Aerating Bamboo?

[markdoddridge]

So i have some Vivax behind a retaining wall, every few months or so the soil becomes really hard and water starts flowing off it insted of down into it. My usual response is to pile more soil on top, but now theres a huge mound and not much room for more.

Hows about Aerating it? has anyone ever done this? if it works well for grass im assuming it would work well for bamboo

[David]

Where do you live?

[markdoddridge]

Orange county, California

[stevelau1911]

Have you ever tried mixing in organic material like tree leaves, horse manure, or compost into your soil? Another thing that I see which seems to cause soil to harden off is the lack of water which often causes soil to clump together and become hard. If you have a mature grove you might not need to worry about it though however if you are dealing with a new plant, I find that loading up the base of the bamboo with grass clippings and putting roofing rubber over the surrounding area seems to keep the area moist, and more importantly raises the soil temperature, and maybe protects my worms from getting feasted on by birds which tend to enjoy hanging around my bamboo. There's tons of worms, bugs and a whole ecosystem under these tiles which has tons of rotting organic material mixed in.


If you need a quick fix, I think your local gardening store may have certain soils or nutrients that can be used to improve your soil conditions and you can probably come up with your own method, but this is what has worked best for me so far.

[GrowingHabit]

Like Steve said, some organic material stirred in should help. Agricultural (pelleted) gypsum is magic for hard, crust-forming soil, as well. Probably need a combination of these two.

[markdoddridge]

Thanks guys! its a little late to be messing with the soil though... I guess i could dig up the plant and just plant a new one with proper soil but this clumper is almost 4 years old and i dont want to have to start over

I cant pile any more soil on top of it, i figured that the same thing kinda happens with grass and if i drill some holes deep down the water could penetrate

[Alan_L]

Organic matter on top of the soil will eventually loosen the soil underneath too.