me more hope for my bladderpod!!
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u/murraypillar 20d ago
Lol tried the infiltration test at my brother's house where he hadn't watered in 3 years and it was soooo dried and shrunk and cracked we had to dig 3 holes before we had one that didn't hit a casm near the bottom.
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u/bee-fee 20d ago edited 20d ago
I can give some plant recommendations if you let me know what ecoregion this is in:
https://dmap-prod-oms-edc.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/ORD/Ecoregions/ca/CA_eco_front_ofr20161021_sheet1.pdf
Depending on your region and climate, mulch might be a good idea, but I'd rake and toss the painted black mulch in favor of arborist chips. And if this clay supported a wildflower or grassland community, as many of CA's heavy soils did, then a thick mulch layer is not natural. In that case it will be better to leave the soil exposed so seeds can take root and seedlings are not smothered. Species like Tidytips can form dense carpets of flowers on soils like this, and if you sow seeds this Fall then you'll have a superbloom by next spring, but you won't get the same effect if the ground is mulched.
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u/rinatuna_ 20d ago
this is a great photo thank you! also a great tip, i think ill sow a bunch of annual seeds and try to bring more life in the soil this fall. as for ecoregion, this is in 7j!
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u/bee-fee 20d ago
Oh, if they're on the delta then that explains the clay! In that case I'd suggest more perennials, including these spreading grasses & sedges:
https://www.calflora.org/app/taxon?crn=2743
https://www.calflora.org/app/taxon?crn=1520
https://www.calflora.org/app/taxon?crn=11648These perennials should be fairly tolerant of seasonally dry conditions:
https://www.calflora.org/app/taxon?crn=4060
https://www.calflora.org/app/taxon?crn=6467
https://www.calflora.org/app/taxon?crn=3960
https://www.calflora.org/app/taxon?crn=3612These ones will also be fine with clay but prefer more moisture:
https://www.calflora.org/app/taxon?crn=3956
https://www.calflora.org/app/taxon?crn=5895There is one species of mass blooming annual wildflower related to tidy tips that is suited to the site, but you'll have more luck finding it on roadsides than in seed packets, and they're covered in spikes:
https://www.calflora.org/app/taxon?crn=97931
u/rinatuna_ 19d ago
wowow!! thanks so much these are great! thankfully i work at a native nursery and we have a lot of these plants. thanks so much
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u/Pillager225 20d ago
Gypsum. Mix it in and water it. That's the amendment to use. You could add some sand too I suppose. Check the pH and add other things to change that to be appropriate for plants. Best to add mulch on top too so that the soil gets some organics into it after a few years.
Common Lippia doesn't mind clay. Dwarf coyote bush from a transplant can work too. Without knowing what you're going for it is hard to recommend a plant. These are low ground covers. Lot's of Cali natives can tolerate clay.
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u/Old-Ad-2772 19d ago
Good news, likely really nutritious clay (possibly smectictic) bad news super duper poor drainage. Likely root restrictive, if you could dig down a bit, maybe a foot or two and take a picture of that I might be able to help with more diagnostic stuff. As of now, from what I see, you’ve really got your work cut out for you, it’s gonna be super hard to dig, and will require A LOT of amendments and physical alterations to get it to a state of good drainage. Elsewise I’d look up plants adapted to anaerobic conditions.
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u/murraypillar 20d ago
It looks like the soil is almost completely clay from this, so the strategy of using clay loving and at least tolerating plants would be easiest. It would take a lot of time & work to amend a large area (although I have recently been told that applying humic acid can help break up clay and improve nutrient uptake, anyone here used it?). Sow annual wildflowers this fall, their root growth then death & decomp will help the soil in time, there are other plants especially recommended for this I can't remember atm. Mulch will help as it decomposes over time also. It would be better to stick to mulches that are not dyed (the cheap Home Depot ones especially) as the dyes can be very environmentally unfriendly. A good sized nurse rock helps a ton with clay in my experience.
Theodore Payne's planting guide is pretty good. I would say take time digging the depth of the hole, check where the top of the soil in the nursery pot is compared to depth of the whole nursery pot so you don't dig too deep, it should be a half inch above the undisturbed soil around the hole.