Soil that is structural, moisture-proof, and enriched can be considered fertile. useful elements. Plants grow well in it, their roots have good protection And proper nutrition. You should know that any soil on a site can always be improved by raising its level of fertility. But to do this, you need to understand how to determine the composition of the soil at home.
Soil composition, its properties and structural structure
At the base of any soil plot there is sand, clay and silt, which determine the structure and properties of the soil by their proportions. The structure of the soil has good air and water permeability and is capable of retaining heat, water and nutrients for a long time.
Sandy areas absorb water well, warm up much earlier in the spring, freeze quickly in winter period. Based on the characteristics of their structure, such soils are considered poor, since they are practically unable to retain moisture and substances useful for plant growth.
Clay soils create stagnation of water and react rather slowly to changing seasons. This structure allows them to retain fertilizer components well and useful material, thereby ensuring good fertility on the site. Quite often such soils have neutral acidity.
Silty soil variants in such pure form come across quite rarely. As a rule, they can be found on former river beds. According to their characteristic characteristics, muddy areas are similar to sandy areas, but at the same time they have a fairly large supply of nutrients.
The elements listed above are contained in the su clay soils Oh. Such areas are considered easy to cultivate and quite fertile.
Rocky soil areas have good natural drainage, but are considered most exposed to the sun during the dry period.
Calcareous earth resembles sand, but differs in high levels of lime and has an alkaline reaction.
Peat areas consist of plant residues and have an acid reaction. They are well saturated with moisture, but are considered depleted in nutrients. They can usually be found in former swamps.
How to determine the composition of the soil yourself at home
On the site, you can determine the composition of the soil yourself. To do this, you need to water the ground with water from a hand watering can. If moisture penetrates deep from the surface in a split second, then your soil is sandy or rocky. It is possible that it is peat. But if the water lingers in the form of puddles, it means that the clay composition of the soil predominates in the area.
Now you need to take a handful of wet earth and squeeze it in your fist. After this you should look at her appearance. Sandy or rocky soil will quickly fall apart into grains and will seep through your fingers. Soil with a high percentage of clay will feel slippery, stick together, and remain lumpy. Silty soils and loams will feel soapy to the touch, but will not clump together as quickly as clay soils. When compressed, peat soil will remind you of the roughness of a sponge.
You can even do some research yourself at home. You need to take a tablespoon of soil from the site, add it to a glass with clean water, stir and leave for several hours. If it is loamy soil, then the water will remain clean, and the earth will settle to the bottom. Sandy or rocky soil will also leave the water in its pure form, covering the bottom of the glass with sediment in the form of pebbles or sand. Calcareous soil will make the water cloudy, giving it a gray tint. From the peat sample, fragments will float on the surface of the water. Clay and silt will make the water cloudy and there will be little sediment.
Neutral soil. Another way to determine the quality and composition of the soil is the presence of earthworms. The most favorable habitat for worms is soil with a neutral reaction. Wet environment and the presence of fresh organic matter contribute to the active reproduction and activity of earthworms. Worms are real soil orderlies; they process plant remains, tree bark, manure and other organic matter, which contributes to the formation of humus.
Humus is part of the soil most enriched with nutritional elements. At the same time, harmful microorganisms are removed from the soil. By processing waste and manure, worms disinfect and transform them into valuable fertilizers that contain a large number of enzymes, nutrients, beneficial microorganisms, organic acids useful for soil and plants. Humus is excellent and helps retain moisture in the soil.
Worms loosen the soil and create passages, which increases the penetration of oxygen and water through these passages into its deeper layers. Where the plants have greatest mass roots, to a depth of approximately 20 centimeters. As they move through the soil, worms carry fertilizer, lime, and organic material.
Thus, it is quite possible to conduct an experiment with soil at home. The results will give you the opportunity to decide which plants are preferable to grow, how to fertilize the soil, and care for it.
Soil composition. How to increase soil fertility? What soils are best on? cultivate a garden ?
What is the mechanical composition of soil? This concept refers to the ratio of mineral particles of different sizes.
