How To: Permaculture Swales - A Basic Summary
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- Опубликовано: 24 фев 2022
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I took the liberty to explain the purpose of swales with this drawing template i threw together after watching a similar presentation that I found useful and felt it would be helpful for others to get a better visual for their own understandings as well.
So, that being said, here is a basic summary of the purpose of a swale.
In this video and the drawing demonstration is only ONE of thousands of ways we can use them.
Swales are littered with benefits and there are plenty of other videos available diving into those aspects. But right here, you can see an example of what capillary action, soil pluming effects and intentional maximization strategies we can apply to swale systems through Permaculture Design.
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Easiest explanation to understand yet with graphics and to the point! I can now share with my husband so he will understand what ive been talking about. Thank you!
So glad this can help you! It's really a wonderful method to approach your food forest, garden, or farm.
Great vid. Swales are the facilitator to so much life. It is like the first domino to fall in a long series of beneficial attributes and effects.
I couldn't agree more!
Ancient societies understood these earthworks and developed various methods that are lost today in modern agriculture. We can employ swales in food forests and other regenerative approaches. My dream is a food forest in every yard! Swales are KEY in our current and future conditions.
Good use of visuals
Thank you! More coming soon.
Very interesting.
The Tuscon swales have existed fo4 something like 80 years are still working. Great feature that can definitely increase biodiversity.
I would love to check these out myself for an in depth overview of how they've effected the surrounding areas over such a long period of time
Its expected that roots go deep depends on the soil. but from a resent study it moor flat and super visual.
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Hi Im from Colombia and palanning a coconut plantation, do you think swales are good for this? I dont know exactlly the size of the coconut roots and at what distance I should do the next swale. Its very interesting and probably no use of the drop irrigación. Thanks for your information, Ximena Velez
as a general rule of thumb capturing water for any application with trees is the ideal practice. but it depends widely on your specific situation, whether or not swales are right for your project.
Flat land swales are actually very useful.
Flat land slows and spreads water sufficiently across a landscape. it is already a catchment surface so there is no need to spend the time and money to develop swales. In the event it is not actually flat, but slightly sloped, swales or key line should be used. But a true flat is unnecessary, planting patterns yield enough of a mounding or retention on the landscape to penetrate the water through the subsoil just the same. especially if a heavy mulch is used (which always should be!)
@@HavenPermaculture not always true especially in the desert.
very cool video, what is that thinkg you using to make it happen?
Thank you! I actually do not remember the name of the app I was using at the time. It was done on a Samsung galaxy tablet
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What books would you recommend for swales? I'm in southern Ontario Canada.
Water for any farm is a great place to start. And than I would jump into david holmgrens books, because swales are not just about swales. they are catchment and feed for dozens of other elements in the property, inclduing walking paths when dry and mulch basins throughout the year. lots of uses for a swale, and David holmgren covers various elements of design that all tie in nicely. :)
@@HavenPermaculture Thank you! !!
Water only goes straight down very little lateral movement. The only time it moves laterally is when its on the surface once under the surface it’s straight down.
That would be the case in the event it was sandy, rocky, or other type of dirt.
But when dry soils, hummus, organic matter and or roots are involved there is capillary action. and micro organisms trail tubers in the soils that move water along tilted horizontal paths.
In a swale, all this happens during the time the water is puddled in the swale itself. The tree roots and michorhical fungi act as a water magnet, so to speek. And this microbiology can even move the water up hill under the soil.
Once it is no longer visible on the surface and has mostly dried on top, you are correct, it begins moving downward and not so much of a "ploom" effect takes place.
Water is a real magic substance, and depending on levels of microbiogy in the soils behaves differently under and above ground from swale to swale, and climate to climate.
@@HavenPermaculture I have a farm I flood irrigate that is also terraced I can show you all the photographic evidence and video evidence that within a foot of the water line the vegetation does not grow only where says a gopher hole is will water migrate. On the edge of the terrace on the up hill side in theory the entire slope should have vegetation growing on it but nope that is not the case I live in the dessert where we receive 12” a year so an moisture makes a huge difference. Once under the water will not migrate unless there is some sort of rock or hard pan that would cause the water to move horizontally. I do dirt work for a living and specialize in laser leveling and managing the movement of water. I low rainfall areas it saddens me to see swales build in the way they are shown on mainstream. The absolute best is a level surface with a berm or a slightly sloped area with a berm to spread water on the surface rather than swales. You can see the difference in my videos I have posted. On steep slopes is where swales work but in less severe slopes water on surface area is the only way to go. I can send you all the videos you would like to show you the lack of vegetation within a foot or two of regularly flood irrigated fields. Many properties would benefit more with just berms with out the swales. I would say almost all falter land areas.
@@rvliving1310 So what would be the degree of slope would work best for swale?
@@mandiegarrett1706 between 1 and 3% is the general rule of thumb, but I have seen them successfully applied above and below that.
Above 3% the energy of flow can be too great and increase chances of erosion. Check dams or other mitigating methods can be used to enhance water penetration or the effectiveness of swales or key line designs on steeper slopes.
I would love to chat more about this with you and see some of your photos/videos of your projects. Swales are not always the answer but they are absolutely worth looking into every time just to be thorough. Correct me if im wrong, but it sounds to me like your system doesn't have any rooting vegetation to assist the water flow underneath, and may not have Any organic matter deposited to ensure sub soil life activity. These are incredibly important elements in a Swale design because they fluff and divide soils below the surface, allowing water to seep and move. Where there is no spread under the soils there is likely compaction, and no amount of water will fix that. Intentional vegetation and 3% or so organic matter in the soils of the swale with a thick layer of mulch will increase the penetration each season. Swales on both sides of the slope should always be covered with living mulches, ground covers, trees, etc. Bare swales do not offer the intented result
Is there a session on where not to use them, where they do more harm than good?
This is a good thought. I do not currently have a video recorded on this but I can put it on the list of upcoming videos for sure and share it here for you when its ready, thanks for the suggestion.
@@HavenPermaculture yes, everything has a when to use it criteria, and of course the vice versa "when does it not work, or when does it have negative effects. Too many folk have built swales only to find its not a good idea for their area, or they simply did not fill,,, or worse they built swales on dispersing clay and suffered catastrophe.
Yes there is a big notion in the permaculture world that swales are the answer to everything. And that is just not the case. While they are incredibly powerful tools, they are a tool. And you need the right tool for the job every time to have the best success. There is no one size fits all, as is sometimes depicted in the swales conversion.
Although in contrast, I have yet to see a project where earth works were not the right tool. Not always swales, but always molding the Topography
@@HavenPermaculture earth works are great, an excavator on the job for half a day can put millions of liters of water into good use, love your videos, just swales subjects need to be include when not to, as well as when not to,,, that's all. Love your stuff
@9:45 "It takes about a day, or two days for this capillary effect here to really plume out..."
Days?! You meant years, right?
If we're talking about a new swale, sure, it can take its sweet time into the first few years of restoring soil life below. But with a developed and well planted swale like shown in the graphic, it will only take a couple days for the water to saturate and plume out through the soils in capillary action either direction, especially with well established root systems. :) Plant densely!