# Improving drainage



## EdenMd (7 mo ago)

Ok a bit off topic but it effects irrigation. The company that installed my irrigation system I don't believe had much regards for soil types that exist along each of the five zones. I find some zones on one end can still show dry and other points along the same run register wet. I think there are a variety of factors contributing one of which is soil type and other things like rain run off from my long downgrade driveway. I had a large area of my front and side yards have damage after heavy rain approximately 4 inches two years running. Fungal disease may have been a factor also but that would be supported by wet saturated soil. So I have areas that perk well and others that don't and hold water. So this also makes setting irrigation times difficult as the zones transverse through different soil types. So I was contemplating getting one of those lawn augers and drilling a series of holes 2" x 24" and filling them with pea gravel and covering with maybe 2 inches of topsoil mixed with vermiculite. I thought this might help improve drainage in those wet areas. Question is would this work and if so how many and how close would the holes need to be???


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## g-man (Jun 15, 2017)

EdenMd said:


> So I was contemplating getting one of those lawn augers and drilling a series of holes 2" x 24" and filling them with pea gravel and covering with maybe 2 inches of topsoil mixed with vermiculite. I thought this might help improve drainage in those wet areas. Question is would this work and if so how many and how close would the holes need to be???


No this will make it worst.






Do an irrigation audit. It is unlikely that you have different soil types in the same house.


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## EdenMd (7 mo ago)

I watched the video, allot to comprehend there! My property was developed 3 yrs ago but the whole subdivision about 10 yrs ago. I know from looking a satellite images that they moved an existing dirt road over about 100 ft to divide the 20 or so lots evenly at approximately 1 acre each. What I notice as I walk down the new paved road is that for 20 to 30 ft in the soil is very sandy. My lot and one other lot so far failed their perk test and were required to have mound septic systems. The developers were required also to construct a drainage ditch that starts behind my house which is 1/2 way into the subdivision and runs maybe 1000 ft before connecting into some other drainage network. I have areas that have hard clay that both my spike aerator and core aerator have difficulty penetrating and then sandy areas out by the road that seem to lack much organic matter. My neighbor across the road had irrigation done the same day as mine. He always comments his soil is so sandy everywhere on his lot and his soil had no perk issues. He can run irrigation every day for an hour a zone no problem while I would have difficulty running 20 minutes in a zoneand mine tests wet. So I'm confused. I know I have some low areas to contend with but also soil that doesn't perk well.


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