According to the mechanical composition of soils, they are divided into several groups: light (sandy and sandy loam), medium (light and medium loamy) and heavy (heavy loamy and clayey). Sandy loam soils easily allow water to pass through, but retain it poorly, and this is not very good for plants, since along with water, nutrients from the surface layers in which the soil is located are also washed out into the deeper layers of the soil. root system plants
But the advantage of such soil is that it warms up quickly, which means that you can start cultivating it and planting seedlings in the spring quite early. Sandy loam soils can and should be improved by increasing their ability to retain moisture, as well as increasing their fertility.
For gardeners, the mechanical composition of the soil on which they plan to plant a garden is very important. Any soil consists of a mixture of organic and mineral substances. But at the same time, the amount of organic matter even in fertile soil is most often approximately 10%. The remaining 90% remains with minerals.
Loamy or sandy loam soil is best suited for planting a garden. If you don’t understand soil types at all, it doesn’t matter. You don’t have to be an expert to determine the type of soil in your own garden plot. In order to find out what type of soil is on your site, you need to take a small lump of earth and roll it into a cord. Next, this cord needs to be bent into a ring. If it is impossible to make a ring - the soil crumbles in your hands - then it is sandy soil. Sand cannot be rolled. Sandy loam soil rolls into a cord, but when bent into a ring it crumbles. You can make a ring out of light loam, but it will fall apart into several parts. If the soil consists of medium or heavy loam, then the bent ring will have cracks. And only the clay rolls into a cord and bends into a ring without cracks.
❧ There are indicator plants. One of them is the small northern orchid, otherwise called lady's slipper. It grows only in soils rich in calcium.
Having determined the composition and type of soil in your garden plot, you can begin measures to improve the fertile soil, if required. To improve its moisture-retaining qualities, it is best to dilute sandy or sandy loam soil with a loamy layer of 20-30% of the volume of the soil being improved. Heavy loamy and clayey soils, on the contrary, require the addition of sand in a volume of 30-50% of the soil volume.
If it is difficult to estimate the total volume of the site and the fertile soil layer on it, then proceed easier. Calculate required amount sand or clay to improve soil properties as follows. Sanding (adding sand) or claying (adding clay) of the soil is carried out at the rate of 30 kg per 1 m 2. Next, the soil is dug up to 20-25 cm and thoroughly mixed together with the additive.
As for clay soil types, they have the lowest quality properties. Such soils contain little air and a lot of moisture. When dry, a hard crust forms on their surface.
To improve physical properties clay soils, you need to fertilize the soil with organic fertilizers at the rate of 6-8 kg per 1 m 2. If the soil has increased acidity, then it must be additionally limed.
Loamy soils are the “golden mean” between sandy loam and clay soil types. But this does not mean that they do not need periodic replenishment of nutrients.
Gardeners often think that if the soil is poor, then it is necessary to add as many different fertilizers as possible. This is a misconception. If a large amount of fertilizers, especially mineral ones, immediately gets into poor soil, then an excessive concentration of nutrients occurs, and this is very harmful for plants. Therefore, it is best to increase the fertility of light soils by adding organic fertilizers to them.
Of course, it is difficult to determine by eye exactly what nutrients the soil lacks. The most complete and professional assessment of the agrochemical properties of soils can only be achieved by chemical analysis in laboratory conditions. Speaking about the usefulness of carrying out such an analysis, it should be mentioned that for relatively little money you will receive complete information about what nutrients the soil in your garden plot has and what it lacks.
If, after inspection and analysis, it turns out that there is no fertile soil layer on your site, then you will have to import this soil and then constantly maintain its quality.
Despite the fact that peat is considered one of the most effective and inexpensive types of fertilizers, it cannot be used as a fertile layer on the site. Peat can only be used as additional soil fertilizing. Peat is valuable organic fertilizer, and not an independent substrate for plant growth.
The use of pure peat as the top fertile layer of soil leads, after a short time, to the fact that plants planted directly in the peat begin to weaken, become sick and, ultimately, die.
Peat in its pure form can only be used for growing plants in greenhouse conditions, but special agricultural technology will be used. In addition, in greenhouses and greenhouses, peat must be regularly replaced as soon as its fertile properties are depleted.
