How To Fix Drainage Issues in Your Yard

Prevent ponding and unwanted water puddles from forming in your yard. Knowing how to correct drainage problems in your yard will help you prevent structural property damages while improving the health of your grass, plants, shrubs, and trees.

fasttreeremovalatlanta.com gathered information about problems that lead to poor drainage in your yard and how to correct them before causing severe damages or killing plant life.

What Causes Poor Drainage?

Many factors can contribute to drainage issues. The first step in fixing a poor drainage problem is defining what is causing it. Common causes of poor drainage issues include:

Walkways/Pathways

The Problem – If a sidewalk or concrete path runs parallel to the front of your house (or in conflict with the yard’s slope), it could be trapping water, keeping it from running through the yard and into the gutter system, or storm drain.

The Fix – There are multiple ways to correct or reestablish water drainage without completely removing your concrete pathway. Consider the following:

• Install trenches that can absorb or direct water flow
• Remove problematic sections and replace them with gravel
• Install drainage pipes under the pathway

Tip: Contract a professional landscaper to evaluate your drainage problem and offer solutions based on their experience and knowledge.

Incorrect Slope/Pitch

The Problem – Water may pool in a yard because its soil is on a flat plane that doesn’t divert enough water away from the house.

The Fix – Issues with a yard’s slope or pitch can easily be corrected by raising or lowering the ground level with stones, gravel, or soil.

Note: If there are problems with erosion, they should be corrected before attempting to alter your yard’s slope.

Roofing System Downspouts

The Problem – Downspouts aid in water removal from your roofing system and water diversion as it reaches ground level. When downspouts are aimed in the wrong direction or are too short, water can accumulate in depressed or low spots.

The Fix – Your landscaper may identify this problem, but only your roofer should be contracted to extend the length of your downspouts, change their direction, or install shields and diverters.

Soil Erosion

The Problem – Runoff from your roofing system and downspouts can heavily contribute to soil erosion. This erosion can strip away large areas of topsoil, leading to heavy accumulations of water.

The Fix – Divert or channel runoff water to gutter or drain systems. You can also plant deep-rooting grass, plants, shrubs, and trees to anchor the topsoil in troublesome areas of the yard.

Note: When using vegetation to help alleviate water drainage issues, be careful to avoid standing water around plant life. Most plant species will develop root rot or become susceptible to a variety of diseases and insect infestations.

Compacted Soil

The Problem – Soil compaction may occur from repetitive foot traffic, vehicle movement, when heavy objects are placed or stored in one place, etc. This especially occurs in soil with higher clay content. When soil gets compacted, it contributes to other problems like erosion and pooling.

The Fix – The following can help restore your yard’s soil:

• Cease any and all equipment or supply storage
• Prevent foot or vehicular traffic in your yard
• Enrich your soil with organic material and earthworms
• Slow your watering schedule until compacted areas can absorb water properly
• Plant deep-rooting vegetation to break up the soil

Tip: Have your landscaper aerate your yard and reseed its grass.

Poor Feature Installation

The Problem – Features like fencing, decorative rocks, driveways, and patios, when poorly installed, can alter the natural flow of water or block it altogether.

The Fix – Some fixtures can be easily moved or modified to prevent water drainage interference. Those more permanent fixtures may require complete or partial removal to be correctly situated and reinstalled.

How To Solve Drainage Issues in Your Yard

After having identified your yard’s drainage issue and the likely cause. Consider the following options when other fixes fail to correct the drainage problem:

Install a River Bed – A dry river bed is a shallow ditch following the yard’s natural drainage path. Dry beds can be beautiful and functional helping direct and disperse excess water away from your yard. 

Install Dry Wells – Dry wells are large underground catch-basins that store and disperse runoff water deep underground. They are best used when your yard has a drainage problem area close to the house or downspouts.

Note: While there are DIY things you can do to address yard drainage issues, the severity of water pooling and complexity of the solution make it worth consulting a landscape design pro with extensive knowledge in land grading and water drainage.

Tip: A landscape architect or landscape designer can come up with creative solutions to turn your pooling/flooding problem into an attractive water feature that can end up being an integral part of your landscape design.

How To Correct Yard Drainage Issues

In this article, you discovered several ways water drainage can be interrupted, leaving your yard with pools that can damage plant life and cause severe structural damages.

Your ability to recognize water drainage issues in your yard will help you get them quickly solved by the right technician.

Ignoring water drainage problems can lead to your home’s structural damage, dying vegetation, and worsening soil erosion.

