5.1

General Principles

5.1.4

5.1.4 Soil Types

While there are three main soil types - sand, loam, clay - the porosity of a soil can vary quite markedly in one plot of ground. The understanding of soil type and its characteristics is important when designing or installing a Leeaky Hose system, as it relies totally on the soil’s inherent water transfer characteristics. Water travels more slowly, but further, in fine soils like clay. It travels faster in sand, but only half as far.

In recently cultivated, or heavily mulched soils, there may not be sufficient particle contact for water to travel laterally - no matter what the original soil type. This sometimes is the cause of ‘dry’ spots. A variation of soil type down a run of Leeaky Hose also could result in ‘wet’ spots where a patch of fine-grained soil is taking up water more slowly than the surrounding soil. Where found this patch should be isolated by a separate tap or feed line if possible. One solution would be to reduce the flow to adjacent ‘wet’ spots by installing an In-line tap between the two sections, and to reduce the flow rate to the coarser soil.