Pond Boss Forums POND CONSTRUCTION Soil questions Taking a soil sample???

Ok when guys talk about taking a soil sample....

1) Where am i taking the sample? Am I simply pulling up some grass and dirt? Am I digging down X amount of inches or feet?

2) How much of a sample do I need?

3) Who am I bringing it to for testing?

Thx guys...

Soil samples are taken a few inches below the surface of the ground, and are below any grass roots. Take soil from multiple places of an area, mix them together really, really well in a 5 gallon bucket so it is all homogenized. Then take the amount of soil that the testing lab requires from that mixture.

If you are talking about soil samples for a newly dug but not filled with water yet pond, I would take soil samples from the surface in the watershed area that feeds the pond for sample 1 and other soil samples from the pond basin (bottom) for sample 2. Get two tests done.

Oops, I didn't answer #2 and #3. Call a local farm fertilizer supplier or a local feed co-op. They will know where to take the samples. Call that place and ask how much soil they need.

When I send in samples (I have an account with the testing lab) I send in about a quart from each sampling site. That quart is taken from the 5 gal bucket that I talked about in the beginning of the post.

Thx that was detailed.

Esshup has done a great job of describing taking a soil sample to help you determine what your water quality will be from a PH, alkalinity, etc standpoint.

I m not sure what he described will tell you if the soil will hold water if that is what your trying to determine. For that I think you will need to dig a test hole to at least the depth of the proposed pond to get a sample and have a permeability test run. I'm not a pro, others can give detailed instruction if that is your goal of testing.

Or stop at your counties NRCS office and ask them. They will be able to give you a good idea on how to construct a pond in your area, and the specific soil type on your property.

Some even have coring tools to take samples. IIRC the one a few counties over from here can take a core sample 12' deep.

This is all real new to me, things like "NRCS office" is greek to me! I dont expect the pond to be perfect, i have neither the skill nor money others have, i just want to make a nice one i will be happy with. One of the Pond professionals whose videos i watch has been corresponding back and forth with me, stated he prefers liners to clay. Everyone seems to have a different opinion.

Not having the $ is a pretty common problem with me and a lot of others here.

Here's a link to the NRCS. Use the link to find their nearest office to you.

http://www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/nrcs/site/national/home/

Very helpful, thx again!