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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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Clover over septic field. Good? Bad? Ugly?
Yes Murf! I have heard that before and maybe it was from you then too. Funny how old notions keep cropping up. Guess how I'll keep it straight in my own mind is thinking that ground water has its own pressure and that pressure is going to go up as well as down and out. I guess that in general no compaction is best but whether use of a given CUT on the soil there creates a problem is another question.
Along the same lines, I'll make the distinction that we often think of a French drain as just a leaching pit. I believe it technically is a leaching in the middle of a large shallowly buried rock face. The idea to prevent effluent from entering the surface water table at least until it travels through gravel on top the rock face. Presumably some water would make it to the surface and such a drain would put less water into the water table as well.
I believe I can see where Doc's coming from but I think weeping willows may even be better. They'll even grow roots through foundation walls. They'd make a lot of shade in no time at all and avoid the need to drive over the field for at least the short time the field would be in use.
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Clover over septic field. Good? Bad? Ugly?
That's correct Tom, In some areas wher smaller field or those that have shorter life spans this is often used. Some prefer fruit tress as every thing grows well there, most use some sub specie of Poplar but The willow would be a good choice as well. Dave
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Clover over septic field. Good? Bad? Ugly?
It's good to think about alternative approaches. I started out with the conventional wisdom that a leaching field should never be anywhere a tree. It's always good to question convention, and you never know what you'll find.
Mind you, I don't think I'd go out and plant trees on top my field unless I knew how much life to expect from it or if there are any tricks to keep roots out of the lines. Tree sure would sop up water but I don't think I'd want to count on them curing a wet field problem during the winters around here.
All sort of alternatives such as whole water systems that use ponds and plants are around, but few alternatives would get past health inspectors.
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Clover over septic field. Good? Bad? Ugly?
Tom, most of the folks I have seen use the trees put them in well after inspection. About an hour from my property where my folks live the water table is very low. Fields are often dug much deeper and sometimes further from the house due to the hiils. This is where its more common to see this. By my property the water table is so high that drain fields look like a giant mound in the yard as they have to be built up. There everyone uses grass. so like many other things it is regional based on the soils and local enviornment. But as they say, there certainly is more than one way to get the job done right. Dave
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Clover over septic field. Good? Bad? Ugly?
Remembering Murf's comment that exapourating water is good rather than having it go into the water table, I'd guess that trees may be a benefit to a deep leach field. Even if the roots stayed above the field, they'd dry out the area and more water would be drawn closer to the surface. Of course the trick would be knowing what could be done without having roots clog the lines. I imagine that our new codes would prevent codes from being very deep now and I guess it's the evapouration thing. I finally have the idea in mind now.
Our camp has a water table that's about 5' during the summer. We decommissioned the septic system there (rumored to be an old buried car). Instead of a new very expensive system for a recreational property, we went with a gray-water leaching pit and a composting toilet. I built the gray water system and it had to be raised. Grass would work on the mound but we just left it alone and daisies and brown-eyed susans come up most years so it looks pretty good without having to do anything.
The link below shows the feed-line to the pit and our raised wash-shed behind at our camp (The shed is on stilts so it has a drainage angle to the raised pit). The 3' high pit itself is off to the right and looks mostly like the top of the feed-line. Just goes to show how much can be accomplished by doing nothing, but there aren't any lines for roots to clog.
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Clover over septic field. Good? Bad? Ugly?
If you do not want to mow it I would stick with a natural ground cover like ferns or the Salal.
If the spot is shaded then the deer fern should grow well and look nice. I might scout around and find some on the road side and transplant to the area.
I would not grow tree as it is a little to dig up a section to fix or replace with trees over the area. I have had to help dig up a few that had the tree roots in the tile.
I am not sure I would go for some foriegn ground cover as we are still dealing with the mess left by the rail roads, Kudzu.
Murf is correct that Ont has determined that most of the water is removed through evaporation and design the new systems accordingly. As they have marginal soil on the Canadian Shield (all but a small southern section of the province) I assume they had to study the problem more than most. This is not the case in many states as they still rely on perk tests and soil composition.
I believe Ont found it is straight soil evaporation and I am not sure that the plants on the surface make any appreciable difference.
Willow and cotton woods will absorb a lot of water in the summer but will not absorb any in the winter. This is one of the reason that people have problem with their systems in the winter. This is not the time of year you want to try and repair they system. The roots on a willow will enter most system and cause problems.
The new style with the plastic covers like you have I am not sure of. I would think the shape would prevent roots from entering the distribution pipes.
I am currently 3 for 3 in terms of having my systems worked on at my houses in 3 different states. 4 for 4 if I added the cottage in Ont.
I have 2 systems here one for the garage and the other for the house. My field lines here are in the horse pasture. I regularly mow over them with my 65 hp tractor. I can easily tell where the lines are on the field in the summer as the grass stays a little greener over them. My tractor puts a lot less psi on the ground than a car or even the horses. I am not too worried about compaction, they have been there 20 years.
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Clover over septic field. Good? Bad? Ugly?
Plant red glover like you wanted to,the roots are not that deep,deer love it,it will grow in most soils.You will have to mow about anything you plant at least once or twice a year,if you want to keep the brush and stuff from taking over,just maybe keep off of it when its real wet with your tractor,since you only want to mow it as few tines as possible,that shoudn't be a problem.If the dirts real poor,put a little 10-10-10 and lime on it after you break up the top of the ground which you need to do so the seeds have some dirt to start rooting in,and after planting your seed mulch it with some straw lightly. Richard Gauthier
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06-30-2017, 02:59 
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