Brian Guetzlaff

Right now I'm leaning toward the MC ones (I really like the welded construction aspect).  Question now is 12" vs 14"...

Coydon Wallham wrote:
Sounds like background for a new superhero, complete with suit of armor...

"Myco-Maiden!  Saving the world with her mega-mesh powers!"

...alternatively:  "Myco-Man!  He's a really fun guy!"

(sorry, had to take the easy one on that)

Hi all, I’m looking for recommendations on a broadfork (30” maybe?) for targeted aeration of parts of my lawn.  Well, for now, hoping to eventually get into in-ground beds.

So looking for something really sturdy, not too expensive, and preferably readily available in the US.

I don’t have the chops to build my own, so purchase is the way to go here.

Anyone got tips?  Thanks!

I absolutely love what you're going for with this thread!  It's been rattling around in the back of my mind for a while, but I didn't have the time or base knowledge to pursue it.  Will definitely be keeping eyes on this.

For the heat riser tube (or any of the forms), how much shrinkage do you expect between the original form shape and the final result after drying?  Also, as ambient moisture levels change, how do you expect the panels (or blocks, tubes, whatever) to respond?  I can see how they'd either swell/shrink as a whole due to the permeability, or just on the surface (in which case the air pockets could serve as an internal buffer, giving room for the dimension changes at the surface).

If the moisture does end up staying primarily at the surface, do you expect there to be any warping or bowing effects (imagining a flat panel here).

One last one for now:  Is it possible to form the final products such that typical wood joinery techniques can be used to lock them together (or strategically use wood pegs to lock them in place), hopefully avoiding gaps and/or shifts due to shrink/swell?  I'm not thinking these would be carved into shape, but rather pre-formed in the correct shape.

For the suggested plants, you'll probably want to just overplant as much as you can (and consider just mixing it all up and scattering heavily...at the very least you'll confuse predators).  I think someone suggested this above, but keep the seeds of the "winners"*, and repeat.  It's like a hyper-local landrace, and you can always add in fresh external seed periodically to keep mixing up the genetics (or new species).

You might not have a huge abundance at first, but keep it up and after a few years I'll bet you'll end up with the best-adapted plants to your soil, environment, and garden neighbors.

* Consider various categories of winners, and collect from all of them:

Fastest growing

Earliest to fruit

Longest fruiting season

Highest yield

Best tasting

Best seed production (seeds are the name of the game, after all)

Hi all, this is a spinoff of the Perched Aquifer thread over in Soils.

Nutshell version:  There's water trapped under tight-packed suburban houses (slab-on-grade) that is causing issues.  It's not at the surface, but a little ways down.  So I'm looking for a list of thirsty plants (ideally with high rates of evapotranspiration) as a solution to passively drain this.

Based on the discussion in the other thread, here are some things to consider:

Location is central Texas (zone 8b), humid subtropical.  Soil is clay on limestone, so alkaline (~8.5).

Typical annual temps range from lows in the 20's F in winter to low 100's F in summer.

Droughts seem to come around in 5-7 year cycles.

"Natives" are more likely to be accepted, but I'm for whatever works.

These will be planted near-ish structures, so roots need to be friendly in that regard.

Since the water isn't right at the surface, plants with taproots will likely work better.

All forms of plants are welcome (ground covers to trees), so long as they grow fast and pump water fast.

A few suggestions have been given in the other thread, and I'm hoping to learn more here.  Many thanks in advance for all your help!

Great ideas!  To answer a few questions I saw posed:

I live nearby, but am not in one of the affected homes, so this is more of a "want to help" situation.  That said, it wouldn't surprise me if this was happening more broadly as well (I live nearby, so this isn't purely selfless, I must admit).

All the houses in the neighborhood are slab-on-grade.

Snow is relatively rare around here.

Buda gets its water from several places.  Much is pumped from the ground, some is piped in from elsewhere.  Groundwater pollution is a consideration.

Salt cedar is interesting, I'll need to look into it.  As I read through these responses it got me thinking more about the kinds of root structures that would be helpful here.  It seems likely that plants that have the shallow aggressive roots can get very thirsty, but may be drinking from the wrong water source in this case (too near the surface).  Thirsty taprooty trees might be more fitting here.

Hadn't considered the Growies forum, but that's an excellent idea and I'll put something over there as well.

