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Desperately seeking.

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Desperately seeking materials that are both root proof and be water porous for drainage. Long lasting and not insanely expensive i need to add.

Does anyone know of some material that might fit the bill? Or know where i could look?

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Geofab?

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Talking half a 10 acre paddock in various bits.

I've has less than great experiences with Geofab. But then i have only used odd bits n pieces of the stuff that i dont know exactly what they were? I expect that there are different grades, brands n what not? But i am open to hearing from anyone who might know if any of it does actually keep tree roots at bay?

Edited by shortly

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have you tried layering newspaper? not sure how long it would last but is a cheap/recyclable option.

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I've used it in the past. It seems to stand up for a year or two but once something aggressive like a fig reaches it, its all over. Plus i'm not overly keen on the news print to be honest.

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are you looking for something like an underground drain field? Black plastic ABS pipe that you drill a whole lot of small diameter holes in......laid in a bed of coarse gravel......

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Actually looking to capturing some of the free water during rain events then wicking water out & letting it gravity feed out slowly over a period of time. is the plan.

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I think what Zelly is talking a bout is also called a French drain. Could line the trench with coreflu or something?? ???

would be cool if you could put a gate at the end of the drain to control out put having the overflow run off to your dam!

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a product called Megaflow may work shortly. Plastic drain, wrapped in thin geofab, use a sand filter generally.

I've used it a fair bit for salt drainage and dewatering type scenarios. can be easily trenched inground.

If you could acquire enough milkcrates and wrap them in a geofabric ( need a thicker Biddum type for root stopping though). Need a small excavator minimum but.

Be a bit like a product called Atlantis cells, that would give you an idea as a look with google.

can also build underground reservoirs with the concept and pipe them together

Roots are fckers of things sometimes....

Roots dont like copper..... I've seen copper mesh used for open air root pruning.

That said copper mesh aint cheap....unless you know someone in the know.

I may be heavily sedated and missread it all though...lol.. :wink:

EDIT = by the number of edits I say yes....

Edited by waterboy 2.0
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Ahhhh copper now theres an idea, i may still be able to get copper swarf ? At $6 kg it might just be feasible. Although i wonder if its likely to cause any toxicity once the water leaks out?

Will ring around for Bidim geofabric in the am & see if the manufactures think it will keep figs at bay on its own?

I have been playing with buried 100L unglazed terracotta (?) vases to hold (sand filtered) water when it rains. Or someone fills them.

Thus far it looks like they only start to empty once the soil starts to drop below field capacity. And then have taken a good month to empty their contents back into the soil profile. Which is bloody handy when your not around very often.

So far i have already lost one to a mulberry, so i need to figure out how to keep roots at bay before i can think about expanding the experiment.

I've been looking at Atlantis Flo_cell for a roof.

Nope you read it perfectly :

Edited by shortly
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Thought it was worth mentioning, may give you a workaround.

I think it should be an issue if the waters acidic (like very acidic), other than that I know the copper

somehow kills the root tips on contact rather than "in solution"

I'll throw some grey matter at it in the coming days bro

Edit - bidum (actually bidim I was spellin it wrong) type geofabrics are used a lot under roads. May find it cheaper from somewhere that does civil contracting stuff/supplies, or someone in such a game

Edited by waterboy 2.0
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You can often get used Tyvek cheap from recycling places or worksite bins.

Some big envelopes use it too.

Maybe spray it with some Spin Out?

Edited by AndyAmine.
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Farmers usually use clay for building dams and irrigation canals. Get onto a local dam builder

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I need water to get out of these, not just hold it in. Halcyon Daze.

Hmmmmmm Tyvek might be an option AndyAmine? Off to see how it would perform and how long it would last.

I have had no joy on the copper swarf thus far, apparently everything is machined over seas now & imported as a finished product. Sad sign of the times i suppose? Will have to look into buying a roll of copper mesh from somewhere. I'm avoiding acid sulphate soils like the plague now. Been there, done that, and do not intend to play that game again!

Just ordered some Spin Out for another upcoming project, so in a year or three i should have some feed back on that.

Unfortunately i need these pots to keep functioning for decades, not just for a couple of years so Spin Out wont cut it. I really dont want to be digging these things up and repairing or replacing them, i have better things i could be doing rather than doing the same job over and over and over.

Edited by shortly
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How about rigid PVC drain with holes drilled in one half? install inspection points at a low angle to the drain - eg, two 45 degree bends rather than one 90 degree. That way you can stick one of those rotorooter things down there and de-root as needed. I found it better than agi pipe - you can't put blades down the soft PVC.

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what about a sponge ? in a sump then compress the sponge and water comes out just food for thought

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