ilguimat wrote:
This is indeed the question I ask myself. This is why I think I am moving towards a mixed method of green manure / hay. In fact, the ideal scheme would be to be able to absorb and store, in one way or another, the excess water during the wet period, in order to be able to restore it during the dry period. I am certain that certain farmers or market gardeners, at the helm of a heavy clay or hydromorphic soil, were able to find the martingale and make an initial defect a major asset in water management in particular.
I saw it mentioned in a youtube video, unfortunately no details on the method used.
There is no martingale. And it doesn't happen like that (store excess water)!
At the end of winter, normally, if it is hydromorphic, your soil is "too full" of water. No need to want to store more.
The macro-porosities are already filled with water, while air is needed.
Your soil retention capacity is very full. Stoker more would be engorged.
However, the soil, its organisms, plants, their roots need the air contained in macro-porosity !!!
It is therefore necessary to drain the excess water. See above, the ridges.
Your clay soil naturally has a phenomenal "RU" (useful reserve). This is one of the properties of clays! Has a capacity to "usefully" store 2 mm of rain per cm of soil. By "useful", we only count what is stored after wiping (so without excess water) and until the point of wilting (when the plants can no longer draw water, too strongly retained, well. there are some left!)
If it had to be increased, it would be via organic matter and humic substances. They are "sponges". But in addition to the fact that they increase the UK, they "lighten" the soil by structuring it and they facilitate the drainage of surpluses! This is the only "reasonable" way. So contributions of organic matter on the surface. And more particularly BRF, capable of giving a lot of humic substances.
What you need is to give plants the ability to extract this water. So promote the activity of fungi and mycorrhizae, which will multiply by a factor of 100 the plants' ability to explore the soil! And we went back to the BRF, woody substances ... So mushrooms ...
Your soil really needs an incredible amount of organic matter! The rest is the wrong diagnosis.