When developing a plot of land for horticultural needs, it is simply necessary to determine the composition, type of soil and its acidity.
This can be done by calling a specialist, which will entail certain costs, or you can yourself, so to speak “by eye”. But I assure you that an independent analysis will be quite enough to make certain decisions to increase the soil fertility in your area.
In this article I will tell you how to "determine" the composition and type of soil "by eye". Acidity will be left for the next publication.
There are 2 simple ways to conduct soil analysis on your own and without special equipment.
The first way.
At different points in the plot, we dig out small pits about 2-3 cm deep and take the earth for sampling.
On the basis of these samples of the earth and determine the composition, type and soil moisture:
Clay in the wet state it is a plastic, sticky and viscous mass, and in the dry state it forms a solid lump, which is rather difficult to crush.
Loam has the same properties, but they are less pronounced.
Clod sandy loam when dry, they easily crumble and are characterized by a lack of plasticity.
Dusty sand visually correlates with dust and has no grains.
Fine sandon the contrary, consists of the same particles, but distinguishable by the eye.
Gravel, or, Dresva, is a mixture that contains filling and grains of various parameters with sharp or rounded shapes.
Atpebbles orcrushed stone they exceed the size of the nut, are rounded or acute-angled and make up more than half of the total mass.
The rest is a shallow filling.
The second way.
The second assessment method is even simpler. Soil is selected in several arbitrary areas, slightly moisten it and roll the resulting lumps into cords of medium length.
Based on the results obtained and determine the type of soil using this table:
Sand - Unable to form cord
Sandy loam - The cord is not strong and immediately crumbles
Light loamy - A cord forms that easily crumbles
Loamy - A cord is formed that crumbles upon folding
Heavy loamy - From the resulting cord, you can roll a tight ring with a cracking surface
Clay - From the resulting cord, you can roll a tight ring with a smooth surface
Hope these easy ways will help you!