Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
If you are lucky, your land will have 3 to 5 feet of topsoil. You will want to protect
your topsoil by avoiding intensive agriculture and minimizing erosion by wind and water.
Avoid overgrazing, seed and mulch bare spots, and plant trees and shrubs to minimize wind
erosion.
To see how well drained your soil is, you can perform a simple percolation test. Dig a
hole 1 foot deep and 1 foot wide. Fill the hole with water. Record how long it takes for the
water to drain completely. The ideal time is 10 to 30 minutes. Drought-prone soils drain
in 10 minutes or less and would be suitable only for dry-land plants. If it takes 3 hours or
more for the water to drain, your soil has either a large percentage of clay or an imperme-
able layer that blocks water flow.
Ribbon test
With about 2 tablespoons of moderately moist soil, try squeezing out a ribbon between
your thumb and forefinger. If you can't, your soil contains at least 50 percent sand and
only a little clay. If the ribbon breaks before it is 2 inches long, it contains 25 percent
clay or less. If you can squeeze out a 2- to 3½-inch ribbon, your soil contains 40 per-
cent clay or more.
To determine if your soil needs nutritional supplementation or chemical balancing, sub-
mit a soil sample to a soil-testing lab. Soil-sampling procedures are fairly standard. First,
you will need to determine the various distinct areas of soil on your property by noting
the following factors: difference in texture (sand, silt, clay), color, slope, degree of erosion,
drainage, and past management (fertilization, cultivating, grazing). Make a map of your
land and draw in these areas and number them.
Soil sampling
