Joe Hogan

I was recently in a debate about ollas versus drip irrigation and the other side took the position that with higher salinity water drip irrigation works better as it flushes the salts. They said that ollas would distribute the water in all directions instead of just down and thus only add to the salinity of the soil.

I'm not sure about the flow rate of the system we were debating, but they only have their drip lines on for about 10 minutes at a time every other day for about a dozen small raised beds with soil made mostly from humanure, sand and silty clay. This sounds to me like it wouldn't be enough flow to actually flush salts and part of the salt problem could be from the humanure.

My stance is that ollas, being more efficient, would better aid fungi and other soil builders lock up the salts. I also suppose that there are a lot of variables like plant type, soil type, olla size, depth, fill level, ect.

Thoughts?

Aw man! Where have you guys been all my life?!

I've been beating around the bush on permiculture, learning a few things as I've experimented on reclaimed land here and there, and have a few different projects I'm working on in the city and out in that water forsaken and salt encrusted Imperial Valley. My "in town stuff" works well enough and has enough resource flow to make it bloom, but I am concerned about how I can help the team of folks we have out on "the farm" turn a polluted ass former military base into an oasis without irrigation and only like 3 inches of rainfall. I'm pouring over these forums, my books, the internets, the writings of our glorious leader, and what works for me in town, to try to figure it out in a way that allows for gun-shootin' anti-hippy anti-conspiracy-theory unsane folks to do the permiculture thing and have a lot of fun at it or not die trying. I'll do my best to post things that worked for us, what didn't, questions about how to get other concepts to work and questions about why certain things have caught fire or are covered in strippers and chocolate martinis.

Basically though, I applaud you folks for what its worth, and hope for a day when otherwise preventable disease kills more people than cancer. My name's Joe! You are a badass. Thanks in advance for your brain juice.