The oven drying weighing method was used to study the soil water at Salix plantation near Xihai town and Haiyan county. Results showed that the soil moisture content was high on the floodplain near the city of Salix plantation, with an average moisture content of 25.1%, so the soil moisture was able to meet the normal growth of Salix plantation. The soil moisture at 1.0 m depth in the upper part of the soil which located at the first terrace near the city of Salix plantation was much higher, with average moisture content of 19.3%. And the soil moisture below 1 m was very low, which was due to the development of soil dry layer. This suggests that soil moisture couldn't meet the needs of plantation growth under natural conditions of precipitation in the area, apart from lowlying terrain and shallow groundwater in floodplain regions. In this area, the income of soil water was less than its expenditure for Salix plantation, which was a negative balance. The soil at 1.0 m depth was dominated by silt sand with high porosity and excellent quality, but by poor coarse sand and fine gravel below 1.0 m.

Haiyan county; Salix plantation; soil dry layer; soil reservoir