Isn't loamy soil essentially clay with sand and shouldn't it be similar to just adding sand to clay soil (assuming well mixed)?

Hello. I need subsoil for a design project where I am trying to recreate a small rammed earth wall. I find a quarry close to me that sells fill dirt which is close to what I need but they only sell it starting at 3 yards which is far more than I need. I only need about 10 gallons. I have been looking all over the internet for craft quantity but it seems like its not available for sale at that quantity. Might people here be able to point me toward any source that could be relevant and helpful to what I need? Any help is greatly appreciated!

In 2023 I had a soil test done about a month before I took a skid steer to my yard and corrected minor grade issue/fixed ruts and holes. This year I used another soil test and the results shocked me based on the amount of feeding I gave the new Bermuda lawn.

I assume this would be because of the soil structure being compromised during grading.

Is this normal? How should I handle this?

And a dumb question but can nutrients "re-settle" in place? Or are those old nutrients lost?

I’m going to finish my masters in soil science this year. Since I’m getting close to graduating, I’ve been starting to look for jobs. My undergrad was in plant science and my research has also had to do with plant nutrition. I still really liked learning about soil and learning how plants and soil interact with each other. I would like to still find a job that works with both plants and soil but as I’ve been looking I’ve ran into some questions.

I haven’t done much looking yet, but I got the impression that looking at the USDA and other federal agencies would be the best place to find a job in my field. The thing is, I haven’t found very many jobs on USAjobs and from what I’ve heard, it can be hard to compete for those jobs if I’m not a veteran.

My questions are Is it hard to get a job in the USDA or other federal agencies? Where are other good places to look for plant science or soil science jobs? And finally, how possible is it to find these kinds of jobs in Washington or Oregon?

I am familiar with the later but not with the latter. Is the conversion 1 to 1?

Weird blue power about 6 feet down. Cariboo bc. Volcano that was once active in area if that makes a difference. Curious to see if anyone knows what this is

Sorry for the super basic question(s), but I think about it every time I'm digging around in the sand that is my yard.

I understand that the ground is sandy and nutrients just wash right through - ok. But Florida has existed for 20-30 million years. It's been generating lots of biomatter on top of the sand for most of that time, right? I've also been told that there are layers of clay (at least in some areas) just a few feet below the surface.

So how come the ground just... never improves?

Does soil formation just take longer than I'm imagining? Is it the constant rain? The karst underneath that lets everything just wash through? Would Florida eventually develop real soil is everything continued as it has been? Something else entirely?

What about other tropical places? Does this mean that if we kill off the Amazon rainforest, it'll just do what my backyard does, and turn to sand?

Thanks to anyone willing to explain these basics to me.

Edit: Answer seems to be longer growing seasons keeping the microbes active year-round.

So I guess another add-on question for me then is, are people expecting widespread soil degradation in currently-rich soils? Like the chernozem in Ukraine? And on what timescale would we expect to see that?

Hi everyone. I'm looking to improve my soil's filtration and overall composition. It's mostly silt with a little bit of clay and l'd like to add some sand to it. I don't know how much volcanic sand will affect the pH or if it will compact the soil rather than aerate it. Is volcanic sand a good option? Or should I go for the much more expensive silica sand?

I had soil from my small city backyard tested, and some of the nutrients came back “high”. The plants currently growing seem to be thriving, so wondering if there is any risk or watch outs for these levels? Anything to be aware of for humans or pets?

This question may be a bit niche but I'm hopeful there are some general principles involved. I have a septic system with a leach field. The leach field is in Sandy, Loamy Sand soil. I unfortunately did not understand the implications of some heavy equipment (two 500 pound barrels filled with water/ice) in terms of potential soil compaction with the leach field. They were on the leach field over pipes (three feet deep, covered in a foot of gravel, which is covered by a foot of topsoil, followed by a foot of lightly compacted soil on top) for about 6 months this winter (in Colorado).

After removing the barrels, are there any steps that can be taken to test for compaction and potentially make efforts to alleviate the issue? Some initial thoughts would be core aeration and adding organic compost into those holes (do not want to add any additional topsoil or compost on top, as the whole idea is maximizing evaporation).

Would a good indication of a lack of soil compaction be the lawn continuing to grow in that area? If so, should I just wait and see what it looks like in the spring?

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"Once a particular humus form is established in the soil, it tends to be rather stable. Most agricultural soils in temperate and boreal regions have developed under a forest and as such carry an imprint of the forest composition that existed when the soil and its humus content were developing".

The previous pages are talking about organic matter deposition, recalcitrant organic matter, etc. My specific questions are:

• What does an "imprint" look like in the soil?
• What is the resolution of this imprint? I.e., what can it tell you about the former site conditions, past moder or mor (if anything)?
• Does the carryover have any effect on a site's current productivity or functioning?
• How long does the "imprint" last?

The book is quite vague and doesn't give any citations. I'm having a very hard time tracking down sources for this also. Please if you can answer any of my questions or point me to resources, that would be extremely helpful.

I want to use the soil for lawn, but I'm not sure if I should add more sand. There are also puddles after rain and the soil is very fluffy

This was offered on Marketplace. Would you use horse manure in your garden? I vaguely remember that there is a problem with horse manure in the garden.

Hi all,

I need to create a legend with the soils descriptions (not just the Map Unit abbreviations) for a project we are working on.

When I download the soils data for my AOI from WSS, I obtain a .zip file with several files. All of these files contain within the attribute table MUKEY and MUSYM.

I.e., what I need is a legend item that says "Xx, silty loam, 5-10% slopes". All I can get is, simply, "Xx". The file (I believe it is called MUNAME?) appears to be missing from the original .zip file.

Sorry if I am not explaining it well; and if this may be better suited to /r/gis.

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Background: I manage an online discussion forum where producers can ask about challenges related to soil health management. Recently, a producer asked for help in understanding the on-farm effectiveness of biostimulants in terms of productivity and economics. To gather information on this topic, we have created a questionnaire to better understand the motivation and challenges of using biostimulants. This knowledge will guide future farm practices and research. The survey should take 10-15 minutes to complete and will greatly benefit the farming community. Please share your experience!