Therefore, in the garden plot you should not use pure peat instead of a fertile layer of soil. It is better to purchase fertile soil in finished form or make it yourself by mixing sand, peat or compost and mixing these components with the soil on the site.
Despite the fact that peat is an excellent fertilizer, it is not black soil. It is mistakenly called chernozem because of the rich black color of the substrate. Although real black soil is mineral soil, there is little organic matter in it - about 10%. The only thing that peat and black soil have in common is color; otherwise, they have little in common.
Peat is a completely organic substance, lightweight and easy to work with. During two years of using peat on the site, only its positive traits, and only then - negative ones.
Externally, peat looks very diverse; it can also be sold under the most different names. For example: peat soil, peat-soil mixture, peat-sand mixture, humus, floodplain soil, etc. In fact, all this is ordinary dug lowland peat. It should be used only as an organic fertilizer and nothing else.
But as for the fertile layer of soil and soil, they do not have such a bright black color. The soil is usually dark in color, slightly darker than normal agricultural soil. Its mass is twice that of peat.
Indicators such as fertility, soil type and acidity are very important for every gardener. You need to know how and what to fertilize, which varieties will grow best in this particular area. There are home ways to determine soil indicators without the help of specialists.
To begin with, let's imagine the simplest way to determine the type of soil: just dig an area with a shovel, take out a lump of soil, moisten it a little and try to roll up a kind of rope or cord. If the lump rolls up very easily and holds its shape perfectly, you have clay soil, which is very poorly permeable to moisture and is considered heavy. If you couldn’t roll the cord out of the soil at all, you have sandy soil, light and loose, quickly allowing moisture to pass through. If the bundle as a whole turned out well, but cracked and began to fall apart when twisted, you are lucky, you have loam, optimal view soil for a productive garden.
Checking soil fertility is also very simple. This indicator can be judged by the number of underground workers - earthworms. Wait until the soil warms up to about +15 °C in the spring, dries out and dig a hole in the garden to a depth of about 30 cm, the sides should also be the same size. As a result, you will get a cube of earth with equal sides. Transfer the excavated soil to any bedding stand, loosen it and count how many earthworms you have in that amount of soil. If there are ten or more earthworms - good, the soil is fertile and healthy. The fewer worms you find, the worse the situation with the fertility of your site.
Testing soil acidity is, admittedly, a little more difficult. According to this indicator, the soil is divided into:
- acidic (pH 3.8-5);
- slightly acidic (pH 5.1-5.5);
- neutral (pH 5.6-7).
Acidic soil leads to problems with growing plants, other types do not. You can check the acidity of the soil using a regular table vinegar. Pour vinegar onto a piece of earth and monitor the reaction. Neutral and slightly acidic soil will begin to “boil”, that is, air bubbles will appear on it. In the case of acidic soil, such a reaction will not occur.
It helps to conduct a similar test with grape juice, the most common one, preferably freshly squeezed. A lump of earth is dropped into a glass of juice. If bubbles appear and they for a long time remain on the surface, and the juice itself has changed color - which means the soil is neutral, everything is in order.
More accurate results gives a test with currant leaves. They should be brewed in a glass of boiling water, after which a lump of earth is dropped into the resulting solution. Acidic soil will cause the broth to turn red, and the richer the color, the more acidic the soil. If the soil is neutral, the decoction of currant leaves will turn blue; if the soil is slightly acidic, it will turn pinkish; if it is close to neutral, it will turn green.
You can, of course, buy special device, which measures acidity.
Another simple test can be done for soil drainage. To do this, a hole up to 30 centimeters deep is dug and water is poured into it to the top. Wait until it is completely absorbed into the soil and pour it again. Note the time. If the water drains slowly the second time, it took longer four hours- your drainage is poor.
Having acquired his own piece of land, a novice landowner or summer resident begins his gardening work by improving the soil. Is this improvement necessary? If the site has been under natural vegetation cover for many years, it is quite possible that for several more years, even with intensive use, the soil will not need to be “improved.” Therefore, in order to competently start your gardening, you first need to:
- determine its physical state (mechanical composition and structure),
- degree of soil acidity (acidic, alkaline, neutral),
- chemical composition (nutrient supply).
