Loamy soil: what the land looks like and soil characteristics, improvement methods

Under the loamy soil is understood loose soil, which includes sand and clay. At the same time, the amount of clay in it reaches 30-50%. To determine whether a natural material belongs to clay soil, you should pay attention to its structure. Wet loam clumps easily. The properties of this type of soil allow it to be used in gardening, but lead to difficulties in laying the foundation.

Characteristics and properties

Loam is a soil with a predominant content of clay and a high percentage of sand. At the same time, there are different subtypes of soil, which differ in the ratio of these components.Therefore, before any work, loamy soil must be carefully studied. Most often, it has to be pre-ennobled, taking measures to improve the composition and structure.

Clay in loam is presented in the form of small fractions resembling plates. However, externally, the soil looks different - it all depends on the additional components. The soil can have different shades - brown, red, gray, yellow.

Loamy soils have different origins associated with the erosion of mountain slopes, valleys, hills, natural depressions in the relief. During the period of spring floods and flooding in summer and autumn, water erodes the banks. At the same time, fragments of clay and other small fragments of rocks are deposited in their lower part.

To determine the loam by touch, it is recommended to rub a lump of earth in your hands.In this case, sand will be felt, which noticeably scratches the skin. If you make a ball out of it, and then knead it like a cake, cracks will appear along the edges. This means that there is a high amount of clay fragments in the soil.

Loam is considered a very fertile soil. Because of this, it is often used in horticulture and mass cultivation of plants. However, this is only possible with a balanced content of clay and sand elements.

The soil contains a lot of humus, silt and other substances that are required for a bountiful harvest. However, first it is worth determining the structure of the soil and the features of the occurrence of horizons.

The advantages of loam include the following:

1. Easy handling. Soil contains many nutrients. In loams there are many living individuals and microorganisms that saturate the soil with useful elements. The soil is highly breathable, which significantly increases the aeration of the root system.
2. High moisture conductivity. This helps to retain moisture for a long time and evenly distribute water throughout the garden.
3. Good light and heat conductivity. The soil provides reliable protection of the root system of plants from burns.
4. High density soil. This helps to retain useful elements that are introduced with top dressing for a long time.

At the same time, loams have a number of disadvantages:

1. Long warm-up period.
2. Slow absorption of moisture when moisturizing.
3. The need for frequent loosening of the soil.
4. Excess moisture. It affects the availability of oxygen and the respiration of the root system of crops.
5. Acid reaction. To reduce the parameters, liming is required. This is done every 4 years.

Composition of loamy soil

Loam includes the following components:

• 60% clay;
• 40% quartz sand of various fractions.

The shade of loam is affected by its composition. It can vary from yellow to dark brown. Unlike clay, this material has a more granular structure. At the same time, the elements of quartz are not only visually visible, but also felt to the touch.

Loam is a fine-grained soil. Almost half of the particles have a size of less than 0.01 mm. At the same time, a third does not exceed 0.005 millimeters.

What is different from sandy loam, sand and clay

It is important to familiarize yourself with the main differences between loamy soil and clay, sandy loam and sand. It's no secret that the preferences of different cultures differ significantly. However, they all develop poorly in soil with a high content of these substances in the composition.

At the same time, the main differences between these types of soil include the following:

1. Loam is considered more porous than sandy soil and contains more moisture, as it actively absorbs and retains it. In addition, the rock is subjected to heaving. When freezing and transforming water into a solid state, the loam expands. Therefore, the volume of soil increases slightly.
2. Against the background of loam, clay soil is more plastic. It does not form cracks when rolling. In this case, swelling is more pronounced due to the high absorption of moisture. Clay soil has a denser and heavier structure. It is able to carry loads up to 6 kilograms per 1 square centimeter.
3. Sandy loam is the type of soil with the least clay content. The substance practically does not roll down and quickly crumbles in the hands. Low soil porosity parameters are associated with sand content. The soil absorbs a minimum of moisture and practically does not expand.The bearing capacity of the soil is also low. The exception is soils that have undergone special processing for the purpose of compaction.

Thus, the high content of sand and clay equally negatively affects the properties of the soil in relation to construction. They are also difficult to cultivate for growing garden and garden plants.

Classification

Loams are divided into the following varieties:

1. Light - a third of clay substances are present in the composition of the soil. The soil rolls into a cord, but it is very brittle and crumbles easily. It is impossible to put it into a ring.
2. Medium - This semi-solid soil contains 40% clay components. They help to roll the cord and make a ring out of it. However, it rolls up with difficulty and falls apart quickly.
3. Heavy - this type of soil includes more than half of the clay components. It rolls easily into cord and ring. After that, the surface is covered with severe cracks, but still retains its shape.

Deposit

Loam is mined from the same quarry with other related rocks. You can check the location by layers. They are placed depending on the volume of kaolin fragments. The loam is above the clay layer. During the extraction of loamy soil, each of the layers is developed separately, since they differ in the number of useful components.

This type of soil is considered one of the most common. It is mined in most countries of the world. This is due to the ease of extraction and the extensive scope of the natural material.

Process of extraction and transportation

Before the development of the deposit, exploration of the occurrence of rocks is carried out. It helps to determine their properties and the expected amount of soil of a particular type. After completion of exploration work, the territory is being cleared of unnecessary land and plants.

The mining process does not require complex technical devices. To do this, it is enough to use an excavator. After extraction from the zone of natural occurrence, the soil is transported for processing.

The factory does the following:

• grinding;
• screening;
• mixing with chemicals.

Where is it used?

Loamy soils are used in the following areas:

• road construction;
• housing construction;
• production of building mixtures;
• agriculture;
• construction of complex engineering structures;
• land improvement;
• chemical industry;
• medicine.

How to identify loam in your area

Visually determine the composition of the soil is very problematic. The following methods are used for this purpose:

1. Rolling into a ring or cord. This is a simple method that will suit every summer resident. To do this, you need to take some earth in your hand, moisten it with a spray bottle to get the consistency of the dough, and try to roll the mass into a cord. After that, you need to try to roll it into a ring. If this was done successfully, the soil belongs to loam. Depending on their variety, the ring may be fragile or dense. If there are no cracks along the edges of the ring, this indicates the predominance of clay.
2. Check by touch. This method is considered not so informative. To use it, you need to moisten your hand with water and grind a little earth between two fingers. The oily texture indicates that it is clay. The predominance of grains of sand is considered evidence of sandy loam.
3. Laboratory method. This method is considered the most accurate and informative. To use it, it is recommended to take a graduated cylinder and add a little soil to it. Then add water and shake well. If the suspension turned out to be very cloudy, this indicates the presence of clay fragments in the composition. In the case of loamy soil, the sandy component sits on the bottom. In the case of sandy loam, the solution is not very cloudy - almost all the soil immediately forms a precipitate.

Improvement methods

To improve this type of soil, the following is recommended:

1. Smooth the area to avoid stagnant moisture.
2. Dig up beds in the fall - before the rains. At the same time, it is not necessary to break the lumps. Over the winter, their structure will improve. In the spring, the soil needs to be dug up again.
3. Add weathered dark peat with a small iron content to the soil. You can also apply organic fertilizers - up to 2 buckets per 1 square meter.
4. It is acceptable to use a small amount of sawdust - 1 bucket per 1 square meter.
5. It is useful to apply manure. A fermented horse or sheep product is suitable for this.
6. Loamy soil must be mixed with sand and humus. The quantity is selected taking into account the crops grown.

Loamy soil is considered quite fertile, because it can be used for growing various types of plants. It is important to correctly determine the composition of the soil and use different methods to improve it.

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