Any reason not to use excavated clay for planting?

[EricV]

When I dig my pond, I am likely going to have tons of clay and not much use for it (aside from building up the waterfall area). Rather than pay someone to haul away this clay and then buy a bunch of 25 lb bags of pure kitty litter to plant in, is there any reason I should not just recycle my own clay into my planting medium?

The ground here is basically 6"-12" of top soil on top of clay, from what I can tell.

 

[sissy]

Some clay can be acidic ,I found that out when I had a soil test done on my property .Have you checked putting an ad out for free dirt to any one who can pick it up .Advertise it as fill dirt .I got free dirt that way for my other property .People are always looking for free .

 

[HARO]

I'd probably check the ph by mixing some in water and doing a regular pond test. Then I would use it!
John

 

[EricV]

Well, at the moment it is still under my grass, but I will consider that. I guess I could let it sit in some water for a bit and test the water? (John responded as I was typing)

 

[HARO]

Take two containers of the same water, mix a liberal amount of clay soil into one of them, wait an hour and test BOTH samples. That should give you a good indication of what effects the clay will have on your water, if any!
John

 

[sissy]

You will need to check for contaminants in the soil .You never know any more what could have been buried or what could have leaked into the soil from years ago .I saw a builder that buried a leaking oil tank here and then built the house .

 

[EricV]

This was farm land about 15 years ago until the house was built.

 

[Meyer Jordan]

Clay is by far the best planting media for Water lilies and similar aquatic plants. It is also great planting media for deep rooted marginals. Shallow rooted aquatics prefer a more friable planting media, bur will grow well in clay.

 

[sissy]

Mine was farmland also but when we had the guy dig to put in my underground water storage tank he hit what he thought might have been an old farm dump sight ,all kinds of stuff was brought up .We had to back fill with sand any ways so it was not a big deal .

 

[adavisus]

Clay can compact so dense no roots will grow into it, all they can do is grow round it. This may give the impression they are growing well, initially.

If you push your finger hard into dense clay and its hard as a brick... that is a clue

 

[Mike in Vermont]

The water will soften the clay. All my lilies are grown in clay. They get huge pads and blossoms.

 

[peter hillman]

You could make some clay pots to plant your plants in.