Most correct solution– submit the soil to a specialized laboratory for analysis. If this is not possible, you can (approximately) determine the preliminary composition of the soil, the level of its structure and its supply of nutrients independently.
Mechanical composition and structure of the soil
To preliminarily determine the soil type, moisten a handful of soil and roll it into a doughnut.
- A smooth ring without cracks indicates that this is clay.
- If the donut is covered with several cracks, it is heavy loam.
- When the donut dries naturally, its surface becomes covered with many cracks - the soil is classified as medium loam.
- If the bagel breaks when rolling, you have light loam.
- If the sausage doesn’t work out, it crumbles even when rolling, instead of full-fledged soil, there is sand in front of you.
- If, when rolling, the bagel crumbles into small individual lumps - sandy loam.
To determine the level of soil structure, simply cut off a layer of soil with a shovel and throw it into the air. Structured soil will crumble into pieces when dropped. individual elements– lumps, grains, etc. Heavy clay soil will fall like a pancake, while sandy soil will crumble into dust.
All of these soil types need treatment. Heavy ones will not allow water to pass through. They are practically impenetrable to air. After watering, a crust forms on such soils, water stagnates and rainwater. Plants are in constant oppression. sandy soil will allow all the water to pass through without hindrance, taking with it the soluble forms of the applied fertilizers. Such soils must be treated before use. The main medicine is organic matter: manure (cow, horse, sheep, etc.), humus, composts. To increase the breathability and structure of heavy (clayey) soils, sawdust, finely chopped (no more than 5-6 cm) perennial grasses, shrubs, tree branches, and bark will help. It is good to add turf and forest soils to sandstones, having previously (in the fall) layered them with manure, peat, and compost. In the spring, spread it around the site and dig it up.
Em F
Treatment can be carried out in two ways:
- Do not grow anything on the plot for 2-3 years. Do only treatment. In addition to the added organic matter, during this period, occupy the area year-round with green manure, sowing and burying, when reaching a height of 8-12 cm, several times a season.
- Carry out treatment in parallel with the cultivation of vegetable gardens and planting fruit and berry crops. If the second method suits you better, keep in mind that you cannot use fresh manure for crops and limit its rate for autumn digging (no more than 1 bucket/sq. m). Otherwise, the sown and planted crops will burn.
The degree of acidity of different types of soils
For normal development plants great importance has a soil solution reaction. According to the acidity level, soils are divided into:
- Strongly acidic. These include swamps and lowland peatlands,
- Sour. Most often these are soils under coniferous crops, clay-turf and peat bogs,
- Slightly acidic. Sod and heather lands,
- Neutral. The main soils for growing garden crops are: turf, humus, deciduous, all types of chernozems and others.
- Alkaline and highly alkaline. These include carbonate soils with a high content of calcium and its compounds.
In addition to the above gradation, there are also saline soils.
The vast majority of plants grow and develop well, form full harvest on neutral soils. Can be grown on slightly alkaline and slightly acidic soils garden crops, but there will be noticeable inhibition of plants that require neutral acidity.
Standard Soil Acidity Testing
If it is not possible to carry out an analysis in a chemical laboratory, you can purchase a pH tester or litmus strips with a scale in specialized stores. It is enough to stir a lump of earth with water in a glass and lower the litmus paper. Compare with scale. The changed color when compared with the scale will indicate the degree of acidity of the soil. For cultivated plants The optimal soil is one that has a pH of 6.5-7.5.
Approximate determination of the degree of soil acidity by vegetable and weed vegetation
If you don’t have a pH tester or haven’t stocked up on litmus strips, you can determine the approximate acidity of the soil by looking at weeds.
On strongly and moderately acidic soils, horse sorrel and garden sorrel form almost half-meter thickets. On such soils, overgrown plantain, sorrel-leaved knotweed, Ivan-da-Marya with tricolor violet and creeping buttercup look charming. A beautiful decorative carpet of wood sorrel and green moss will cover the damp areas of the summer cottage.
