Septic field planting?

[ducks4you]

My old leach field is MUCH DEEPER than what has been previously mentioned. It is perhaps 5 to 6 feet deep. (It is no longer used because we now have a "community" sewer system.)

My cistern is only a little deeper than that, and it holds a LOT of water, that I use for most of the year. (I also have a well that is about 25 feet deep.) Is your leech field, or part of it, built kinda like a well? If so, I wonder if you could divert rain water into this and use it to water your garden? :/
Junkmanme!

 

[Junkmanme]

ducks4you,

It is an entirely different form of "construction". I believe it is essentially pipes with holes in them lying in a bed of gravel and sand, which "filter" sewage.

I have a well. But our water-wells in this part of the Country are just a little deeper than yours. My water-well is Five Hundred feet deep.

The soil is much different also. When this soil completely "dries-out", you could lose a shovel or a pick in the cracks. When the ground is wet, it swells up.....filling those cracks eventually. This is one reason why "roto-tilling" works good here. I can till and put in furrows, then water...... and the soil will "seal-up" without the huge "cracks". Difficult ground here.

-Junkmanme-
P.S. THANKS for the "WELCOME" !!!

 

[ducks4you]

I kinda thought so--WE have a leach field, with clay pipes in need of repair.
My kitchen sink and washer empty into it--other water goes to 2 other outlets--convenient in a clog situation. The water empties into a shallow well of sorts, first--I thought it sounded as if your garden rests on top of THIS. I guess your leach field is now dry--right? I'm guessing also, that your garden must drain REALLY well, so no pooling.

 

[vfem]

I kinda thought so--WE have a leach field, with clay pipes in need of repair.
My kitchen sink and washer empty into it--other water goes to 2 other outlets--convenient in a clog situation. The water empties into a shallow well of sorts, first--I thought it sounded as if your garden rests on top of THIS. I guess your leach field is now dry--right? I'm guessing also, that your garden must drain REALLY well, so no pooling.

Well... you know what... this summer due to what appears to be a leak in our leach field, hubby and I will be digging up the ground around my gardening and praying the damage isn't all the way under my raised beds.

I am so pissed off to have lived here 2 years, the property was built 14 years ago, and I've already had 2 issues with the septic.

My parents have a septic tank and leach field set up on their property and its been there at least 25 years and they have never had an issue. Must be my bad luck

 

[ducks4you]

My (GREAT!!) neighbor rented a backhoe and dug up and replaced his clay pipes with PVC. When we lived in town (Champaign), our house was almost 50 years old. We had roots in our collapsing (clay) sewer line and we were the first to dig 'em up and fix it. After that EVERYBODY on the street started to do the same. (We bartered the work for that.) Maybe you could do the same?

P.S. It's NOT all roses--we really should do some roofing work, too.

 

[Junkmanme]

Forty + years ago, when I lived in Phoenix, AZ..we had septic tanks in our area. Ours worked just fine. (BUT, we emptied our washing machine out on the back lawn.)

Our neighbors emptied THEIR washing machine into their septic system. They were ALWAYS having problems with the septic system being FULL. Too much water for it to handle.

-Just a thought-

-Junkmanme-

 

[ducks4you]

Septic System: Bathroom toilet water, water from sink & water from shower

Leach Field: Water from kitchen sink & washing machine

Cistern: Water from downstairs sink & downstairs shower (once I found THIS out, I've restricted the downstairs shower use, and started using biodegradable soap/shampoo there.)

House is >100 years old and this is how they set things up.

 

[lupinfarm]

I have no idea where all our water goes lol. We had 2 sets of plumbing in our kitchen sink, one is blocked and the plumber reckons that went to a cistern outside (we found a big white plastic thing when the dog dug it up lol, its only a patch but we think thats the cistern the old owners used for a swimming pool in the 80s), now the sink is hooked up to what appears to be a dry well.

Toilets obv. go into the septic, but no idea on the other water... Its kind of an investigative thing here LOL

 

[vfem]

We've had our tank opened up, emptied and they replaced the T value/drain whatever it was called that had been cracked. My husband did a ton of cement repair to it (so well our septic guy offered to hire him to repair any damage he sees like our again because he could never do that so nicely!).

When we take the lid off... everything is draining fine. We think its either damage caused by the increase of moles in our yard (and its a LOT) or from roots from weeds.... OR my stupid neighbor who plants a mimosa finally caused damage to all our lines from her dumb choice in tree. That tree is huge and the roots can travel 30x the size of the canopy underground, and they go straight for water lines or septic lines.

 

[ducks4you]

I have no idea where all our water goes lol.

I didn't know either when I had a crXptastic idiot plumber. Now that I have a very good plumber, I have discovered that the original owners were pretty smart.

Age of property doesn't guarantee this, however. We know of somebody who bought an old house last year, only to discover that the septic system emptied under their house.