Septic field planting?

[ducks4you]

, vfem!!!
I am sure that the fault is in clay pipes. We fix things as we can, sometimes in order of emergency--I feel no shame about that in THIS economy. Again, if you can barter this job, or partially barter it, and "band-aid" it for awhile, you should be okay. I'm REALLY sorry!

 

[lupinfarm]

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.

Yeah our house is 150 years old. We know the septic is behind the main house (brick house) and we know it was emptied the year we moved in by the farmer who severed the homestead. We have access to our cellar below the brick house, but no access to the one below the kitchen/wood house and we've been told there is a big cistern down there by the friend of one of the previous owners but we don't know if that really is true, especially since we found what looks like a cistern outside the side porch. We have access to the extensions crawl space through a teeny weeny door we can barely fit through. LOL actually, we flooded the extensions crawl space last year. There is a well pump down there but the well guy isn't sure what it is for. He suggested it could be for the cistern to pump into the house or where the pool was. There is a switch on it to re-direct the pumped water.

We also have hot *and* cold water outside on the side porch.

Our main well pump needs to be replaced in the next year, its been patched LOL and barely works and the septic stuff will need replacing in about 5-10 years, we have no idea how old the septic is at all. It can't be that young though because its proximity to the well is not within code so its gotta be pretty old. They have to be like 100ft away, but its like maybe 50ft away (our well water is 0/0 so good to drink oddly lol)

 

[Junkmanme]

ducks4you,

IF I understand the systems I have had correctly.........

The "leach field" is the FINAL section of the "Septic System".

All (except the Laundry Washer) went into the "Septic System" with the "leach field" finally perculating the water/effluent through the "field" into the ground for final purification by nature.

(As I mentioned earlier, we just ran our laundry water out onto the lawn, rather than "overload" the system with that excess water.)

?????

just how I understand it,
-Junkmanme-

 

[journey11]

My laundry empties over the hillside and my kitchen sink empties into a separate perforated pipe underground (along with my gutters).

Don't you just love all the mysteries you have to find out on an old house...and find out the hard way sometimes! My next door neighbors (both in their 70's) were the second owners of this house (built in 1942), but it's been so long even they don't remember where everything is! To my knowledge and theirs my septic has never had to be pumped. If they stay in balance bacterially/don't get overloaded with too much water/no one pours a 1/2 gallon of bleach down the drain they do fine just fine.

BTW, I heard that RidX is entirely unnecessary on a septic (and googled it for second opinion). I quit using it 2 years ago. No problems here.

ETA: Usually a cistern is set up to recieve water from your gutters. It's pretty clean rain water, suitable for filling swimming pools or watering chickens/livestock (they seem to prefer it to the city water also). Ours is set up to get the water off of our neighbors' barn roof (used to be one big acreage, but was split up into several lots). We have an electric pump on ours, which is so nice and convenient. It pumps from a little bit off the bottom where the water is cleanest. Any dirt/leaves/bugs that accidentally slip in float on the top. I love my cistern. I think everybody should have one to make use of rainwater. Sure helps on the water bill! My husband wants to build a solar shower and fill from it.

 

[patandchickens]

Yup, cistern is what water goes into before you drink it; cesspool is what water goes into (in some cases) AFTER you drink it, and is probably what was meant

There is no real problem with planting shallow-rooted things over the septic inflow pipe or tank (other than you may have to dig things up if you want to open up the tank to have it pumped).

It is the septic FIELD, ie. the leachfield, ie. the drainage bed of pipes, that is very vulnerable and must be protected. As per the title of the thread, I *think* it was the actual leachFIELD that was being asked about?

Pat

 

[vfem]

I did read, and start doing, that adding adding baking soda on occasion helps keep your septic at a neutral ph. This is what a septic needs to let the bacteria flurish. Sometimes just having too acidic of a system can cause a lot of issues. So, I start pouring 1/4 cup of baking soda in the potty once a month.

 

[Junkmanme]

Although I never found the need to do so, I HAVE HEARD of folks putting a cup of water-softened Active Yeast "down-the-drain" to enhance the bacteria working in the septic system.

-Junkmanme-

 

[DuckLady]

Our rental house in Oregon has a sand filter system. When we lived there, we used to scatter several packets of assorted wildflower seeds on top. The flowers that thrived best there in the warmth generated from the sand filter were the California poppies. They never froze and bloomed almost all year round.

The grass on the leach field where the sand filter pumped the water is so lush and thick. The geese loved to graze there.

I was told that the leach field was fine for planting veggies because of the filtration, but the thought gave me pause.

 

[journey11]

Yeah, it's no longer raw sewage by the time it filters through the leach field. The action of the natural bacteria on it makes it equivalent to composting. It would probably make for good "fertilizer" for the flowers/grass/whatever, but it really comes down to certain plant roots damaging the system, causing it to back up and no longer filter out into the topsoil.