Sources:
extension.okstate.edu/fact-sheets/addressing-drainage-issues-in-the-urban-landscape.html
extension.illinois.edu/blogs/good-growing/2020-02-12-landscape-drainage-homeowners
extension.umn.edu/agricultural-drainage/drainage-issues-and-answers

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Fertilization Basics for Healthier Trees

Preventing trees from dying is easier when you understand their basic fertilization needs. When you blow or rake away fallen leaves, you are removing the tree’s natural food source. Read on to discover how to replace it.

Without periodic soil testing and fertilization, your tree’s health may decline. When this happens, insect infestation and disease may successfully attack and kill your tree.

fasttreeremovalatlanta.com collected information about fertilizer use, composition, and application, offering valuable insight into keeping your trees robust and healthy.

Why Do We Fertilize Trees?

Trees in landscapes and urban settings will require periodic fertilization to grow and remain healthy. In other settings, trees are able to fertilize themselves through the decay of fallen leaves and needles.

Rich soil composition is vital to a tree’s health as it requires the availability of the following 18 nutrients and minerals:

Hydrogen Carbon Oxygen Nitrogen Phosphorus Calcium Potassium Magnesium Sulfur

Copper Iron Manganese Molybdenum Zinc Boron Cobalt Nickel Chlorine

The trio of hydrogen, carbon, and oxygen are used for cell formation and the production of food within the tree. While carbon and oxygen are absorbed from the atmosphere, hydrogen is acquired from the water absorbed by the root system.

With the natural decay of organic material or the application of fertilizer, the remaining nutrients and minerals necessary can be acquired from the soil and absorbed by the tree’s roots.

One of the principle reasons for fertilizing trees is to keep them healthy. Healthy trees are highly capable of defending themselves from insect infestations and diseases.

When their health is compromised, the weather, insects, disease, and wildlife can contribute to their rapid decline and death.

When Should I Fertilize My Tree?

As a rule of thumb, fertilizing trees should be done in the fall (after the growing season) or in late winter (before the growing season begins).

Your tree may need fertilizer if:

• The leaves appear yellowish through the summer.
• The leaves gradually reduce in size each year.
• There is minimal growth, even with optimal conditions.
• Fall color change and leaf drop occur early.

While these are typical signals that a tree is lacking nutrients, they may also be a sign that insects or disease may be affecting the tree’s health. Read this article for 5 Must Know Tree and Shrub Disease Prevention Tips

Before fertilizing and hoping for the best, call a professional tree service or arborist to evaluate the situation.

What Fertilizer is Best for My Tree?

Annual soil tests can help you determine the correct fertilizer composition. These tests also help you determine the pH level of the soil.

For trees that thrive in acidic soil, the pH level should be 6.5 or less, for those in base soil, that level should be 7.5 or above. Soil considered neutral has a pH of 7.0 (6.5 – 7.5).

Soil pH levels are easily adjusted by the addition of phosphoric acid or sulfur to make them more acidic. The addition of limestone, organic mulch, or wood ash will reduce the soil’s acidity. Many brands of fertilizer contain one or a combination of the above to adjust the soil pH level.

More often than not, the missing or deficient element in the soil is nitrogen, and as such, the majority of fertilizers contain it.

You can determine the composition of fertilizers in a retail setting by using the 3 numbers listed on the packaging. Those numbers represent the percentage by weight of:

• Nitrogen (N)
• Available Phosphorous (P2O5)
• Soluble Potash (K2O)

So, if the packaging of a fertilizer reads 10 10 10, that means that it contains 10% N, 10% P2O5, 10% K2O, and 70% inert filler. If there is a 0 in one of the three positions, that means the corresponding element is absent from the product.

Use these numbers to buy the fertilizer that will replace the deficiency in your soil.

Methods of Tree Fertilization

There are many ways to introduce fertilizer to a tree. The following are some of those methods:

Surface Application – Granular forms of fertilizer are evenly spread on the ground around the tree.

Fertilizer Spikes – This method involves driving fertilizer spikes into the ground spaced out around the tree.

Foliar Fertilization – This method uses liquid fertilizer directly applied to the foliage of the tree.

Filling Holes – Similar to the use of spikes, holes 1in in diameter and approximately 18in deep are filled with fertilizer. The holes should be about 3ft apart beginning 6ft from the trunk and extending just beyond the reach of the canopy.

Fertilizer Injections – For this method, a hole is drilled into the trunk of a tree, liquid fertilizer is injected, and the hole is plugged. (There is still much research to be done on the long-term impacts of this method)

Annual Fertilization for Tree Health

Don’t allow your trees to starve to death! The soil composition of your yard may ultimately determine whether your tree grows and flourishes or withers and dies.

