ShLUbY
Well-Known Member
Ever wonder where your base mix is at after a couple of runs with it, or even after you mix it?
I just wanted to share this quick easy, old faithful test for soil composition for the base mix (not amendments). typically this is done with garden soil to see what you're working with for soil in that particular location.
Fill quart mason jar 2/3 of the way with your soil, fill up completely with water and get all the air out of the mix. Seal it with a lid, and shake the shit out of it for 2 minutes or so and set it down to let it settle for 24-48 hrs. the shake can be repeated and let settle again for the same period of time for a double check. The longer you let it sit undisturbed, the better all the clay particles will settle out and the water will start to clear up.
Naturally, the heaviest particles will sink to the bottom (rocks/sands), followed by silts/organics (peat/compost), followed by clay particles (the smallest particles in soil). Anything less dense than water obviously will float. You can literally see the layers of soil through the glass and it's a pretty good representation of your base mix composition
Here you can see the compost i've been making in my yard, has picked up and added a lot of sand to my soil mix, which i don't particularly care for
there are rock dusts mixed in with the sand. the next layer is where it browns up is likely organic material. and the next layer the brown lightens up a little more and i believe this is the peat. On top of the peat, you can see a very very thin strip of clay particles that is light gray in color.
Floating in the top is my pumice, and I was suspicious that pumice had been being eroded from my mix after a couple runs, and I was right. The soil was just so damn heavy!
i bet if you allowed the jar to sit for a week or so, the water would clear up a lot, and you'd see the really really really fine particulate settle as well.
Anyway just thought I'd share this method with everyone. I learned it from a soil management class and I thought it was really neat! If you're trying to locate a spot in your yard for a garden.... This trick IS A MUST.
I just wanted to share this quick easy, old faithful test for soil composition for the base mix (not amendments). typically this is done with garden soil to see what you're working with for soil in that particular location.
Fill quart mason jar 2/3 of the way with your soil, fill up completely with water and get all the air out of the mix. Seal it with a lid, and shake the shit out of it for 2 minutes or so and set it down to let it settle for 24-48 hrs. the shake can be repeated and let settle again for the same period of time for a double check. The longer you let it sit undisturbed, the better all the clay particles will settle out and the water will start to clear up.
Naturally, the heaviest particles will sink to the bottom (rocks/sands), followed by silts/organics (peat/compost), followed by clay particles (the smallest particles in soil). Anything less dense than water obviously will float. You can literally see the layers of soil through the glass and it's a pretty good representation of your base mix composition
Here you can see the compost i've been making in my yard, has picked up and added a lot of sand to my soil mix, which i don't particularly care for
there are rock dusts mixed in with the sand. the next layer is where it browns up is likely organic material. and the next layer the brown lightens up a little more and i believe this is the peat. On top of the peat, you can see a very very thin strip of clay particles that is light gray in color. Floating in the top is my pumice, and I was suspicious that pumice had been being eroded from my mix after a couple runs, and I was right. The soil was just so damn heavy!
i bet if you allowed the jar to sit for a week or so, the water would clear up a lot, and you'd see the really really really fine particulate settle as well.
Anyway just thought I'd share this method with everyone. I learned it from a soil management class and I thought it was really neat! If you're trying to locate a spot in your yard for a garden.... This trick IS A MUST.