Neutral and slightly acidic soils are always covered in spring with healthy green shoots of winter crops of dill, onions, and lettuces. The orderly rows of peas and early potatoes are pleasing. Seedling crops such as eggplants, sweet peppers, and tomatoes quickly take root.
If pre-winter or early spring sowing vegetable crops no, then creeping wheatgrass with thistle, the bright greenery of coltsfoot, clovers and field bindweed entwining strawberries will confirm that the soil is suitable for growing the vast majority of garden vegetable products.
There are “omnivorous” weeds. Field bindweed grows with equal success on slightly acidic-neutral-alkaline soils. In this case, you need to take a close look at the accompanying weeds. There is a lot of horsetail, chickweed, mosses - the soil is acidic, and if larkspur predominates, resin is alkaline.
Edwin Garden crops need neutral soil. Tolerates slightly acidic and slightly alkaline soil. In all other cases, the soil must be rehabilitated.
Home express soil acidity analysis
Are you having trouble distinguishing between types of weeds? There are several other ways to conduct a quick home test to determine soil acidity levels.
Method 1 is suitable for determining soil acidity before leaves bloom.
- Spread the soil in a layer of 1-2 fingers in a small vessel (shallow plate).
- Place large drops of table vinegar on the soil in several places.
- If bubbles appear on the surface of the soil, it means the soil is neutral. If there is no reaction, then the soil is acidic and needs to be deacidified.
Method 2 is used if there is grape juice (not wine) of dark colors (black, dark pink, red) in the house. Throw a lump of soil into a container with juice.
- If the juice has changed color and bubbles appear on the surface, it means that there are enough calcium salts in the soil and it has a neutral reaction.
- If the solution remains unchanged, the soil is acidic.
Method 3 is usually used in the summer. Boil tea from currant or cherry leaves. Cool well and throw some earth into the solution.
- If the solution turns red, it means that the area is acidic and is not suitable for vegetable crops.
- The green or blue color of the solution indicates, respectively, a neutral or slightly acidic soil reaction.
simonsublime These methods for determining the degree of soil acidity are usually used when planting landscape shrubs(conifers, heathers, rhododendrons).
How to change soil acidity?
To reduce acidity, acidic soils are usually limed using
- ground limestone,
- dolomite flour,
- burnt slaked and quicklime,
- ground chalk,
- peat tuffs,
- marl.
If there is industry nearby, then its waste can be used to deoxidize the soil:
- oil shale ash,
- cement dust,
- peat ash,
- gas lime.
On light soils it is better to use dolomite flour. For heavy ones, limestone or ash elements are more effective.
To increase acidity, add coniferous soil, high peat, mineral fertilizers with an active acid reaction, mulch with half-rotted pine needles. It should be noted that the long-term application of mineral fertilizers alone gradually acidifies the soil, and it requires periodic deoxidation or the addition of organic matter (manure, humus, compost). A highly effective fertilizer and a good deoxidizer is wood ash. When burned, all basic nutrients and microelements remain in the ashes (except nitrogen).
Signs of nutrient deficiency in plants
For normal height During development, plants need a balanced amount of essential nutrients and microelements. A deficiency or excess of an element can be immediately identified by the results of a chemical analysis of plant organs. But, if the laboratory is far away, you can independently diagnose the condition of the soil and plants without special equipment. Based on the appropriate signs, you can independently determine the deficiency or excess of essential nutrients and microelements. Microelements have a positive effect when there is a sufficient amount of organic matter in the soil.
Remember! Mutilated, small, tasteless vegetables are the first sign of micronutrient deficiency in the soil.
The growth of healthy plants not damaged by the disease is delayed. The leaves become unnaturally light green in color, and the lower old leaves become yellow. In relation to the main stem, the leaves are located at an acute angle. The shoots sometimes have a reddish tint.
Amy Grant Excess nitrogen results in a burst of increased growth of above-ground vegetative mass. Insufficient flowering. The period of fruit formation is delayed. They don't ripen.
