101 Questions answered
Treating Mallee Seeps: Lucerne for Mild Cases, Trees for Salty Sites
Not necessarily, but it largely depends on how saline the water table is.
Fixing a Mallee seep requires lowering or drying out the perched water table. For seeps with low to medium water table salinity, a strategic strip of lucerne has proven to be the quickest and least disruptive way to achieve this, often drying out seeps within 18 months of establishment, while having minimal impact on farm machinery operations.
Trees are a good idea on severe seeps and moderate seeps if the water table is highly saline (10,000 ppm). In both of these situations, planting trees in a 20 metre perimeter around the scald and part way up the rise (where the water flows from) will use the water and stop the seep area from spreading and getting worse.
Trees are also excellent water users once well established. They can fit in well with the farm if there is already a fence line within the area where water can be intercepted or utilised. Salt tolerant trees may be the best option where water tables are highly saline.
What trees should I plant?
Choose the tree species based on the salinity of the water table. Dig a hole and collect a sample of water to test. If you don’t have a salinity meter, send the sample to your local laboratory.
You can also taste the water but do this at your own risk! If it tastes fresh you would still feed to livestock, then it is likely in the low to medium salinity range, but saltier than this would be in the high to very high range.
