# Any benefit to flooding?



## Green (Dec 24, 2017)

Other than irrigation, is there any benefit to floods in the lawn after rain?


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## desirous (Dec 15, 2017)

Interesting question. The most fertile soils in the world are big river deltas, where repeated floods have deposited mineral nutrients. I doubt that applies to a one-off lawn flooding.


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## viva_oldtrafford (Apr 4, 2018)

Floods can have a flushing effect. So let's say you have a yard (soil) with a high salt content - while there are a lot of products that claim to alleviate salt in soil, nothing elimnates salt from a profile, other than "flushing" them with a better source of irrigation water (sometimes the issue behind hi ece)/ heavy rains. Caveat: sandier soils react better to flushes than clayey, higher cec soils - principle still the same, however.

Remember: saline = salt & sodium = sodic. Two entirely different issues.


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## Contigo2017 (Oct 30, 2018)

I had flood irrigation when I lived in Phoenix AZ. Once per month flooding (2x in summer) kept everything green and had Bermuda lawn. I had huge orange and lemon trees. It was very neat and different than most of Phoenix.


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## Green (Dec 24, 2017)

viva_oldtrafford said:


> Floods can have a flushing effect. So let's say you have a yard (soil) with a high salt content - while there are a lot of products that claim to alleviate salt in soil, nothing elimnates salt from a profile, other than "flushing" them with a better source of irrigation water (sometimes the issue behind hi ece)/ heavy rains. Caveat: sandier soils react better to flushes than clayey, higher cec soils - principle still the same, however.
> 
> Remember: saline = salt & sodium = sodic. Two entirely different issues.


Interesting you bring that up. My sodium level in the area tested much higher than normal this past Spring. I have no idea why. Could flooding last year have brought in more salt? Could a few floods since then have gotten rid of it? It's a mystery.

We got over 4 inches of rain one day recently, and it really flooded.


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## Delmarva Keith (May 12, 2018)

Green said:


> viva_oldtrafford said:
> 
> 
> > Floods can have a flushing effect. So let's say you have a yard (soil) with a high salt content - while there are a lot of products that claim to alleviate salt in soil, nothing elimnates salt from a profile, other than "flushing" them with a better source of irrigation water (sometimes the issue behind hi ece)/ heavy rains. Caveat: sandier soils react better to flushes than clayey, higher cec soils - principle still the same, however.
> ...


Could be poor drainage raising the sodium levels. If the water more evaporates over time than percolates down into the ground water, you can get alkaline and sodium salts building up in the soil. Do you know the corresponding ph in that area? My bet is it's higher than the rest of the property.

Slow drainage is ok, but if it's so slow you get mostly evaporation rather than percolation, it can be a problem.


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