Try mixing in some Gypsum to loosen up your soil.

Is this "black clay" what some soil people call "black gumbo"?

Many people near big rivers grow fine crops in "black gumbo". The problem, as I recall, is difficult tillage. It sticks to your tools at first, then gets too hard to work. The trick, again if I recall correctly, is to get the correct working condidtions and mix in the right additives. Then you actually have some advantages as it is quite rich soil.

There is another "black clay" that is a volcanic soil. I know nothing about it.

Search lasagna mulch, use this method and forget it. Over time organic matter will change you black clay to a fine growing area.

No till method probably will work but it takes time. I was walking my dog in undeveloped land where there is black gumbo on top of limestone bedrock and the black gumbo is very crumbly. Seemed very manageable to me if i wanted to dig a hole. Look into cereal rye (Elbon) for winter cover crop because they will develope ENOMOROUS root system. That's the key to adding organic matter underground which is a lot faster than just throwing OM on the top and let them decompose. Appilcation of well made aerated compost tea every once in a while will help some.

I will not till AT ALL. it will make things worse...

A few years back a soil scientist at North Carolina State University, Keith Bladwin, wrote an article in Taunton Press' Kitchen Gardener about amending clay soils. While he used peat moss you should have a lot of material fairly readily available from the deciduous trees around you. Just add lots and then add more.
Do not add any gypsum to your soil unless a test by the NCSU soil test lab indicates that you have a sodic clay that the gypsum will help. Most of those clays are in southern California, Arizona, New Mexico, Utah, Nevada.

Here is a link that might be useful: Keith Baldwin on improving clay soils

I would suggest that you first check the pH. If neccesary adjust it with lime, I would then expect it will grow things fine.

Black clay is so dense that simply changing the ph will not make it grow well, oxygen is a problem and often drainage.

Fertilizerman argues that ph is the answer to everything and further that it can be done easily, few here agree, including me. Don't start on me F-Man we will not get on the same page!

Your experience with pond excavations sounds very similar to what was described by Sara Stein in "Noah's Garden" or "Planting Noah's Garden" (can't remember which book now). She managed to grow prairie plants in the material that she excavated from her pond.

Bob64, I've talked about my home made bog. I took some the produce (soil) from this area and started ajuga in it. They grew like weeds, now this is in a bedding plant tray with a lot of air available for this very dense material.

When we talk about soil it matters greatly how much air, moisture and sun or heat. No simple answers and I'm not offering any here except to talk about how dense blue clay is.

Maggiemae,

I am not saying pH is the answer to every problem, but if your pH is off you are going to have a horde of associated problems. If you have a problem with your soil, start by checking the pH. It is the cheapest easiest test to do or have done, and pH problems can be rectified quickly and easily.

Thanks for all the comments.

Albert, this black clay is not considered black gumbo around here. When this stuff is wet, it's gooey, when dry it looks like burnt wood.

I believe I have made up my mind to just buy several dump truck loads of a compost mixture I use in my nursery. I'll porbably put a good two foot layer on it, then add any composted material I can find to it for several years to come.

Here is a picture of the pond and a close up of the dirt.

{{gwi:315600}}
The pond is actually filling up rather quickly. The natural springs are leaking through the sandy areas you can see on the sides between the nasty black clay.

Just plain ugly!
{{gwi:315602}}

Thanks,
Donny

I swear that looks like shale or slate, both a stage where this will be rock in the futher.

What you describe and show looks like lignite. Lignite, called brown coal, is a substance between peat and coal.

There are large deposits of this in my area. Lignite here breaks in layers usually between 1/16 and 3/4 inch in thickness. Sometimes an impression of ferns or other plant material can be seen on the face of newly seperated layers.

Lignite is soft and is easily crushed to form a clay like mass and in my area does contain some kaolin clay. It is almost black when wet. Larger clumps do look like charred wood.

There are areas where this lignite has been exposed on the surface for over 60 years. None of the native plants have been able to grow on it. In short, nothing grows on lignite.

You could confirm that it's lignite by putting a lump on a charcoal fire. If it mostly burns up, that's what it is.

