Soil erosion can not only have a devastating effect on your plants and landscaping, as well as your crops and lawn, but it can cause major issues with flooding in and around your home or business. Soil is a very valuable natural resource that not only supports plant growth but nourishes it as well, but if it is left bare and exposed, water, wind, and even snow can erode over time, causing these major issues. These are the reasons why ways to reduce soil erosion should be implemented so that your plants, lawn, and landscaping stay beautiful and safe throughout each year, as well as your home or business.
Keep in mind the soil and the sediments in it that make their way into surface waters and storm drains can cause major issues for aquatic life and can even increase water temperatures. Farmers who have crops do not want to lose the important nutrients that they use to nourish their crops from soil erosion, but they also do not want heavy metals, bacteria, and other dangerous debris flowing into waterways in the area of their fields.
When soil erosion occurs, it removes key nutrients that your plants, crops, lawn, and landscaping need to survive and thrive. This is why it’s so important to reduce soil erosion as much as possible.
Causes of Soil Erosion
The three top causes of soil erosion are listed below.
Wind
Wind erosion, also known as soil drifting, is what happens when high winds occur and remove or transport the soil on top of the ground to another location. This can occur during a rainstorm or some type of windstorm that involves high winds.
Water
Water is a big factor in soil erosion since heavy rain or improper irrigation of water can cause soil erosion as well as flooding. Water can cause sheet erosion, which is the type of erosion that occurs from direct rainfall, or through rills, which are streams of water, which happens when there is poor drainage in the area of soil and it causes gullies to form throughout the topsoil in that specific area.
Tillage
When it comes to farmland or even digging a garden, certain tillage activity can possibly drag topsoil downhill, causing the soil to erode down the sloped area.
There is an array of different ways to reduce soil erosion, either in your landscaping and lawn or acres of field crops. Read on for a detailed list of those methods that you can use for soil erosion reduction.
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Ways to Reduce Soil Erosion
Plant Cover: You can use perianal plant cover or mulch to help protect your garden or landscaping. You could also use things, such as wood chips, crushed stone, and other more durable materials in areas in which you are having trouble establishing vegetation and it is harder to maintain.
Crop Rotation: By rotating crops, such as hay, wheat, and corn, you can reduce the amount of soil erosion since the layer of residue that is produced by these types of crops can protect the topsoil from being carried away to another location when it rains or there or high winds.
Conservation Tillage: Farmers can use conventional tillage to create a surface that is smooth in areas in which soil is vulnerable to erosion. They use methods, such as strip tillage, disking, and chiseling to allow the surface area of the field to be better protected from forces, such as wind and water, that can and will erode the soil, causing a loss of important nutrients that plants need to grow and thrive.
Grass Waterways: grass waterways have become increasingly popular over the last decade for farmers to use to avoid soil erosion from runoff water. They place areas of grass in between fields of crops to guide the water in a certain direction so it stays away from the soil in which their crops are planted.
Contour Farming: Contour farming involves planting crops in rows that run level around a hill instead of up and down the hill to reduce not only water erosion of the soil but to lessen the chances and the crops being ruined.
Purchase Quality Products
Soil is one of the greatest assets to not only farmers but to home and business owners as well, since plants and grass serve very important purposes within our environment. Tri-Organics produces a variety of products that will keep your lawn, crops, landscaping, and gardens in healthy, thriving order while you reap the benefits. From Natural Organic Humate products to Humate Soil Conditioners and Mycorrhizae products, your lawn and garden, as well as fields of crops, grass, and even landscaping, will stay healthy, even if some amount of soil erosion occurs over time.