Dealing With Caliche - Desert Concrete

Caliche in the desert soil can be a huge stumbling block when you want to get your spring planting accomplished. All over Arizona, parts of New Mexico, Texas, California and Nevada you'll find a layer of caliche just under the soil. Caliche is a layer of soil that has cemented itself together by lime.

You'll most likely find it as a light colored layer of really hard concrete-like material. It can also appear as chunks of rocks. It can be a few inches deep or several feet thick, making digging nearly impossible. You can't clear it out with chemicals or abrasives. The only way to remove this tough layer is the old-fashioned way: digging it out.

Caliche causes problems in many ways:
- It can be so thick the roots of plants cannot pass through it. The plant can then only anchor itself as deep as the top soil layer, making it susceptible to being toppled over by wind.
- When it rains, water that hits the soil cannot move through the caliche. This results in inadequate aeration. Salt cannot pass through and builds up on the soil and the restricted roots. Salt is poison to plants and will lead to a short life span for your trees and shrubs.
- The pH in and around the caliche is high enough to restrict iron delivery to plants. This is something the plants need to stay healthy. New plants will develop yellow new leaves.

You will need to dig out the caliche either by hand or with powertools. It isn't easy and might require a professional.