Going for a full-on food forest would be fantastic!  Since the most likely mass-planting areas are the drainage/retention areas, though (and city-owned), not sure I could swing that.  Maybe get it planted to some initial trees, and other useful goodies just, you know, happen to appear over time.  I imagine lots of folks go on walks around there.  ;)

In terms of who is to blame and who should pay, at this point I think it's too far past (over a decade) to establish blame, and frankly it doesn't really matter much.  The people will pay, either directly or through taxes (or reduction in property value).  My hope here is that whatever solution we come up with is long lasting (dare I say, PERMA-nent?) and cheap, hence my focus on well-chosen plants.

The suggestion to pump from this problematic layer into something usable like a public pool is definitely intriguing.  Looking at the maps, the only area downhill is drainage into Garlic Creek.  Nearby there does seem to be a new housing development going in (east of Whispering Hollow).  Not sure if a pool of any sort is planned there, but that's certainly something to consider.

Weeping willows might work.  Shrubs are definitely fair game as well!  I wish we could grow blueberries and other acid-loving plants here, but it's tricky (limestone = fairly alkaline soil... 8.5 in my yard last time I tested, it ain't pretty).  But still, I think there are likely lots of good options that would be able to handle alkaline clay soil.

Thanks for the ideas everyone!  Please keep them coming. :)

[EDIT] - Growies thread here:  https://permies.com/t/176819/THIRSTY-tappy-plants-alkaline-clay

Hi all, thanks for the feedback (and hi, Aaron, good to see other permies nearby).  I haven't read through the whole report, but from what I can tell there's the Edwards Aquifer down deep.  Above that is limestone, and then nearer the surface (< 10' from the surface) there's a sandwich where the "bread" is relatively impermeable clay and the filling is sand, gravel, cracked limestone, etc (stuff water flows through).  And it's that middle layer that's forming this near-surface aquifer and causing all the trouble.  As to the construction of the foundations, I can't really speak to that.  If I had to guess, it's a slab poured with a grid-like shape underneath and a bunch of pipes running through it.

Speaking of unintended effects, elsewhere in the report it was mentioned that the overall grading of the land changed since before construction, and that seems to have shifted the underground water flow.

I had a similar idea about that water retention area: prime real estate for some water loving trees.  It looks like there are more of those areas throughout the neighborhood as well, as well as nearby parks (uphill, even).

The idea of one or more shared wells is a good one.  It sounds like a larger set of pumps that flush the water into the normal stormwater runoff system is what the city was already leaning towards, so it'd be nice if the water could be put to better uses.  Surface uses might be okay, not sure if it would just feed back into the problematic system underground.

As mentioned, power outages can be problematic so ideally something passive would be best.  That said, the only time I can recall this part of Texas having significant power outages was last year's "snowpocalypse" (I prefer to call it the Midwinter Jicker).

Hi all, need some advice.  I heard that some folks living in my metroplex had their homes built on what ended up being a perched aquifer (going with the terminology from the experts quoted in the article).  Lots of finger-pointing*, but long story short, folks are getting foundation damage and sump pumps aren't quite cutting it.  For context, these are slab-on-grade, and we're dealing with clay and limestone (this is central Texas).

I emailed the city employee who's heading up the work an idea to use eucalypts to suck out the water (like the swamps around Rome in the '30s).  Her answer was along the lines of "that's interesting, here's a citizen committee you can join".  I'm thinking of attending to help however I can from a permie perspective, but would like to have more than one real idea to share.

So yeah, anyone got ideas?  Earthworks may or may not be an option (these are tight-packed houses with only 5 feet of offset from plot boundaries...not much space).  Here are the ideas the committee has been looking at so far:
1. Do nothing.
2. Route sump pump discharge directly into storm sewer.
3. Pursue installation of City-owned dewatering infrastructure.
4. Provide guidance to homeowners on sump pump improvement.

I'm no expert, but all those sound pretty bandaid-ish to me and I really think we can do better.  Ideas very welcome.  Many thanks!

[EDIT] - Here's a link to the study done on it:  https://www.ci.buda.tx.us/DocumentCenter/View/9459/Buda-WH-Seepage-Findings?bidId=

* Builder says their soil tests before building all checked out.  Homeowner's don't think that's good enough, and there's a legitimate worry that property value essentially drops to zero with this problem.  Foundation warranties expired years ago, and there's already been a lot of foundation repair (which still didn't fix the problem) from the builder throughout the neighborhood.  City has been experiencing some road damage due to this as well.

I've been able to find "dark rye" flour at the store, but it still doesn't get quite as dark in bread form as other rye breads seen online.  Meh...the taste is pretty darn good, and that lingers longer than the visual.  :)