"Wet Feet"

[davehiggo]

The Red Oak tree I had planted this spring has a PVC pipe buried along wall of the root ball to check the water level. With all the rain we've had recently, there's quite a bit of water in there. Should I buy a plumber's pump and remove the water? I'm not sure if that will help the surrounding soil or not (the ground surrounding the ball is heavy black clay).

Thanks,
Dave Hicinbothem
The Colony

[The Ent]

If there's a lower spot, youcan always make yourself a little drainage channel.

One method I've seen work is to dig the channel, lay in one of those septic pipes with the holes in it, cover that in gravel, then mulch over it. Once that's done, the grass will eventually grow into the mulch, but the pipe will allow water to drain from the high to the low, and the gravel should keep the pipe from getting choked with soil.

There are other methods mentioned on the site. Just word search 'Drainage'

That being said, I have a red oak and while we've had lots of rain, I'd not worry about it overmuch. if you're following the organic program, the soil is better equipped to deal with excess, and if you're following the program, then you're not over-watering in the non-raining periods.