For All You Geochemist (alkali)

[Coram Deo]

I think I am posting in the right thread for this topic.

I am considering land out in the state we want to move to and I know some of the land is Alkali rich land which does not grow much.

Of course the land is cheaper because of this Alkali, which the natives call PermaFrost..

My question for all of you Geochemist on the Puritanboard is..

Is there a way to neutralize the Alkali in the soil and bring up the Ph of the soil to a point of growing crops and trees?

What is the process?

And

How long does it take?

What can speed up the process?

Is there any tree or brush that eats up the Alkali in the soil?

I looked at about 10 acres for 8000 dollars which consisted of sagebrush and such with Alkali. It would be nice to buy the cheap land and build a house and change the soil of it..

Besides land is starting to become scare around the area we want and Alkali land is mostly what is left?

Any Thoughts?

Michael

 

[VictorBravo]

I think I am posting in the right thread for this topic.

I am considering land out in the state we want to move to and I know some of the land is Alkali rich land which does not grow much.

Of course the land is cheaper because of this Alkali, which the natives call PermaFrost..

My question for all of you Geochemist on the Puritanboard is..

Is there a way to neutralize the Alkali in the soil and bring up the Ph of the soil to a point of growing crops and trees?

What is the process?

And

How long does it take?

What can speed up the process?

Is there any tree or brush that eats up the Alkali in the soil?

I looked at about 10 acres for 8000 dollars which consisted of sagebrush and such with Alkali. It would be nice to buy the cheap land and build a house and change the soil of it..

Besides land is starting to become scare around the area we want and Alkali land is mostly what is left?

Any Thoughts?

Michael

I think the biggest concern I'd have is not the alkali, but why it is alkali. In almost all cases it is because there is no drainage. Water runs onto it and then just evaporates.

That means you can't have an effective septic system either. I don't think it's a good idea, particularly because you can find $1000/acre land elsewhere that actually drains and grows something (if you are willing to move to fairly remote and economicly depressed areas).

A long time ago I used to work on alkali seep problems in northern Montana. There are plants that can grow, but it is a long process. But most of all, it doesn't fix the drainage problem.

 

[Kenneth_Murphy]

If your state is similar to MO, you can contact the agricultural department at the state university and they should have lots of papers on dealing with the soil types in that area. They should be able to tell you what plants can grow, how to deal with the issues in that type of soil etc.