Identification Of The Soil Type Is Requisite Element
To start planting or gardening in any place, one should need to learn about soil type. Soil has several types and usually, soil available different places contain different qualities. You cannot grow every vegetable, fruits or plants in all types of soil, but one particular soil type can be compatible to some particular plants. So, getting knowledge about soil type has a great significance to enjoy all kinds of plants in your garden or area. Here you will find some helpful tips that will help you identifying the soil type in proper way.
Key Points:
- There are three main types of soil – clay, sandy, and silt. Each has different properties in terms of fertility, drainage, and ease of use.
- Clay soil is highly fertile but difficult to work with. It retains water and gets compact.
- Sandy soil drains quickly but is less naturally fertile. It dries out fast.
- Silt soil retains nutrients and moisture moderately well and is generally easy to work with.
- You can identify soil type by feel, examining grittiness, slickness, and by doing a jar test to measure the percentage of sand, silt, and clay.
Soil Measurement To Identify Soil Type
Mainly, soil can be seen in three common types and each type has its pros and cons. Following are three soil types and its features.
- Clay Soil: This soil type is having high potential of natural fertility. Though, you have to face great difficulty when working with it. The individual clay soil particles are quite small in size and in this soil type, air or water can hardly find space to get squeeze within them. It stays wet for longer period. It contains least amount of oxygen and becomes dry like concrete.
- Sandy Soil: Sandy soil has large sized particles that have enough space for air and water to move through them. This soil gets quickly dry out and at the same; nutrients get leached through this soil and make it less fertile in natural way. This type of soil is prone usually to drought places.
- Silt Soil Type: The particles in this type of soil are of moderate size and hold air and water for long time. However, it allows the water to get drained. It has enough fertility amount and quality. When working with this type of soil, you will not face much difficulty.
Right Way Of Identifying The Soil Type
Soil is a mixture of silt, clay and sand. To find out right type of the soil available in your garden area, you should pick in your hand and touch it thoroughly. Take some damp soil and rub the soil with your pointing finger between the thump. You will find it gritty. This grittiness mainly is available in sandy soil. In case, you feel slimy or slick, then it would probably be clay soil. For more clear examination of sand, silt and clay available in the soil, you can do jar test and following are the ways perform this test.
- Get soil available different parts in the garden with you.
- Then, mix soil samples of different garden areas properly and then, take one cup mixture for measuring.
- Until, the soil gets crumbly, keep it on a paper sheet to get dry.
- Get a canning jar and keep soil in it and add only 1 spoon detergent in the jar.
- Fill the container with seal, water and then shake well for proper mixing of the contents.
- Keep the jar down and start the timer.
- After 1 minute, measure soil level and mark it. Again measure after 2 hours and then subtract the layer of sand and discover silt amount. Let the jar keep aside for few days, and with this period, clay will collect on the top.
Then, you should divide entire height including each level with total soil height and then multiply it with 100. This way you can discover percentage of each element in separate way. This is a right way to identify the soil type and you can follow this way to make your soil measurement.
FAQ:
What are the main types of soil?
The three main types of soil are clay, sandy, and silt.
What are the properties of clay soil?
Clay soil is highly fertile but difficult to work with. It retains moisture and compacts easily.
What are the properties of sandy soil?
Sandy soil drains quickly but is less naturally fertile. It dries out rapidly.
What are the properties of silt soil?
Silt soil retains nutrients and moisture moderately well. It is generally easy to work with.
How can I tell what type of soil I have?
You can identify soil type by feel, examining grittiness or slickness, and by doing a jar test to measure the percentage of sand, silt, and clay particles.
What is the jar test for soil?
The jar test involves mixing a soil sample with water, allowing it to settle, and measuring the layers of sand, silt, and clay that separate out over time. This indicates the percentage of each component.
Which soil type is ideal for gardening?
Silt soil is generally considered the best type of soil for gardening, as it retains nutrients well and is easy to work with. However, clay and sandy soils can also be productive with proper amendments.
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