101 Questions answered
Caution Advised: Ripping Dispersive Soil Requires Gypsum and Testing
Probably not a great idea unless you are adding gypsum at the same time.
If the topsoil is dispersive, apply gypsum first and let it do its magic before ripping.
If the dispersive soil is in the subsurface, gypsum could be incorporated into this layer with either deep ripping, spading or delving.
If the subsoil is dispersive, deep ripping with a large amount of gypsum will be expensive and unlikely to be economical.
In all situations, do a test rip first and see what happens after it rains. The benefits of ripping dispersive soil are usually quite short lived – only until it rains and the soil disperses, re-setting into a hardened mass. Moderately or slightly dispersive soil might be OK, but highly dispersive soil is best left untouched. If the rip lines fill in and are just as dense as before, avoid ripping any more.
Ripping also risks bringing clods of dispersive soil – and their issues such as salt and toxic levels of boron – to the surface.
