I have been battling the enemy for 3 yrs. My yard is infested with Snake/Crazy Worms! No winter cleanup of leaves during Covid. Spring cleaning showered hundreds of worms under the wet bottom layer of leaves. They were on top of the soil to 2 inches down. I reported it to the State of MA.USA. Th There was nothing they can do. They had no way to kill worms. I have 35,000 sq ft lot ,18” around the boarder has crazy worm damaged soil. It bothers me that nothing is being done. The earths soil is being depleted of nutrients by highly invasive Asian crazy worms. I will not be here to see the long term damage they will do. Someone needs to take this seriously. In a 5’ x 14” area I collected 68 worms. The only way to control the spread is to pick them up by hand. Wear gloves they bite. I learned that the hard way. Parasite pill was needed. I pickup ever worm that is on top of the soil, I don’t discriminate. Collect them in a small container cover them with water add dish soap and white vinegar. Let it sit. I have many photos. Could only add one

Hi! When my partner and I moved into our home, the backyard soil was completely dry, cracked, and barren. After all the heavy rains in Northern Ca this past year, lots of plants started popping up.

I'm a firm believer that weeds are just plants where people don't want them, so I would really only dig up the ones that I could identify (via Seek and google) as invasive and let the others do their thing.

We've had zero time for backyard care lately and our backyard is now a mini jungle.

We're wondering though, if this growth is beneficial for our soil, since there are also lots of worms, and I know roots can have relationships with microbes and that a healthy microbe population is important for good soil. But that's the extent of my knowledge!

Would love any insight as I can't figure out how to find the answer via Google search.

Thank you!

Hi everyone,

I have a question for those with experience with NRCS. I'm interested in switching careers to soil health and becoming an NRCS conservationist long-term, or doing something similar. However, my bachelor's is in the social sciences and humanities.

Will it be possible for me to ever progress beyond a Soil Conservation Tech (GS-4 or maybe 5 I'm guessing based on job descriptions) without a bachelor's in a soil or environmental science related field?

I would potentially be willing to go back and get a second bachelor's, but am hoping I won't have to do that. I'd definitely be willing to take a few classes in soils, agronomy, etc. but am hoping I don't have to go back full time in order to pursue this career path.

Also wondering if experience can be substituted for education at all.

​

If it is impossible or really hard to progress beyond a tech without a bachelor's in the field, are there similar career paths to NRCS conservationist that anyone can recommend that may have less strict education requirements?

TIA!

Sooo I’m not sure if this is the right community to even ask this but I’m trying everything lol. So I’ve just bought Canna Terra Professional Plus Soil Mix and when I first read about it it seemed good for my indoor plants and good reviews but the more I read the less I feel like I’ve gotten the right thing. I do apologise if this is way off topic or what this community is about but wanting some advice on soil..

Hey, I have a few dumb questions about soil organic carbon vs soil organic matter.

I'm writing my bachelor thesis and I've read dosens of articles about SOC, but I came up with some simplistic/dumb questions that are not directly answered anywhere and I just wanna know how I should phrase my sentences in the thesis when talking about those things. Also I just wanna say that I know about the topic itself, so don't waste your time explaining other stuff than just what I wrote below.

1. I understand, that SOC is 58 % of SOM. Does it mean, that when talking about SOC, we litteraly mean only the carbon (C) part of the SOM? Like litterally only the chemical element C in the compounds, not compounds that include C. So we can use it basicly only when talking about quantification of the carbon cycle?

2. SOM means just the whole compounds, where is SOC? Or anything, that comes out of plants/microorganisms and stays in the soil for some time? What I mean by that is; does SOM include also compounds without C?

I would be grateful for any answer. Also if this is the wrong thread for this topic, please tell me where I should ask. Thanks

just went out to get some soil for vegetable gardening at a nearby place and there seems to be a good amount of plastic in the soil. It's STA certified but what does this mean for the plants? Is it still considered organic? Thanks

Opened up the happy frog soil and it looked like this

I have 15 pots of varying sizes on my roof for growing herbs and vegetables. Every year I add some store bought compost and the garden has done okay. Last year the garden yielded disappointing results and seemed to struggle through the summer. This spring, I opted for a soil test and despite the abnormal macro/micro levels, the recommended solution was simply to add a nitrogen fertilizer (0-0-12). Does that sound right? I’m nervous I’m going to have another year of unhealthy plants.

I have been on the hunt for a soil profile measuring tape, as is often pictured in USGS photos or textbook photos of soil pedons.

I’ve found a couple of vendors online but they all appear to only sell metric tapes. I’m specifically looking for one that uses imperial measurements. Ideally it would have markings in 1 inch increments up to 72”. Id like the tape to be wide with large enough numbers to be legible in photos shot from 8-10 feet away.

Do these exist, and where can I find one?

I’m not sure where the silt endss and the clay begins. Thanks!

I brought a bag of soil conditioner a while back and forgot about it accidentally. It's been sitting outside for about 1-2 years now, still in the bag. I was cleaning out my yard when I found it, is it still usable for gardening?

Bear with me for the context, and my question is below. I know that soil, when sterilized using the oven method, can begin to release toxic phytochemicals as a result of salts reacting with the heat. I didn’t have a temp stick so Im worried I may have overdone it The soil smells just a tad bit weird, but not like ammonia or decay, and so as a test, I took 6 cuttings off my succulents and planted them to see if they’d root. And they have, 4 still look great, others look like they’re just kind of limited in how much they’re growing The soil still slightly smells. All the bacteria are dead so it can’t be anaerobic. I added tons of perlite and gritty mix to it to aim to reduce the salt concentration. I guess what I’m asking is, if I were to use this potentially, at the very least diluted phytotoxic salt-accumulated soil, in the long-term, will my succulents die? Root burn and diseases due to structural impairment are my concern.

If so, which mechanism is dominant in the process (e.g. soil organisms mixing the soil, rainfall agitating the soil)? Or does the sand just sit on top of the soil for a long time?

I’m in the uk and I’m trying to break in some (American) footballs. To do this it is recommended to mud them. I can’t get my hands on any Lena Blackburne mud and all the top soil here has a fair amount of sand in it. They recommend silt soil.

Can any one help me find very fine grade/silt soil without sand I can use?

Any help much appreciated

I had a soil test done on my Camellia bed and had some pretty big outliers according to test ranges: ph 6.43, Nitrogen 3.52, sulfur 2.8, and Calcium 333.

They are 2yrs old and still pretty small.

I've read a lot, but there are so many different views and suggestions. Any advice I can get on how to get the Nitrogen in shape without burning the Camellia would be welcomed.

I want to use a soil auger for personal use (mostly for fun). I asked my pedology professor for a recommendation and he suggested an Edelman combination auger. I think the ones we use in my class make about 3'' diameter holes.

I live in north Florida, so I would rather a combination auger than a sand auger. Also an auger with a way to add/remove an extension would be great.

Since I just want to dig holes in my parents' yard and at the park and such (will fill them back of course), what size should I get as well?

I'm hoping to stay within a $250 budget because I'm still a student, do you guys have any suggestions, resources, or brands you could point me to? Thanks!