Plantin on a septic drainfield

[bstuart29]

A friend was asking me if I thought it was okay to plant a garden over her septic darin field I told her I wasn't totally sure because I have heard different opinions on the subject. has anyone done it and what was the result?

[preecher97]

When I was growing up, our septic system stopped up and we had to dig a new drain field. My Dad had it dug down the middle of the garden where it zig zagged through it. They just put it a foot deeper and he has raised a garden in that spot for the last 20 years. No problems. Actually it gave more moisture to the plants.

[cfabe]

It's generally a bad idea. A large part of the water the drain field handles is eliminated by evaporation to the air, and planting a garden will compact the soil and cut that off, reducing the capacity of the field. Better to put the garden elsewhere.

[KrisW]

Been doing it here for 15 years, no problems.
But then again my drain field is 5 foot under the surface (dry out here!).
Probably much deeper than most of you have back east.

Kris

[VOR.]

I wouldn't do it. Mainly because I would not enjoy the vegetables as much if they were grown in a drain field. I would think about that every time that I ate them. You also do not know who will use your facilities and what they will flush down the drain.

[Ross]

If there were health concerns growing food over a drain field there would be a health concern for your drinking water or mowing the grass. As said you could be limiting the fields ability to dry from evapouration but in most cases there shouldn't be a problem. I used raised planters along side my field and undoubtably slightly over with no problem.

[7thswan]

Water perks down. My feild is atleast 5-6' down. My garden is over it. No problems here.

[amwitched]

Just don't plant root crops in that area (raised or not). That means no potatoes, radishes, beets, turnips, etc.
Also, fruit trees are not a good idea. Their roots will clog up your lines.

[KrisW]

Good point about the fruit trees, forgot about that one.

Kris

[Maura]

You probably don't want to grow anything with major roots that would clog the tile. This would rule out bushes and trees. Human waste is used as fertilizer in other parts of the world. I know we find this disgusting, but the plants will not bring bacteria up into their leaves or fruit. You'll want to know how deep your tiles are. I would go ahead and grow carrots, they don't grow that deep and certainly aren't going to grow below the level of your tile unless your tile is really high. If eating plants from over the septic field was dangerous all of my sheep and both donkeys would surely be sick or dead by now.

[ChristyACB]

I'd like to know a bunch of good answers on this myself. I was sort of assuming that putting a garden over the field at the new place in the country would enhance my garden if done right. Since I'm working on a gray water system and would have far fewer cleaners and the like, I hadn't even considered it being unsafe.

Good dirt is usually made of poop in some portion and dogs pee on everything, so I can't see the problem.

[ronbre]

i posted pictures of my drainfield garden on a post just last week...i have a huge huge garden on my drainfield..it was ok'd by the drainfield builder as well as the guy that pumps drainfields in our area..and it has never been a problem

you know they drive those huge bulldozers over drainfields when they are building them..they are pretty strong.

Don't plant willows or water thirsty trees nearby but shallow rooted dwarf trees are fine on the perimeters and some regular trees are also fine on t he outside edges..i use lot os dwarfs..as well as shrubs and perennials.

[ronbre]

see pictures of my drainfield on this post...scroll down
Livestock fencing on/near septic mound?

[Pink_Carnation]

They never drove a dozer over our drainfield after the pipes were put in.

How well it works and if you can get away with it will depend on several factors...if you have nicely draining soil it will work better than a marginal one. If you water your garden to much you could cause problems but that isn't likely to be enough volume. How deep they put things will matter also. If your field was not done to take a raised bed garden putting one there could cause compaction.

Drainfields aren't always a this will cause it to fail and this won't...you increase and decrease your odds by how you treat it.

[Ross]

Drain fields are not very strong, bull dozers have a very low compaction rate with their tracks spreading the load over a large area. Driving your car or truck (tractor etc) over the lines will damage your drain field.

[rambler]

It is probably not a health risk, tho I'd be worried about root crops like potatoes & the like - that might be pushing it?????

If you have a fairly modern septic system, they are required to be put in very shallow any more - a foot or less 'here'. Then your garden is quite a danger to the septic system. Tillage, watering, and the lack of grass growing on the field over winter would all be really bad things for the leach field.

Anything with bigger roots, like a rasberry or perannual flowers or anything with a deeper root could damage a modern shallow leach field with root growth.

I would try at all possible to avoid it, only slightly because of the ick factor, and 90% because of the damage possible to the field itself.

If you have a 50 year old setup that is burried 6 feet deep and never had any problems - probably because it drains out to a drainage ditch somewhere anyhow - then it wouldn't deserve any thought or worry at all, that's not really a leach field.....

--->Paul

[Cabin Fever]

You've gotten a lot of good answers already, so "I'll just repeat some of those.

No deep rooted plants (ie, trees. bushes, etc).

It's okay to grow below-ground vegeatable crops (ie, potatoes, carrots, onions, etc) IF you drainfield is deep enough. As Rambler mentioned, some drainfields are only 12" below the soil surface. Potatoes would be growing right on top of the filter rock in this situation which is not a good idea.

If water from your drainfield has ever surfaces during wet weather, snowmelt season, or from high water usage..do not even think of putting a garden over your drainfield.

Here;s the biggest problem with a garden (flower or vegeatble) over a septic field ==> excess water! One of the fuctions of a septic field is to get rid of wastewater. Often times, drainfields may have a difficult time doing this..especially older, undersized drainfields. What do people with gardens do? THWEY WATER THEM! The combination of wastewater disposal and irrigation water application can easily saturate the soil which is not good for wastewater treatment or a healthy garden.

If you must have a garden, my recommendation is to plant a wildflower garden over it. This not only provides natural beauty but also catches snow in the winter to provide extra insulation over the drainfield. Here's a photo of our drainfield area showing the natural beauty I was speaking of (if you catch my drift):