Knowing texture/ type of your garden soil is
foremost thing which you should do to maximize the chances of success. So
question is - Can it be done at home without much efforts?
Yes, you can. Follow the below steps for testing
your garden soil.
1. Take sample of your
garden soil. Make sure that the soil sample represents your garden soil. Or
better take different samples from different garden beds / areas.
2. Take a plastic jar and
fill it with soil sample till half way.
3. Now fill three forth of
the plastic jar having soil sample with water leaving some space for shaking
and Close the lid tightly.
4. Shake the jar
vigorously for 3-4 minutes to separate the soil particles. You can add a pint
of powdered detergent to make separation of soil particles fast.
5. Leave the jar untouched
for 24 hrs. Sand (Coarse soil particles) settles down at the bottom of the jar
due to heaviest nature of particles. The process is completed within few
minutes of shaking. Silt (lighter than sand but heavier than clay) takes few
hours to settle out of the solution. It forms middle layer between sand and
clay. Clay, the lightest particle in soil can take 1 to 2 days to settle out
the solution. It makes top layer of finely textured soil particles and is light
in color.
6. Organic matter remains
suspended in solution.
Calculation
Measure the height of
each layer with a ruler and divide each layer width with total height of soil
sample in the jar to calculate percentage of sand, silt and clay in soil
sample.
% sand = (Height of sandy layer (bottom) / total height of
soil sample) * 100
% silt = (Height of silt layer (middle) / total height of
soil sample) * 100
% clay = (Height of clay layer (top) / total height of
soil sample) * 100
For example, suppose if height
of sandy layer is 5 cm, silt layer is 2.5 cm and clay layer is 2.5 cm then % of
each type in my soil would be -
Total
height of soil in jar is 5cm +2.5cm +2.5cm = 10 cm
%
sand
= (5 cm/10cm *100) = 50 %
%
silt
= (2.5cm/ 10cm) * 100 = 25%
%
clay
= (2.5cm/10cm) * 100 = 25%
So the composition of
soil sample (sand, silt, clay) would be 50, 25, 25.
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