Plot options for wet ground
Contributors to this thread:Whitetail Deer
From: Michael Schwister
25-Aug-16
A buddy bought some land in WV and the only clear/flat/rock free area is always wet, almost marsh like. He said he heard of a wild strawberry bush that would thrive in that soil and be a whitetail food source. Does anyone have experience/knowledge with an option for him to put a plot in this spot?
From: Swampbuck
25-Aug-16
Maybe cranberries.
From: r-man
25-Aug-16
get a backhoe and cut ditches 3ft deep where you can, then plant what you want, if not your looking at rice patties
From: drycreek
25-Aug-16
r-man's solution may work, but you have to have a place to run your water to. I've drained construction projects with ditches before and some places it works better than others. Depends on what conditions are on YOUR spot. You can get as complicated as you want, or just dig the ditches, but the water must drain out pretty good or you just have a bog with ditches in it.
From: t-roy
26-Aug-16
Pat's drainage solution will work great. Beings that you put drainage rock in the trench & covered the tile with it as well, I am assuming you used perforated drainage tile, Pat. If that's the case, you more than likely will have issues with tree roots plugging your tile down the road. The farmers here in Iowa put hundreds of miles of tile in the fields here & the perforated tile works great in the fields, except near the timbered edges. They will put in non-perforated tile for a good ways out from the timbered field edges to alleviate that issue.
Something you could do different is put in non-perforated tile & put in 1 or more intakes in the lowest areas to drain the water into the tile. The farmers will also put intakes in most of the low spots in their fields to help drain the water quicker than just relying on the perforations in the tile to drain it. Perforated tile will drain the area better, but eventually, you will more than likely have drainage issues due to the tree roots. I have a tile with just such a problem that is going to get dug up & fixed in the next few weeks hopefully!
From: nutritionist
27-Aug-16
Berseem clover alsike clover festuolium peas triticale- tolerates wet and heavy soil better than oats, wheat or rye. Medics- but good luck finding enough supply