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I was going through my "files" of gardening material that I'd saved and ran across something that I thought was pretty interesting. Some different soil tests (not your normal soil tests) that can be performed on your soil to yield some valuable information.
The Ribbon Test
Take a handful of moist soil and sqeeze it into the size of a ping pong ball. Next, squeeze it in your hand to make a ribbon. Hold the ribbon up in the air. If you can't even make a ribbon, then your soil is at least 50% sand and has very lttle clay. If your ribbon is less than 2 inches long before it breaks, then your soil has about 25% clay in it. If your ribbon is 2 - 3 1/2 inches long, you have about 45% clay. If your ribbon is >3 1/2 inches long and doesn't break when you hold it up in the air, you've got about 50% clay in your soil.
The Jar Test
Put 1 inch of crushed up, dry soil in a quart jar. Fill the jar with 2/3 water. Add 1 teaspoon of table salt. Shake the jar and let the contents settle. Sand settles to the bottom in about a minute. Measure the depth of that layer. Silt settles in about 4 - 5 hours. (You can see a color and size difference in the particles.) Clay takes days to settle. Some particles may remain suspended. Take that into consideration. By measuring, you can determine the makeup of your soil in percentages.
The pH Test
Here's a quick way to check to see if your soil is severly alkaline. Take 1 tablespoon of dried garden soil and add a few drops of vinegar to it. If it fizzes, then the pH is above 7.5. (the free carbonates in the soil react with the acid at a pH of 7.5 and above.)
Here's a quick way to check to see if your soil is severely acid. Take 1 tablespoon of wet garden soil and add a pinch of baking soda to it. If the soil fizzes, the soil is probably very acidic (< 5.0). Of course, a soil sample submitted to your county extension office is the most reliable way to determine the exact pH.
Pete2
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