Donny,
I have several thoughts related to your question. First...could you tell me how you plan to use this pond area? Do you want to landscape it? Or, let it grow up naturally, unmowed with grasses and native flowers? Looking at your picture it appears that the conifers in the background have a healthy green appearance which indicates the clay does have nutrition. Am I reading the conifer foliage correctly?

Nandina,
The pond is situated over natural springs. This is the only location on the property where this black clay and a white clay seem to be present. Everything else is sand. We are located about 80 miles from the North Carolina coast line. My plans for the pond include irrigation for a very large garden and for a plant nursery that will consist of 4 large greenhouses. The pond will be included in the garden area as a back drop. There are two other small springs that will be incorporated into the garden area as small fish ponds that will meander out of the garden to another area of springs. The property is loaded with these springs.
The picture above is just the beginning of that pond area. The soil looks so nasty, that I do not believe it will fit the scheme of things even in a natural environment.

With this pond being supplied by natural springs, the water is just beautifully clear and fresh, very cool coming straight from the earth and I plan on using it to swim in. I have a Chesapeake Bay Retrevier that is constantly in the water also. The black clay looks bad and is very uncomfortable on barefeet too. I wish the contractor had carried the black clay off. But, he didn't want to be bothered with it. Now I just want to disguise it. The pond was dug out four weeks ago, it's about 155 ft long and 55 ft wide and 12 ft deep. Right now the water level is rising at about 16 inches a week.
Donny

Donny, you say; "The soil looks so nasty, that I do not believe it will fit the scheme of things even in a natural environment."

This is a feeling, which of course you can entertain or you can choose to change. This is all, in fact, part of the natural process of organic matter becoming rock. As I said it looked like shale or slate, which is another stage of organic matter changing into rock.

True, it will be difficult to grow many things "in it", but you can add organic matter to the surface and it will grow just fine in "time" (undefined time).

You might search mine reclamation in Western Kentucky, which has sites similar to yours. I shipped so many truckloads of sawdust to these sites that I couldn't count them just to add fresh organic matter which when it breaks down will start go grow. This was a cost question, in your case I would try to find compost from a yard waste recycling center.

Donny,
With a better understanding of your situation here are my thoughts...
1. Fine grain particulates always work their way to the surface over time. This should happen with the bottom of your pond; sand will settle in and smooth out the bottom. Also, when digging out your other spring areas what extra sand turns up could be dropped on the pond bottom.

2. My first thought is...let's see what will grow on that clay. Cheap method would be to hand toss annual rye over all tomorrow to see if it will grow. There still is plenty of time for it to sprout in zone 8. If the rye grows it will die in warm weather but roots will have penetrated the clay a bit and added nutrition.

3. The more expensive approach, and the one I personally would use, is to have the pond hydroseeded with annual rye plus another grass (perennial) which I am certain your hydroseeder could suggest. There I would need local knowlege. Plus, I would go on line to Stock Seed Farms, source of excellent wholesale wild flower seeds and order seed suitable for your situation to be included in the hydroseeding. Joe Pye weed, our native Swamp Mallow, Goldenrod, etc. From that point on I would be raiding roadside seeds every fall and tossing them around the pond. Projects such as mine reclamation use hydroseeding practices plus whatever organic matter is available. This is something you may have to do for several years. With a bit of persistance (and dollars)Mother Nature should take over.

Very interesting. Having plenty of experience with NC soils I still think you need to check the pH. Many of the Eastern NC low lying subsoilÂs have pH's in the 4's. Nothing will grow due to aluminum toxicity. The gray color would suggest the soil was reduced (had no oxygen) which is not surprising considering it was under water. Did it change color when it was dug out and exposed to the air? Regardless of what you are dealing with you can remediate it and get it to grow something. Send a sample into the NCDA Soil Testing Lab in Raleigh; they will analyze it for free.

Boy, I don't think you'd even call that stuff soil. In the same way you wouldn't call an outcropping of limestone at the surface "soil".

Like was mentioned above, those kinds of rocks are in the process of breaking down into "soil", but, its timetable is alot longer than what the average gardener wants to wait to grow something.

Personally, if I wanted to grow anything in the area where it preponderates, I'd just truck in enough real soil to grow something in. Keep it well amended with compost and eventually it will help break down whatever that is you have beneath it. Eventually being the key word. I have no idea how long that would be.