Posted elsewhere but the more answers the better:

I am studying for a soil science exam - my academic background is microbio w/ required chem. minor for undergrad.

Reading through CEC info, I understand why clays can have a high capacity for accepting cations as it relates to structure and charge, but don't understand why the all-encompassing "OM" has such a high capacity for accepting positively charged ions.

Can someone elaborate on why this is the case as it relates to the chemical composition/structure of Humus/OM?

hello everyone

I'm new to the farming sector, with limited or no knowledge. I inherited 3 parcels of land (total of 35 hectares), 20 hectares of peat soil and 15 hectares of silty soil.

I have no idea how to get started,

the land was used to grow chickpeas, corn, wheat, pepper and, mainly animal feed

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Hi! I have a table of NRCS soil type data that was created over time, looking up numbers on the web soil survey tool. I'd like to make a quick, more accurate, reference table. Is there a way to pull database information from the site that has that specific data?

I am new to gardening and soil science. About two years ago we had brick raised beds in the yard that were just covered in rock. I removed the rock, and my dog decided to take up using those beds as a bathroom spot. I didn’t mind thinking it was like fertilizing with manure and would occasionally remove the piles or cover them with leaves and dirt trying to build up the soil. I didn’t know at the time that dog waste isn’t a safe fertilizer for edible plants. I eventually planted lots of flowers, flowering herbs, and shrubs in that spot which are doing well. I haven’t planted edible things, but I wish I could. I’m wondering: will that soil ever be safe to use again for food? Is there a way to make it pathogen free without using harsh agents or killing all of my plants? Thanks everyone!

What are your thoughts on my results? Which fertilizer do you recommend? I still have some Scott ultra feed left ( 40-0-5 ). Would this be ok? Any thoughts on other macros results? Thank you

I recently got to know about this. Just thought if anyone know or used this innovative anaerobic compost bag for soil and plant improvement?

Title pretty much says it all. I live in the tropics and work with forestry. We are using Acasia trees to reforest and they’re not native. I’ve noticed the approach is always conventional like just looking at npk and rainfall. I’m thinking since reading studies that the native microbes matter and when nonnative trees are planted to reforest it effects the area. I think we would have better results with native trees using native (to that specific are) microbes, bacteria, ferments, or amendments. One of the problems is the areas are very acidic and only get good rainfall half the year. To offset this we add lime, but I think lime takes to long and mostly effects the surface. I think adding gypsum would help and go deeper. I believe that disrupting the area with nonnative trees isn’t as productive as the microbiology specific to that area suffers. Long term a lot of these tree plantings are not super successful. I believe we need multiple soil tests throughout the year in one area before and after planting to know how to better amend the area. These areas are pretty much dead and the lack of focus on bringing back soil biology is a problem for the immediate and long term success. Please throw me all the ideas, insights or knowledge you have. This is a huge problem here in the pacific. It damages our drinking water, reefs, wildlife and actual landmass. Forgot to mention the soil type is saprolite and a lot of the soil here is clay type.

We moved into our property last year. We have been working on rejuvenating the property and have made some progress, but I'm having a hard time bringing life back to some areas.

Link to soil pictures and videos https://imgur.com/a/y5gngig

Any suggestions are appreciated!

I saw on a gardening thread how Miracle Gro is considered pretty poor. It made me wonder about all the times Ive simply used that in pots and beds. Now Im guessing Ill have to be a bit better with my shopping.

I was cutting out a pipe of my pool heater and about a quart to half gallon of antifreeze spilled into the soil where it was located. I sprayed it with water and then tried to dig out as much as I could before covering with additional new soil and pavers.

I have a two yr old and a 6 month pregnant wife so I just want to make sure there is no danger to them. It is on the side of the yard that we don’t really go around

Hey All,

I’m wondering if any soil scientists out there know of an easy, quick field test for figuring out if a soil is saturated above the field capacity. I don’t need to know what the field capacity is (which is all I’ve been able to find researching this topic), I just need to know if the water in it will be able to drain out.

Background: I’m an environmental tech who drills monitoring wells all the time. I don’t have issues in the sandier soils, but the clayier stuff is really hard to interpret in the field. I’ve drilled wells into soils that looked pretty dry and had tons of water, and stuff that was sopping wet that had none. I believe this is because the field capacity is so much higher than sandier soil. If I interpret it incorrectly, there’s a good chance that my well will be dry.

I want to grow some basil in an indoor pot and have espoma with myco-tone. Is this safe for growing food that I plan to eat?

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I dug out a pond in the yard of a new house build, and after about a foot of garden topsoil that was added by the landscaper, I hit clay. Weirdly, there was about 6" of light brown coloured clay, and then a layer of darker almost black stained clay that smelled kind of gross and oily. Not sure if there was some weird chemical spill.

Anyway, I had to dig out a big pile of the stuff, and now it's sitting in my yard. I've been throwing puolled weeds, kitchen scraps and other organics at the pile, but wondering if that's even worth doing vs. just getting the entire pile dumped somewhere. Is there any chance this stuff can turn into good soil over time? I see posts about gypsum for certain types of clay, which I'm debating trying, as well as planting certain crops, but that seem to apply to trying to improve in-ground clay soil architecture, whereas this is just a big pile of clay. Curious as to people's thoughts.

I've followed procedures I've read about on university sites to test different soils on my farm. Overall, I've been surprised with how little clay there is in the soils that act like clay. So as an experiment, I took some clay from a river bank that passed the pliability test where I could roll it into a coil around my finger without any cracks, and the jar test is still showing mostly silt. There is a lighter clay layer that settles out over 48 hours, but it's very thin compared to the layer beneath it. These are clays that I've molded and fired before.

Is it possible the clay is coagulating into larger chunks that are behaving like silt in the jar test? Is there any other way to determine clay content at home?