Search...
Home Subscribe
Pie
Home Subscribe
Recent topics Flagged topics Hot topics Best topics
Search...
Search within organic Search permies
Advance search Google search
Register / Login
permaculture bootcamp sketch of boots Shovel black and white Oehler complete underground house and green house set Building a Better World Book with earth bricks Master Gardener Program
  • Post Reply Bookmark Topic Watch Topic
  • New Topic
permaculture forums growies critters building homesteading energy monies kitchen purity ungarbage community wilderness fiber arts art permaculture artisans regional education skip experiences global resources cider press projects digital market permies.com pie forums private forums all forums
GMC website Full online Permaculture Design course and Appropriate Technology Course video Rocket Mass Heaters permaculture bootcamp sketch of boots WDG garden IC.org comm directory
this forum made possible by our volunteer staff, including ...
master stewards:
  • r ranson
  • Carla Burke
  • Nancy Reading
  • John F Dean
  • Jay Angler
  • paul wheaton
stewards:
  • Pearl Sutton
  • Burra Maluca
  • Joseph Lofthouse
master gardeners:
  • Timothy Norton
  • Christopher Weeks
gardeners:
  • Jeremy VanGelder
  • Maieshe Ljin
  • Nina Surya

the problem with adding soil on top of dirt

 
paul wheaton
author and steward
Posts: 54070
Location: missoula, montana (zone 4)
∞
I like...
hugelkultur trees chicken wofati bee woodworking
posted 12 years ago
  • Likes 3
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
    Send
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator


 
Aaron Wallace
Posts: 16
Location: Wilmington, Delaware, Eastern Piedmont, USDA 7a
posted 12 years ago
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
    Send
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
Whoa. How deep is that before we get to subsoil; 12"?
 
Craig Dobbson
steward
Posts: 2719
Location: Maine (zone 5)
593
2
I like...
hugelkultur goat dog forest garden trees rabbit chicken food preservation
posted 12 years ago
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
    Send
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
Any idea about the back story on this one? It's funny as hell (unless you're the homeowner)

"You may never know what results come of your action, but if you do nothing there will be no result”
How Permies.com Works
Be Nice

 
Joe Gag
Posts: 70
1
posted 12 years ago
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
    Send
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
Stand it back up water and your good to go in till the next wind or kid trys to climb the wrong side.
 
Brenda Groth
pollinator
Posts: 4437
Location: North Central Michigan
43
posted 12 years ago
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
    Send
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
it is amazing it lived to be that large, unless maybe it was transplanted as a large tree with no root to speak of??

When my trees topple it is usually about 1/2 way down that they break from wind or snow, but I seldom have any uproot..guess that is a good sign

Brenda

Bloom where you are planted.
http://restfultrailsfoodforestgarden.blogspot.com/

 
Tyler Ludens
pollinator
Posts: 11853
Location: Central Texas USA Latitude 30 Zone 8
1264
I like...
cat forest garden fish trees chicken fiber arts wood heat greening the desert
posted 12 years ago
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
    Send
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
In my youth we had several large oaks topple over like that during a tornado, because they had rooted above the limestone shelf that underlies a lot of the soil here.

Idle dreamer

 
wayne stephen
steward
Posts: 1748
Location: Western Kentucky-Climate Unpredictable Zone 6b
115
posted 12 years ago
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
    Send
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
Very good example of how sod can monopolize all nutrients and organic matter. I wonder if earthworm activity was detered chemically , thus producing excellent green growth with no soil development below.

For unlimited return on all your investments - Make your deposits at 'The Entangled Bank' !

 
Brenda Groth
pollinator
Posts: 4437
Location: North Central Michigan
43
posted 12 years ago
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
    Send
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
since first seeing this I'm seeing tons of old trees that were blown down in the storms (on the news) and it is amazing..some have a 16' uprooted area and the root area is barely a foot or two deep.

Every day there are more news photos of trees on houses and cars..and they are huge..but you are right, some have very little root

Brenda

Bloom where you are planted.
http://restfultrailsfoodforestgarden.blogspot.com/

 
Claire Skerry
Posts: 28
Location: Converse, Texas
posted 12 years ago
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
    Send
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
My guess from experience is that the landscapers didn't take the time to loosen up or improve the soil it was on so it remained as compacted as when the construction crew left it. A dozen feet pounding dirt all day for a year with machinery to boot can make for practically rock hard dirt below. Even if you do layer your good soil on top of that it's always good to come through with some sort of aeration device something... Poor tree. You can even see where it's root ball sat when they planted it.. Kind of a pity that such a large tree might be lost because someone couldn't take 20-30 minutes to work the existing earth.
 
Joe Gag
Posts: 70
1
posted 12 years ago
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
    Send
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
What did you ever do with the tree?
 
Matt Smith
Posts: 181
Location: Central Ohio, Zone 6A - High water table, heavy clay.
posted 12 years ago
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
    Send
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
My girlfriend and I both nearly just peed ourselves laughing at this. I hope this is something you found somewhere or photographed and not something you personally are having to deal with.

Also, I really want to photoshop someone sweeping the sidewalk under the "rug." Really badly.
 
Tom Kozak
Posts: 109
Location: Sudbury ON, Canada
3
posted 12 years ago
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
    Send
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
kinda looks like you could just "tip" the whole thing back into position! no one the wiser!
 
dj niels
Posts: 182
Location: CO; semi-arid: 10-12"; 6000 ft
8
posted 12 years ago
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
    Send
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
Wow, what a reminder. When we moved into our house 6 years ago, we followed the advice from several authors, and just ignored the base dirt, laid down cardboard, and built up layers of compost, hay, straw, manure, etc. When we had to move those beds two years ago to build our greenhouse, the ground under the beds still looked and felt like concrete. Three years of gardening and watering hadn't even started to penetrate the hard subsoil.

So yes, I now know that we have to loosen the ground, or dig out a sunken bed, before we can plant anything and expect it to grow.
 
Tommy Busch
Posts: 1
Location: Ellenton, Manatee County FL
posted 12 years ago
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
    Send
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
I wonder if the grass being cut constantly plays a role here?
 
R Scott
pollinator
Posts: 4065
Location: Kansas Zone 6a
296
posted 12 years ago
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
    Send
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator

Tommy Busch wrote:I wonder if the grass being cut constantly plays a role here?



Not so much as the constant irrigation and fertilizer. If you feed and coddle the plant, it is not going bother to build roots because it doesn't have to. The tree was just doing what it was incentivized to do.

"You must be the change you want to see in the world." "First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win." --Mahatma Gandhi
"Preach the Gospel always, and if necessary, use words." --Francis of Assisi.
"Family farms work when the whole family works the farm." -- Adam Klaus

 
Josef Theisen
Posts: 236
Location: SE Wisconsin, USA zone 5b
7
posted 12 years ago
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
    Send
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator

dj niels wrote:
So yes, I now know that we have to loosen the ground, or dig out a sunken bed, before we can plant anything and expect it to grow.



But you don't have to. There are plants, worms, insects, and fungus that will do that work for you if you let them.



Awesome pic Paul, thanks for cheering up a rather dismal Monday.

Joe's Garden Journal Blog
wholeviewfarm.blogspot.com

 
And now for something completely different ... OUCH! STOP THAT! HOLD THIS TINY AD!
Learn Permaculture through a little hard work
https://wheaton-labs.com/bootcamp
reply
reply
    Bookmark Topic Watch Topic
  • New Topic
Boost this thread!
Similar Threads
More...