Phosphorus deficiency
The leaves are intensely dark green with shades of bluish, red, and bronze. Some crops develop red leaves that are unusual for them. There are practically no yellow tints even on old leaves. The leaf blades are small, old ones become spotted. When dry they turn black. Flowering is delayed.
Mark Bolda Potassium deficiency
Pronounced variegation, some plants have a bluish-green color. The manifestation of deficiency begins from the middle part of the shoots. At the tops of plants, chlorotic spots surround areas of dead tissue. The tops and edges of the lower leaves of young plants are wrinkled and curl downwards. With severe starvation, the edges of the leaves, and even individual shoots, turn brown and dry out.
George Weigel Magnesium deficiency
The leaf blade becomes covered with whitish (almost white) spots near the large veins of the leaf. In some plants, the color of the marginal veins becomes red or purple. Almost no leaf dying is observed.
Zinc deficiency
The leaves are small, narrow, and hard to the touch. With isolated chlorotic spots. Collected in multi-leaf rosettes on the tops of young shoots. It is not the leaf that dies, but its individual sections throughout leaf blade, capturing the lateral and central veins. Dead tissue disintegrates.
Ross Brennan
Boron deficiency
The growth point of the stems of the above-ground mass and the root system dies. A dwarf bush is formed from thickened stems with small foliage. Flowering is rare, ovaries fall on early stages development. The tops of the shoots dry out, the fruits contain a lot of suberized tissue, the flesh is coarse with a bitter aftertaste.
Sulfur deficiency
Pale green color of leaf blades, but leaf dying, as with nitrogen deficiency, is not observed.
Iron deficiency
General chlorosis of the entire plant until the end of the growing season without death of leaves and stems.
Copper deficiency
Chlorosis of individual large areas of the aboveground mass of plants. In contrast to iron deficiency, there is a pronounced whitening of the tips of the leaf blades.
Begins to appear from old leaves. First, their edges turn yellow, and then the entire leaf blade. At the same time, the veins on the leaf blade remain green. Over time, young shoots are affected and die.
We have gone into detail about what types of soils you may encounter on your site. We wrote how these soils differ from each other, and how they can affect the yield of your crops.
Let us briefly repeat what has been said.
The best soil for farming is loam, it contains an equal proportion of three minerals: clay, sand and silt. The remaining soils are determined by the increased content of any one substance. Accordingly, they are clayey, sandy and silty. All of them have their drawbacks, either in excessive density and poor permeability of moisture and air (clayey), or, conversely, in excessive friability and inability to retain moisture and nutrients (sand). Accordingly, each type of soil requires a special approach when growing garden crops on it.
That’s why you definitely need to know what characteristics the soil in your garden or vegetable garden has.
If you do not have the opportunity to conduct a laboratory analysis of the soil from your site, you can do your own research.
The simple test we offer will help you determine your soil type based on percentage it contains sand, clay and silt. To carry it out you will need the following:
- pure liter glass jar with lid;
- small scoop;
- water;
- dishwashing liquid;
- ruler;
- well, your soil itself.
So, first dig a hole in the ground 20 centimeters deep and 10 centimeters wide.
Fill a third of the jar with soil, taking it equally from all levels.
Add water to the jar, leaving 4-5 centimeters to the top.
Add one tablespoon of dish soap to soften the water.
Close the lid and shake the mixture well. Now you have to wait 24 hours. However, preliminary results will be visible earlier.
So, sand, as the heaviest fraction, will settle down first. This can happen in literally five minutes. The second layer will be silt. This layer will settle down in about two hours. The last one will be clay. It will take most of the time for it to settle – up to 24 hours.
Organic impurities will remain floating on the surface of the water.
Now we take a ruler and measure the thickness of our layers (except for water). The sand layer is the lightest, it is at the bottom. The silt layer is the darkest, it is in the center. The clay layer is somewhere in between in color, it is at the top.
We take the total amount as 100 percent, and calculate the proportions of sand, silt and clay based on the results obtained.
You can see how it will roughly look in the pictures.
As we see, based on the ratio of substances, it may be different type soil. May be 95% clay or sandy. And there may be such options as sandy loam, silty loam, etc.
Remember that any type of soil