Backyard dirt has rocks

[Tortellini0000]

Hello all!

I’m wanting to start working on an outdoor enclosure for my soon to be tort. The area I’m planning has some small rocks mixed into the dirt so I want to get rid of the top layer and was wondering what would be the best/safest substrate to add to help with plants/grasses growing? Thanks!

 

[Ink]

Tortises can and will eat small rocks. Jagged rocks can poke and injure them too. I'm not sure on the substrate. How big will the enclosure be?

 

[Tom]

Hello all!

I’m wanting to start working on an outdoor enclosure for my soon to be tort. The area I’m planning has some small rocks mixed into the dirt so I want to get rid of the top layer and was wondering what would be the best/safest substrate to add to help with plants/grasses growing? Thanks!

Usually, rocks in the native dirt are not a problem. Can we see a picture?

 

[P Birch]

Hello all!

I’m wanting to start working on an outdoor enclosure for my soon to be tort. The area I’m planning has some small rocks mixed into the dirt so I want to get rid of the top layer and was wondering what would be the best/safest substrate to add to help with plants/grasses growing? Thanks!

There's a massive spectrum of soil types and folks' experiences keeping tortoises outdoors will be shaped by their local geography / geology, in terms of the soil...and the nature and quantity of the rocks contained in it.

Here in the glaciated northeast and land of stone fences, rocks abound. If I step my shovel into the ground and it smoothly slides in, it's a rare feat and worthy of celebration. Rocky.

A garden bed that's been worked and built up with annual additions of organic matter is one thing; an area you want to designate as a tortoise enclosure is another. If your area is anything like mine, the instant erosive action of rain will reveal lots of stones in any soil left bare. It's inevitable here. But not everywhere.

The good news is that in a well-watered region like NY--or British Columbia--plant life will take off quickly, stabilizing and covering bare soil. And mitigating your small stone concerns. Dandelions, plantains, clover: they are quick pioneers. And you could help the process along.

Looking back on the outdoor enclosure I made, I'm grateful I built it the summer before it received its tenant. That period of time, a "curing" phase, allowed for the establishment of many broad-leaved herbaceous plants that covered and stabilized the soil. Large flats rocks can be added too. Driftwood or log. Be mindful of proximity to walls, however.

Could prepping the enclosure in advance and letting plants colonize it be an option?

It will be good to get others' perspectives, but if you wanted a good-sized outdoor enclosure that was stone-less...that could be near impossible in many parts of the country, if using the existing native soil.

 

[Tortellini0000]

There's a massive spectrum of soil types and folks' experiences keeping tortoises outdoors will be shaped by their local geography / geology, in terms of the soil...and the nature and quantity of the rocks contained in it.

Here in the glaciated northeast and land of stone fences, rocks abound. If I step my shovel into the ground and it smoothly slides in, it's a rare feat and worthy of celebration. Rocky.

A garden bed that's been worked and built up with annual additions of organic matter is one thing; an area you want to designate as a tortoise enclosure is another. If your area is anything like mine, the instant erosive action of rain will reveal lots of stones in any soil left bare. It's inevitable here. But not everywhere.

The good news is that in a well-watered region like NY--or British Columbia--plant life will take off quickly, stabilizing and covering bare soil. And mitigating your small stone concerns. Dandelions, plantains, clover: they are quick pioneers. And you could help the process along.

Looking back on the outdoor enclosure I made, I'm grateful I built it the summer before it received its tenant. That period of time, a "curing" phase, allowed for the establishment of many broad-leaved herbaceous plants that covered and stabilized the soil. Large flats rocks can be added too. Driftwood or log. Be mindful of proximity to walls, however.

Could prepping the enclosure in advance and letting plants colonize it be an option?

It will be good to get others' perspectives, but if you wanted a good-sized outdoor enclosure that was stone-less...that could be near impossible in many parts of the country, if using the existing native soil.

All good points thank you! Yes this is prepping and hoping to get it started and established for next summer use.