Question about soil texture....
Last post 15-02-2009 9:57 PM by nitsua. 4 replies.
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11/12/2008 07:07 AM
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I am currently studying for the level 2 RHS certificate in horticulture. We have been looking at soil texture and our teacher has given the main three soil texture classes as 'light texture', 'medium texture' and heavy texture. Under the light texture heading he has stated that you have 'sands', 'loamy sands' and 'sandy loams'....i don't know if i need to know this for the exam but it is bugging me.....what is the difference between a 'sandy loam' and a 'loamy sand'?
Does anyone know?
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11/12/2008 08:41 AM
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The soil texture depnds on the relative proportion of clay, sand and silt - loamy sand has much more sand than silt and clay but is basically a sandy soil, sandy loam has a bit more sand that silt and clay, but is basically a loam - see the good old soil triangle: http://www.uwsp.edu/geo/faculty/ritter/glossary/s_u/soil_texture_triangle.html
The important point to notice is that clay dominates the triangle reflecting its dominant nature in soil texture - a little bit of clay has a huge influence on soil and a lot of clay means, well, it is a clay soil.
Remember that colleges tend to make their older, better paid, more knowledgeable lecturers redundant to save money, so you must expect to have to challenge your remaining cheaper lecturers when you are not sure what they are saying.
Boggy
Beware the bat-eared bogweevil
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14/12/2008 06:52 AM
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Just wanted to say thank you for your reply.
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20/12/2008 02:11 PM
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- julie_poo
- cheshire
- 20 Dec 2008
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9
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the order of description gives you the dominant ingrediant. so sandy loam will be a loam with a smaller amount of sand in it and the loamy sand will be a sand with lesser amount of loam. hope this makes sense.
J
'' Those who ask a lot of questions may seem stupid, but those who don't ask questions stay stupid ''
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15/02/2009 09:57 PM
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- nitsua
- 15 Feb 2009
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One other thing I noticed is that is that the sandy loam is probably the "better" loam. Sandy loam being in the Loam section of the triangle. Loam being the desirable texture that benefits most from the three soil components. Light textured soil has lots of sand in it so it is light to feel as opposed to heavy textured soil like clay which is hard to work (dig!). I have not seen a question in the depth you raise in previous RHS examination papers.
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