Green Living Library
  • Welcome
  • Blog
  • The Sustainable Life Shop
    • 16 oz. Stainless Steel Insulated Drinking Cup
    • 4 Piece Silicone Bowl Covers
    • Silicone Storage Bags with Slide Closure
    • 10 piece set of bamboo handled toothbrushes with nylon bristles.
    • Dental Floss Holder with Compostable Dental Floss
    • 33 yards Eco-Friendly Dental Floss Refills
    • Stainless Steel Drinking Straws with Cleaning Brush
    • Plant Based Scrub Sponge 8 Pack
  • Green Living with a Kid
  • Lifestyle
    • All Natural Health
    • Books Worth Reading
    • Composting
    • Green Documentaries
    • Green Transportation
    • Green Landscaping
    • Reduce, Reuse and Recycle
  • Food
    • Organic Farming
    • Composting
    • Extra Resources
    • Food Storage and Preservation
    • Gardening >
      • Companion Planting
      • Seed Starting
      • Weed Control
    • Soil >
      • Soil Health
      • Soil Science
      • Soil Building
      • Soil Tests
  • Home Building
    • Adobe and Earthbag Building
    • Cob
    • Log
    • Rammed Earth
    • Straw Bales
    • Heating and Cooling >
      • Home Heating External Links
  • Frugal Living Library
  • Renewable Energy
    • Solar Power
  • About
  • Contact
  • Green Living Photo Gallery
  • Product
  • Welcome
  • Blog
  • The Sustainable Life Shop
    • 16 oz. Stainless Steel Insulated Drinking Cup
    • 4 Piece Silicone Bowl Covers
    • Silicone Storage Bags with Slide Closure
    • 10 piece set of bamboo handled toothbrushes with nylon bristles.
    • Dental Floss Holder with Compostable Dental Floss
    • 33 yards Eco-Friendly Dental Floss Refills
    • Stainless Steel Drinking Straws with Cleaning Brush
    • Plant Based Scrub Sponge 8 Pack
  • Green Living with a Kid
  • Lifestyle
    • All Natural Health
    • Books Worth Reading
    • Composting
    • Green Documentaries
    • Green Transportation
    • Green Landscaping
    • Reduce, Reuse and Recycle
  • Food
    • Organic Farming
    • Composting
    • Extra Resources
    • Food Storage and Preservation
    • Gardening >
      • Companion Planting
      • Seed Starting
      • Weed Control
    • Soil >
      • Soil Health
      • Soil Science
      • Soil Building
      • Soil Tests
  • Home Building
    • Adobe and Earthbag Building
    • Cob
    • Log
    • Rammed Earth
    • Straw Bales
    • Heating and Cooling >
      • Home Heating External Links
  • Frugal Living Library
  • Renewable Energy
    • Solar Power
  • About
  • Contact
  • Green Living Photo Gallery
  • Product

Jar Test for Soil Composition

3/27/2015

0 Comments

 

There are many methods and tools out there for figuring out what your soil it made of.  They can range from very cheap to omg expensive and unless you have a big bankroll you will want to stay away from a lot of them. 

One of the most common things you will want to know about your soil is what is it made of.  All soil is made of a combination of sands, silts and clay's in various percentages.  What those percentages are is critical for determining a lot of what you do on your land. 

There are a few ways you can test to figure out what soil components your soil has.  There is the soil texture triangle like I talked about in my last post or you can also use progressively smaller screens to separate the soil into its component parts.

The method I want to talk about today is the jar method.  To do this you need a large jar like one of those gallon size pickle jars, a decent sample of your soil and water.

Take your glass jar and fill it about 1/3 full of soil.  Make sure the soil you use is a representative  sample of the area you are testing.  The add enough water to fill the jar about 2/3 full.  Shake the jar until all the soil is completely mixed and suspended into the water.

Then leave the jar to sit for at least 24 hours or longer if needed to get clear water at the top of the jar.

Once all the particles of soil have settled to the bottom of the jar you should see clear bands of different soil materials. At the bottom will be the sands then the silts and the clay's will be on top of that.  By measuring how thick the bands of soil are then comparing that to the total thickness of the soil you can get a rough percentage of the soil composition.  

This test can be more accurate for a novice to perform than the texture triangle as you can use simple measurements and little math to get a accurate reading.
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Author

    Hello my name is Josh Larson and I am the creator of the Green Living Library.  Here on the blog you will find updates to content found in the Green Living Library as well as stories from those living the sustainable life already.  

    Archives

    December 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    August 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    January 2018
    September 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    October 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015

    Categories

    All
    Climate Change
    Companion Planting
    Composting
    Cover Crops
    DIY
    Documentaries
    Financial Independence
    FIRE
    Food Forests
    Food Preservation
    Gardening
    GMO
    Green Cleaning
    Health
    Heating
    Home Heating
    Homesteading
    Human Population
    Industrial Agriculture
    Kids
    Mulch
    Organic Food
    Organic Matter
    Passive Cooling
    Permaculture
    Plastic
    Pollution
    Recycling
    Renewable Energy
    Reuse
    Seed Starting
    Soil
    Soil Compaction
    Solar
    Solar Power
    Species Extinction
    Tillage
    Trees
    Trellis
    Tweaks
    Urban Agriculture
    Windbreaks

Photos used under Creative Commons from andrew_ross, Scrap Pile, USDA NRCS South Dakota, mikecogh, mikecogh, rmkoske, UnitedSoybeanBoard, naturalflow, Rennett Stowe