Botany Quiz: Which type of soil will allow water to drain away fastest?

Thank heavens we don't have sandy soil.................

We do, and the only thing good to say about that is the septic tank and drain field love it.

We live on a sand hill and as for the gardens, I amend the garden beds with anything and everything I can get my hands on for free and for money.

I noticed in my spring planting this weekend that after 3 years, the pure yellow sand is now turning grey and black, finally, doing some good.

Molly
:^)))

We have what everybody around here calls "black gumbo" ( I'm not sure what "technical name that is...lol).....the only places around here you can even run a tiller is where we've brought in sand or potting soil. It's like mush when it gets wet, and concrete when it dries.

but diam, this black gumbo is rich dirt. there is a "window of time" after a rain that this dirt just feels perfect and is easy to work. it does have to be amended though to help plants get the water they need.

It took me a long time to appreciate sandy soil. If you mix in good organic material and mulch to maintain the moisture level and keep out the weeds, it's a great medium. Everything grows so quickly, you have a great amount of organic material to compost. You can even take cuttings and put them directly in the soil where you want them and many will root within a couple of weeks. Now I have clay, so I need to learn what works here.

LIVED ON LONG ISLAND N.Y.,HAS SANDY SOIL,IT HAD MANY THINGS GROW,L.I.POTATO'S,SOD,AND LUSH GREEN TREES&FLOWERS....SO AT TIMES IT IS A GOOD THING....

I'd guess "black gumbo" would count as alluvial soil.

Sandy soil is good for some plants, not good for others. If you like pines, rhododendrons, etc., it's just what you want.

Resin

mamajack - I think I just haven't been working it thru this "window"......LOL......We do have some good areas where we have worked it - and around the pine trees is wonderful.

Well that was too easy.... I am one of the lucky ones, with what my soil test labeled "Sandy/Silt Loam" and made "No Recommendations" for amendment! I swear, sometimes I think I could cut off a finger, stick it in the ground, and grow a new hand! LOL It's hard to even call yourself a gardener with dirt like mine... you just can't hardly fail if the roots are in/on the ground. I've got earthworms the size of small snakes! ROFL Of course, I am also in what is considered by the feds a "Flood Plain" and pay for this luxury every year in the form of mandatory federal flood insurance! This area was swampland back in the day. They actually found a wooly mammoth skeleton less than 10 miles from my house! The farmers won't turn loose of an acre for development, hardly, either, which suits me just fine. I guess I am about 60 miles west of the muddy river, Mississippi. Sure hope another New Madrid quake doesn't divert it through my yard! (and that is no joke)

robertro2 - I don't know where on Long Island you lived but from Queens County all the way out here, at the tip of Long Island, in the six homes I've lived in we've had great soil. It's the kind of soil people only dream of having.

I chose sandy soil since it drains fast but I think Alluvial soil can sometimes be gravel so it could drain even faster in theory.

my soil is 3 in-one...according to where you put your foot down...clay...sandy...and calachie (sp)...can be either of those with in a step apart. Jo

I don't have sandy soil, I have sand! lol

I do raised beds with good loam, and the sand underneath makes it perfect...

"black gumbo" as they call it in Texas, is alluvial Pleistocene deposits (very fine grained silt and mostly clays)--glad my Geology degree finally has some use. Pleistocene deposits in Texas was actually the focus of my thesis. And it makes an excellent, fantastic growing medium with the incorporation of compost--specifically leaf mould.
=)

I have to add sand to my clay.

I have to edit to add that I also need to add compost and peat. (sometimes manure), otherwise someone wondered how I can grow anything.

This message was edited Mar 18, 2008 7:38 PM

My county agent says, that it doesn't help to add sand to clay soil. They don't really turn into that loam we were taught they would become. According to him, the only way to improve your soil is to add organic matter and to grow the kind of plants that like your soil. He said, ominously, I thought, that the soil always wins, no matter how much you amend it.

I currently have sandy soil and have to add lots of organic matter to hold water and to make the minerals in the soil into a form the plants can use. I have lived in the New Orleans area and gardened there and been able to make things grow there as well. That black gumbo is hard to work with, but I agree with the previous poster who said it was very rich. It just needs lots of organic matter to keep it from sticking together like a lump of potter's clay.

This message was edited Mar 17, 2008 4:56 PM

I can't just add sand to my clay, this caleche gets like cement when wet and dried out if you add just sand. I know sand drains the fastest, it is odd to think people can have that problem and still grow something.

I was told at the county extension that you have to use builder's sand with clay soils. I don'e know if builder's sand varies across the states. I happy I guessed correctly. I live with glacial till. That means ROCKS and hardpan. Raise beds-add soil.

My guess was sandy soil, as we have some property near a creek and it is really sandy and that ground is always much firmer and dried out compared to the soil on our home phone. Plants seem to mature quicker in that soil too. We have friends who have that same sandy soil, and he always seem to get ripe tomatoes before I do.

soapwort, pajari is right. due to difference in the size of a clay granule vs. sand the sand gets stuck all 'round the clay and essentially makes it harder.

