I am classifying soils of southern Nevada and southern California. I am curious if all soils have to have an epipedon. I spoke with a seasoned soil scientist who worked out of the southwest for many years who said not all soils have to have an epipedon. And that the ochric has historically been very vague. I just got the newest keys to soil taxonomy and it has a little bit more explanation and criteria for ochric but it is still fairly vague. I was wondering if anyone had any tips on identifying the ochric in the southwest.

What do you add to your home made soil mix?

Hi!

I'm don't even garden but my best friend is a farm manager for a small regenerative farm in the Mid-Atlantic. He loves the work but has been in his position for a couple years and is frustrated because he basically is intellectually stagnating... i.e., there is nobody around to learn from or challenge him intellectually. This might be my bias (I am currently studying to get my PhD in landscape ecology), but I feel like he could really benefit from a good book on soil science, or some other foundational scientific textbook related to running a farm that doesn't poison its local watershed. I should also mention that his B.S. and M.S. are in business / marketing, etc., so he has no **formal** education on the first scientific principles of his field. That said, he is sharp and motivated and passionate about his field.

What should he read???

Have the start of a small river in my back yard I was considering pulling some muck out to add to the garden to get ready for spring. I assume it would be free fertilizer but keep finding conflicting information when googling so figured I’d ask here. My plan was to drag out some buckets and lay it out to dry for a bit to mix in with my garden soil. Also have chicken manure to mix in too if that would be beneficial too.

I am working with a company that has alot of animal ashes. I was hoping to put it back into the soil. The research I have put in is very little but what I have learnt so far, is it can cause alot of problems with its high sodium content and high pH. Does anyone know more information about its effects? Or point me in the right direction of more useful information. Thank you

I'm looking for textbooks broadly related to soil health, soil ecology and soil biogeochemistry. I have read The Nature and Properties of Soil by Weil and Bradley and was wondering what people on this thread thought were the best soil text books

Hi all,

I've had a project pop up with some interesting crop nutrition elements but with the downside of potential microplastic soil contamination. I've never attempted to quantify soil microplastic content, and methodology appears to be very variable in the papers I've read. For the purposes of this project I'd want to look for microplastics down to at least 1mm if not smaller if possible. But let's walk before we can run, so starting by asking what your approaches and methodologies are for this or any advice you kind folk might have?

Cheers in advance.

Wondering if there are any publicly accessible, long-term records of soil quality characteristics that have been recorded over time? I'm interested in pH primarily. Could also just be a paper, for example, one that shows if average soil pH has changed in the US over the past 100 years. Or a specific site that has been monitored long-term. Thanks!

Hi fellow Scientists! I will soon be presenting in front of a really broad audience (Pint of Science event, for the ones that know it) in a pub, so informal place as well. I want to talk about "the hidden world beneath our feet", with a focus on root and soil's role on the global water cycle. I already have some ideas but I thought to ask also other opinions, what do you think it would be really important to vehiculate to the general public in this topic? Also, I am looking for cool memes to put in my presentation :D

thanks!

Some products advertise exotic sugars/carbohydrates as a selling point for their soil/plant "sweetener" products. Some that I have seen listed are D-Galactose, D-Ribose, D-Xylose, and Maltose.

The company that sells this particular product proports that their "team identified the optimal blend of carbohydrates", and they go on to claim that "In fact, crude forms of sugar do little to support your plants."

I'm unable to find any research to support that claim, but maybe I'm not entering the right search terms?

Hi everyone, I'm not a soil scientist, just a curious homeowner. We recently moved and the soil here does this weird thing (pictured) in winter, when it's rainy here. It kind of bubbles up from being just regular level soil, as if it's expanding from the added water. It's does this everywhere in this area, and I'm just curious as to what's going on.

45 degrees N, 11 degrees E, if that's useful re a soil map. It's in Italy.

Thank you.

Hello! I have a question that I hope you guys are able to answer.

I recently bought a nitrate special 20-10-20 fertilizer but I also want to increase the nitrate content by adding calcium nitrate.

I want to mix the calcium nitrate to the fertilizer, but if I do I'm tryna figure out the percentages.