In this article, you discovered the importance of using fertilizer, its composition, and its proper application to promote tree health. You also uncovered the importance of the soil’s pH level and how fertilizer can help you adjust it.

Failing to provide essential nutrients to your trees can weaken them, leaving them vulnerable to insect infestation and disease. In short, neglecting to fertilize your trees when they need it can kill them.

Sources:
http://msue.anr.msu.edu/uploads/files/Fertilizer_application_methods_and_placement_Rebecca_Finneran.pdf
https://extension.tennessee.edu/publications/Documents/SP548.pdf
https://pss.uvm.edu/ppp/articles/treefeed.html

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Fast Tree Removal Services Atlanta

3379 Peachtree Road #555a, Atlanta, GA 30326
(404) 220-9965

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Tree Planting - Soil Considerations and Tree Care Tips

Your first priority when getting ready to plant new trees on your land should be ascertaining the quality of the soil. There are a lot of different factors to consider, such as the density of the soil, the nutrients that are currently present in the soil, and its ability to hold water well enough to facilitate new growth. Remember that you are not only looking for an environment where your plants can thrive, but also where beneficial microorganisms will be living.

Different Kinds of Soil

Across the planet, you'll find many different kinds of soil with many different qualities. The soil type will affect your gardening in a few ways, and will be the main deciding factor in how well your soil can keep its moisture and its density, as well as how nutritious it is. Here are two main kinds of soil that you may encounter:

Sand-rich Soil – Most of the time, this kind of soil is not very nutritious, but the particulates are not too dense and this allows for good air circulation. Unfortunately, this latter quality also causes it to dry out more quickly, so if you need the soil to hold a lot of water, this is not the ideal type.

Clay-rich Soil – This kind of soil is dense and tends to clump together, reducing air circulation and making it easier to hold moisture. It is also a fairly nutritious soil.

Ascertaining Conditions and Preparing the Soil

As soon as you know what kind of soil you have on your property, you can anticipate some of the problems you may face. A few problems you may encounter are:

Drainage Issues – If you live in a dry area or are experience drought, having a soil that holds moisture well can be a lifesaver. On the other hand, if you live in a relatively wet environment, soil like this could potentially drown a tree or cause fungal infections to run wild. Without proper access to air, the trees roots will be unable to “breathe.”

One easy fix is to simply mix in some sand to the soil, which will increase air circulation and fix the drainage problems. While you're making this mixture, it is probably a good idea to add some organic material for nutritional value.

Soil is too compact – Soil might be too compact for a few reasons. For one, just having a high amount of clay will make the soil stick together too much. Think about how clay bricks are made, and you're not too far off from what can happen to clay in nature. If lots of animals and humans trudge through the soil, compaction can also occur, and this can again suffocate the plant's roots. It can potential create a drainage issue as well, since the water will have a difficult time penetrating the ground.



In order to make the soil a bit more airy, add mulch or other similar matter to the soil. This will make the soil less dense and it will retain more air this way. You can also try to aerate the soil with a garden tool, or sifting through it by hand. Just avoid working with it while it's saturated with water.

Don't Prune Just Yet

Trees can suffer shock when they are transplanted, so don't give it too much to deal with at once by pruning. Leaves serve an important function and they are what creates food for the plant as well as what releases waste product into the air. Let the tree have as much energy as it can make before and during the transplant period and it will be less likely to die on you. Don't prune the tree until after it's accustomed to its new environment, and only prune dead leaves and branches. If you want your tree to have a certain look, then hire a professional—they should know how to make the tree more aesthetic pleasing without harming the tree or introducing pathogens.

Avoid Planting in Extreme Depths

You may feel that you have a deep relationship with your plants, but that doesn't mean you have to dig a deep hole for your tree to live in. In fact, in order for your tree to get the kind of aeration and water that it needs, keep things fairly superficial and place the tree in a shallow, but wide hole. The tree will initially be more concerned with spreading its roots horizontally, and it will take care of the depth on its own as it grows. Just as with human relationships, if you get too deep too fast, your tree might just suffocate, so plant it near the surface and let it do things at its own pace.

Do Some Mulching as a Finishing Touch

Mulching is a subtle art, but it should be done. Too much mulch, and you could cut the roots off from their air supply or cause an unhealthy build-up of water; but not enough mulch and weeds and other pests could take hold or the soil could dry out much too quickly. Again, the trick is to give the tree some space. Start the mulch at about a half-foot radius from the tree's trunk, and only use about three inches of mulch. Make sure to also check the mulch every once in awhile for any organisms that shouldn't be there, like fungus or mold.

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Fast Tree Removal Services Atlanta

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