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Shady area with dry clay soil

Posted on December 12, 2002

Question:
Hello,
My question involves improving the soil in the dry shade in the woods. I have an area in my yard that's about 1/3 of an acre of woods. It has mature oak, shagbark hickory, some wild cherry, but almost no understory and very little growing in the roots and dry shade below. To make things even better, the soil is nasty clay-the kind you could make flower pots from. In the past, I have put all the leaves and grass clippings in my yard into a compost pile. This year my neighbor and I have a HUGE pile of leaves that I am thinking about just spreading underneath the trees in this wooded area to help develop humus. I don't want to do anything to damage the roots or trees that are already growing there. One question I have though, is would it be safe to also mix compost starter in with the leaves to get them to rot down faster. The solution I bought says that it will get your compost pile up to 170o in just 24-48 hours. Since the leaves will be spread out more and not really in a pile, I don't think the temperature will become quite that hot, but is this likely to damage the roots of the trees that are already growing there? At some point I would like to be able to plant dogwood/ sassafras seedlings in this area to form an understory and provide food for the birds and wildlife, as well as plant some ferns and such. When I've tried hostas (that are huge in other parts of my yard), even they have not done well in this nasty soil. Any suggestions?

Thanks!
Bernie L.J. Moore

Answer:
Looks like you need to build up some humus and leaves are a great start. You would be better off grinding them up before spreading as they will decompose much faster and wont hold excess moisture as bad or get stagnant. A compost generator would be fine and would not harm any trees in the area. Grass clippings are also fine but best mixed in with the leaf mulch for a better breakdown process. Good luck, Chuck.

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