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Arizona Gardening

soil smells bad

12 years ago

I was noticing that parts of my yard have a funky smell when it rains, Not a fresh dirt smell. Its hard to describe. The plants that i put there either die or do poorly. I just found out that there used to be cotton fields where i now live and cotton root rot can be a problem. Does anybody know if thats why it smells too? Thanks!!

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Comments (4)

AJBB
12 years ago
Do you have a septic tank on your property?
maranagrls
Original Author
12 years ago
not that i know of...its a newer subdivision..near a small wash with rain run off.
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waterbug_guy
12 years ago
Really hard to tell. Could be as simple as urine. Could be someone dumped a chemical there.

I've never heard of fungus having a smell. You can confirm by checking the roots of the dead plants.
aztreelvr
12 years ago
The roots of the Australian acacia trees smell like a skunk when damaged by digging, etc. This would include Shoestring acacia, Willow Acacia, Mulga and Wattle trees. If you have any near your yard it could explain the smell - but not the reason for plant death.

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