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I have an area on the hill I want to protect against water eroding the soil. I will be putting large rocks there, but I also wanted to put some plants to reinforce soil with plant roots. I have a lot of cedars on my property and was thinking about transplanting some to areas I need to reinforce.

Will this work? What is the largest size tree I should be transplanting? How big hole and a ball I need to make? Any other tips?

kevinskio
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pavel_karoukin
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1 Answers1

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I believe transplanting enough Cedar's would help make the ground more stable but I do not believe it would help with water erosion of the soil. You could add a lot of material to the soil (expensive) or you could just plant grass.

I would suggest a tall fescue grass. It's cheap and super effective at preventing soil erosion.

Rob
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  • The grass is on the list of things to do, but the area is quite large, hence we go with seeding and seeding takes time to really build up. But even with grass, I thought adding some larger plans would improve the situation a bit. – pavel_karoukin Mar 06 '19 at 23:10
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    Like I said adding the tree's probobly won't help with soil erosion. Tree's will help with soil stability and oxygenation. While tree's do soak up water, Cedar's in particular, don't drink much and while their root systems are extensive they are also deep. What you need, to prevent surface erosion, is an extensive root system that lies close to the surface. I think you might be surprised at how quickly the grass will take to root if your persistent this spring when seeding. – Rob Mar 07 '19 at 16:03
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    Gotcha. I guess I mixed both together - surface erosion and soil stability. I am sure I need to cover both, as soil there was added, so it is not compacted in any way, and there are no natural stones in there. And I certainly will start seeding as soon as we put topsoil. Thanks! – pavel_karoukin Mar 07 '19 at 20:33
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    Well they are most certainly related but indirectly. If you have a lot of loose top soil (multiple feet) and you are worried about large landslides then yes tree's can be used to address the problem; however, it is not the best solution. Now, if you have loose top soil (multiple inches), which is what I am assuming you are dealing with, then you can address it with grass which is common practice. Be sure to hit that check mark if my answer is acceptable, good luck! – Rob Mar 07 '19 at 21:17