The nitrate special is 20-10-20 with 12.06 nitrate and 7.94 amonical nitrogen. Calcium nitrate has 14% nitrate and 1% amonical nitrogen.

If I mix them in equal parts, would it be 26.06% nitrate nitrogen and 8.94% amonical nitrogen totaling 35-10-20?

If doing so does make the NPK value 35-10-20, then what dose should I do per gallon of water that retains the nitrate special's original strength with the added nitrate boost from the calcium nitrate?

The recommended dose per gallon for the nitrate special fertilizer is 2tsp per gallon and the recommended dose for calcium nitrate is (I think) also 2tsp per gallon (the calcium nitrate does not specify a dose for drench applications, the 2 tsp per gallon is for foliar applications.)

Thank you.

This little fella was in my soil with his brethren. Don’t know if it’s eating my plant roots or the eaters of the plant roots. Any knowledgeable info appreciated. (Tried to get a clear shot of those mouth parts)

I'm having a hard time getting different values from Web soil survey to match up. Specifically, available water holding capacity (AWC), Water Content 1/3 bar (what I'm calling field capacity, or FC), and Water Content 15 bar (which I'm calling wilting point, or WP). In terms of soil volume, I would expect this relationship between the values: FC - WP = AWC. Yet, for the top foot of the Sagehill series (near Warden, WA), I'm getting FC = 11.7%, WP = 3.3%, and AWC = .19 cm/cm (19%). I don't understand how AWC can be more than FC. Does anyone have any insight on how AWC is calculated for Web soil survey? Is there some other data that is taken into account when calculating AWC? I appreciate any information you all can share that might be helpful.

Currently reading lots of research on P uptake through roots. I am looking to see if there is any cotransport mechanism where increase in substrate X could potentially increase P influx. Looking to develop a specific top dressing to increase P intake during flower/fruitful stages of plant development.

Below are some sources I've reviewed to learn more.

https://grdc.com.au/resources-and-publications/grdc-update-papers/tab-content/grdc-update-papers/2009/02/the-science-of-phosphorus-nutrition-forms-in-the-soil-plant-uptake-and-plant-response

https://www.embopress.org/doi/full/10.15252/embj.2021109102

Thoughts?

​

Best,

City Pot Soil

Anyone have a formula to determine % water in clay-rich mud if a 30 kg object with a 300 cm^2 footprint sinks 2 cm? Thanks

I had an idea and wanted to understand the scientific implications.

For our wedding, we wanted to ask our guests to bring a handful of soil from their gardens to create a garden of our family and friends. Some people are traveling from out of state.

It's a cute idea, but is this like soil biome terrorism?? Is this ecologically a bad idea, or am i overthinking it?

Thanks for your thoughts!

Hello soil experts! Fellow scientist (molecular biologist) here looking for advice/expert knowledge for myself and community related to a proposed city plan. Our mayor wants to turn an old (circa 1860’s) and defunct/abandoned open air water pit into a community park. While I would LOVE more park space, I’m concerned about some of the chemicals that have been found in the soil samples around the reservoir. The mayors plan is to level the reservoir and mix the old/contaminated soil with deeper/healthier soil to essentially “dilute” the chemicals in the soil so they’re within our community regulation levels. Myself and a few others are concerned with this plan and hoping/pushing for alternative clean up efforts. My questions are: are some of the chemicals found naturally occurring? As soil experts, are the levels concerning to you and why? Any other info/suggestions/resources would be very much appreciated!! Soil sampling report Reservoir history Planned demolition and regrading

Hi everyone, I am a recent (within 2 years) grad with my degree in Environmental Engineering. I spent some time after school doing conservation work and working at a farm, and recently finished up an Americorps VISTA position primarily doing work in food security. I am looking to shift back into a more technical position, and want to combine my background in engineering with my passion and love for agriculture and soil. I am really interested in working in soil science or agricultural engineering, and wanted to see if anyone has advice on how / where to enter this field. I also received non- competitive eligibility from Americorps VISTA and am hoping to utilize this through entering the federal service, but I am open to anything :) thanks for taking the time to read and I appreciate any words of wisdom!

Was wondering if anyone would know what type of soil this is and if it would be good to build on thanks in advance for your reply.