Show us your dirt

[Flatlander]

Talking with a neighbour here this morning working in a field alongside where I was working. Got on the subject of soil and what it’s like where I came from. Had a hard time trying to relay to him that it can vary so much across even 5 acres as here it’s pretty much the same for many miles. With that said I thought it would be good to see what we actually farm and a little insight to its pros and cons.
Mine is a black clay/Loam. Topsoil is roughly 12-15 inches deep over a greyer silty clay loam that’s bottomless. If I find 5 stones a year it’s a talking point. Naturally high in potassium low in phosphorus with a ph around 7.5 -8. Holds water like a bucket. Works great when dryer but will break your heart when wet with its sticking power. Organic matter at 5-7%.

 

[bobk]

Talking with a neighbour here this morning working in a field alongside where I was working. Got on the subject of soil and what it’s like where I came from. Had a hard time trying to relay to him that it can vary so much across even 5 acres as here it’s pretty much the same for many miles. With that said I thought it would be good to see what we actually farm and a little insight to its pros and cons.
Mine is a black clay/Loam. Topsoil is roughly 12-15 inches deep over a greyer silty clay loam that’s bottomless. If I find 5 stones a year it’s a talking point. Naturally high in potassium low in phosphorus with a ph around 7.5 -8. Holds water like a bucket. Works great when dryer but will break your heart when wet with its sticking power. Organic matter at 5-7%.

Similar here , great in a dry time , nightmare when it's wet

 

[Flatlander]

Similar here , great in a dry time , nightmare when it's wet

What area are you in

 

[bobk]

What area are you in

Midlands , the wet bit

 

[Farmer Roy]

 

[Gedd]

Just about the heaviest field i have

 

[Flatlander]

Look like you’ve more moisture than here. We are dry which is a welcome sight this time of the year

 

[Farmer Roy]

1.2 metre moisture probe pushed in by hand

 

[Farmer Roy]

Look like you’ve more moisture than here. We are dry which is a welcome sight this time of the year

We’ve had flood water over this a couple of times in the last few months, which is very welcome coming into summer here
Full profile of soil moisture for grain sorghum I am planting at the moment

 

[Wombat]

 

[Flatlander]

We’ve had flood water over this a couple of times in the last few months, which is very welcome coming into summer here
Full profile of soil moisture for grain sorghum I am planting at the moment

Glad you’ve got water you need Never a nice feeling watching clouds to know if you work is in vain.

 

[Farmer Roy]

 

[Farmer Roy]

Glad you’ve got water you need Never a nice feeling watching clouds to know if you work is in vain.

Our whole cropping system is based on these deep heavy clay soils & their ability to store large amounts of water.
Basic rule of thumb here is ideally we want at least a metre of stored moisture ( judged by pushing that moisture probe - just a bit of 12mm rod - into the ground ) before we plant a crop.
We rely on stored soil moisture more so than in crop rainfall, to grow our crops

 

[Farmer Roy]

Glad you’ve got water you need Never a nice feeling watching clouds to know if you work is in vain.

Unfortunately, that same water has fuched about half of my chickpeas ( planted in July ), so it works both ways
That’s the beauty of two distinct cropping seasons though, as it is hugely beneficial to this coming summer crop

 

[Flatlander]

Strong Lookin ground.

 

[David.]

Nice workable soil, just shame that half the fields I need to plant have water running out of the corners, like this.

 

[Nearly]

My driest bit of subsoil.

Sandy loam above this but a constant need for organic matter. Cow muck or cover crops etc.

A change from being brought up on clay.

This is the other end of a field from blow away sand.

Once again, muck needed at all times, and about 50% more seed than it says in the book.

'shear bolt corner'

 

[thorpe]

My driest bit of subsoil.

Sandy loam above this but a constant need for organic matter. Cow muck or cover crops etc.

A change from being brought up on clay.

look,s like your in the wrong job, have you seen the price of building sand?

 

[Phil P]

We have a bit of everything here and sometimes it’s all in the same field but generally it’s deep black sandy loam over clay or shale.

But we also have clay over clay

Stone over clay or over stone (have an old stone quarry on the farm)

And moss (high OM peat soil) over bottomless peat which can just decide to swallow a machine even on a dry year.

We also have some ex opencast ground which can be interesting on a we year!

 

[Wombat]

Strong Lookin ground.

Have some worse