Pond Boss Forums POND CONSTRUCTION Soil questions Soil test ??

I recently read a book that suggested a quick and easy way to get an idea of what kind of soil you have is by halfway filling a mason jar with soil and then top off with water. Shake like a mad man, then let the layers settle out.

My question is, should I take the sample from top soil or should I dig down a certain depth for a more accurate test? Thanks.

Joe

Hey Joe, if you only sample the topsoil you won't get that accurate an idea of what type of soil you have. Ideally you would dig down as far as you could (or as deep as you want your pond to be) and take a representative sample from each couple of feet. Mix those into the mason jar, shake, and let the sediment settle. The idea is that the largest grain sizes will fall out of suspension first and the finest last, so your jar will have layers of gravel, sand, silt, and clay, going from bottom to top, once it's settled. If you want to build a pond, you'll hopefully have a lot of clay in the soil.