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Clover over septic field. Good? Bad? Ugly?
We have a large septic field visible from our living room and it's sort of an eyesore. I bush hog it every month or so but it still looks like a weed field so I'd like to fix it up. Obviously you can't plant trees over the septic field and I don't want to have to mow a lawn twice a week (not to mention soil compaction issues) but something needs to be planted there to dress it up a little.
I've been thinking of planting clover to draw some wildlife, but I know nothing about it. Would it be OK for a septic field? How deep are the roots? Are there any downsides? How much maintenance is required? Any chemicals required? Etc.
Thanks in advance for any info.
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Clover over septic field. Good? Bad? Ugly?
Chief, thanks, I'll look into zoysia. I don't much care if it goes brown in winter, but I don't want to mow it. I didn't know clover required mowing - yech.
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Clover over septic field. Good? Bad? Ugly?
Harvey, I don't have a finish mower! If I had a choice of mowing or letting the weeds grow I'd probably opt for the weeds 
I worry about soil compaction and leach field damage because our septic is only about 12-18" deep with plastic covers over the drain pipe. I forget the name of this type of drain field, but it seemed pretty fragile to me when they installed it. When dry I probably wouldn't worry about it as much but the normal condition here is wet and squishy.
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Clover over septic field. Good? Bad? Ugly?
Chief, does zoysia every stop growing? I don't care if it grows to 8" and stops but I don't want to mow it. Well, I guess I'd be willing to bush hog it once or twice a season but that's about it.
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Clover over septic field. Good? Bad? Ugly?
My dumb questions will expose me as one who is completely and totally horticulturally impaired. For some reason when it comes to plants and animals I suffer from CRS. I can remember anything about cars and trucks though
Anyway, a friend of my wifes came over early last year and brought a bag of wildflower mix with her. "It will be so pretty", she said. Well we spent an hour throwing handfuls of seed all around the septic field and waited all spring for the blooms. Then we waited through the summer, then the fall. Nothing but weeds, no flowers, nada. I suppose the birds ate all the seeds.
Peters, thanks for the tips on Centipee and Salal. I've never heard of them. We are only a few miles from Washington so maybe one of those will work.
If I went with Zoysia maybe I'd only have to mow the weeds until the Zoysia thickens up. That may not be too bad unless it takes a year to thicken up.
We have these ferns that grow like crazy in the septic field. I bush hogged to 4-5 inches two weeks ago and there are already ferns that are two feet tall out there. I don't know what kind they are - time to buy a book I guess.
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Clover over septic field. Good? Bad? Ugly?
Thanks for the Salal link. The link says that it will grow up to a max of 10 feet high (!), typically 5-6 feet. That's a little tall for us, although in our septic field it would be exposed to full sun so it would be shorter. It sure is pretty.
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Clover over septic field. Good? Bad? Ugly?
One thing we'd like to do with the septic is to plant something that will attract the deer. When we first moved here we had them around all the time, but ever since the folks down the road built their house the deer have disappeared. I'm not sure there's a connection there but timewise that's what happened.
Anyway, we miss seeing the deer out there. There's nothing like sitting on the deck with a rifle waiting for dinner to peak out of the woods (just kidding, well, sorta).
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Clover over septic field. Good? Bad? Ugly?
Thanks again for the link. The thing about moss here is that it seems to only grow where you don't want it. We have it on our roof, walks, and driveway but it never seems to grow in the septic field where it would be useful 
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Clover over septic field. Good? Bad? Ugly?
I don't think there's a problem with the septic system. It's only a few years old, way oversized for our house, and the soil is as dry there as anywhere else. The health inspectors in our area are very, very strict regarding perc rates and inspections.
The lack of topsoil is a possibility. When they installed it they dug only the trenches for the leach lines so part of my brain thinks that there would be a growth pattern visible in the existing vegetation to indicate where the drain lines are but we can't see one. I think the lack of good stuff growing there is simply because it was let go to grow wild until I got the tractor a couple of months ago. Regular bush hogging might fix that problem.
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Clover over septic field. Good? Bad? Ugly?
You don't want to plant anything over a leach field that has deep and extensive root systems. The roots are invasive and will PLUG the leach field. It may not plug it this year or next, but I'd bet within 10 years after planting you'd have big problems.
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