Swales on flat, sandy ground?

Discussion in 'Put Your Questions to the Experts!' started by Viking, Oct 26, 2016.

  1. Viking

    Viking New Member

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    Hi, I am looking to develop a piece of land in Thailand into a food forest/orchard. The empty piece is part of a bigger plot of land, and wasn't planted because the farmer found that the land was quite sandy and therefore not good at retaining water. The land is essentially flat, and will have access to water as close to a river. For now I have just planted sunn hemp to increase the bio mass.

    My question is essentially if swales have any purpose on flat, sandy ground? Or, do I just leave the land flat given water in any case drains down fast?

    Any experience/insight you can share would be much appreciated!
     
  2. songbird

    songbird Senior Member

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    what is your water table like? instead of moving
    water from a river you may do better by pumping
    from a shallow well if your area has the groundwater.
    may save a lot of energy. pay attention to your
    amounts though because you want to keep your
    water use within the natural recharge rate.

    for large flat areas with very heavy rains some
    berms and swales can come in handy to keep
    flash floods from removing your topsoil and to
    give places to walk out of the water.

    i have no experience in tropcial/sandy/flatland
    though. here it is flatland, but clay, after a few
    days of rains we can get flash flooding so i have
    bermed an area hoping to protect the gardens
    out back. it hasn't been needed yet.

    as usual with any area with poor topsoil i always
    recommend people improve/amend to make it
    better if they can get the materials easily enough.
    for a sandy area i always bring in clay/loam and
    organic materials. for garden areas it makes it
    much easier to not have to water frequently and
    the plants do much better for the effort involved.
     

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