Willow, I used to live in Washington and had to plant everything with a pickaxe. Never knew there was such rocky soil!

Hi Lavender 4ever, The pick axe sounds like a good gardening tool to me. My brother just about tipped his machine over trying to scoop out the dirt for our house. I live on the Olympic peninsula. Do you miss Washington? I've been through Nebraska.

We sit on top of a thin strip of what is supposed to be "sandy loam" in the DFW mid-cities when everyone to the east and west has the black gumbo. To me, when I dig in it, it seems more like red clay with sandstone rocks in it. However, it does take amendment nicely. When you mix in compost, it makes a very nice bedding soil.

Our meager soil does grow acid loving plants well with a little compost added.

As a licensed Geologist I tell people all about soil, all the time. And as a gardener, I have learned about the wonder of compost.

Sand drains the fastest. Black gumbo is alluvium. Alluvium is basically fine sand and silt, although deposited by water, water cannot pass through it. Caliche is a chemical deposition caused by the dry desert weather.

Glacial Till, hardpan is a pretty nasty soil, but thankfully, glaciers left recessional outwash on top of the till in many places. Recessional outwash or gravelly loam is what I garden without raised beds, but there are a million stones to remove.

I personally would love to live on a sandy property, as digging out the stones gets old. As a gardener I have learned that compost, more compost, and still more compost heal all soils gumbos, silty loams, tills, even caliche.

And why the heck is this called a botany quiz, its a soils quiz.

This message was edited Mar 17, 2008 11:03 PM

I went for sand draing fastest too. I moved from a very black gumbo clay to a piece of property that has never been cultivated. It's sand but covered in 3-6 inches of leaf mold. I was so excited with the first bed I dug, no straining to dig, so easy, LOL 2 days later it was soo dry. So it looks like mulch is still in order, just for different reasons.

We live on sand. Yes, it drains well. Two inches of water drains in about 5 minutes. The people here call it "blow sand" because that is what it does when the wind blows hard. The sand blows too. It reminds me of the sand in a kids sandbox.

got it right - wasn't sure if it was a trick question

I got it right, too--it helps to have personal experience (I live on what is basically one big sandbar!) We also have lots of rocks. . . but my soil-envy has been somewhat alleviated by reading of the problems other folks have with THEIR dirt!

At least you have soil, whatever variety. I have lived on top of my rock here in MA for 25 years and have had to make raised beds to grown anything at all except weeds which seem to do well everywhere.
Martha

Can I add my soil complaint, too? hehe ;)

I have this g-awful deep red clay that's so hard even jumping on my shovel only gets me down a couple of inches; pounding a short rebar into the soil, which I have to do as a leader for anything going into the ground, takes easily 70 - 100 hits to get down about 8 inches. And it stains EVERYTHING.

I hate it, I hate it, I hate it. I'm getting around it by building lasagne beds for everything & doing strawbale veggies. And I'm composting, but it's going to take years to get this soil really decent.

My soil is clay, clay, clay, so hard that I can't dig in it sometimes... But at least I can amend it, which I do, every year.

Here is a handy tool to have for that hard clay dirt!!

See the 3rd post. Jo

http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/119983/

My soil is red clay and my beds are all built up or no dig (lasagne) .having had both types to deal with in the past ...sand and clay I think they both have their plus and minus points, as someone said mulch fixes everything ...my built up beds are mostly washed river sand and some aged milled cow poo ...I top that with sugar cane or lucerne hay mulch ...after a couple of years the earth worms have taken the sand and goodies down into the clay and the earth becomes black and easy to work with.On the odd occasion when I really had to plant a shrub or fruit tree straight into the ground I spend a great deal of time making sure the clay is mixed very well with compost and soil improver ...in drought the clay will save the day, in flood if you have planted into the raised beds of sand mix things won't drown ...we have just had the wettest Summer ever and everything is ok.

woo! That's a monsoon! we've had a bunch of snow and some rainy days here. this isn't the worst winter we've every had, though we had two bad ice storms that messed up the roads pretty badly. I hope spring is coming to New England. I am ready.
Martha

Clay and caliche soil here. I add compost, mulch and soil mender twice a year. Started in about 1990 and I still have clay and caliche! In some spots there is o.k. topsoil now. Surprised to see how many have clay. Sand is difficult, too.

This seamed like a no brainer. I was a chef at a few coutry clubs and was fascinated at the way they installed the greens. Tons of sand with a thin layer of soil with whatever bent grass. You could pour 100gallons of water on those greens and it was gone in minutes. Analogdog has been to my house and my soil is pretty decent. No hard pan for at least a foot, but a few rocks in spots. I have all kinds of trees and plants in the ground, very few ammendments. Going to try worm tea for fertilizer this year but mostly just add water and stir!

Clay soil here too. Gypsum to amend the soil and of course lasagna beds. Will be my first year to experiment with strawbaling.

Well-drained loam here. I have great, deep soil. The only place in my yard that I have dug and found sand, is in the northwest corner of the front yard - otherwise, it's loam as deep as you can dig. It's great!
tl³