Louis De Jaeger
28 mei 2024
How do you research the soil of your future food forest?
How do you research the soil of your future food forest?
During the research phase you carefully study the soil, because this is the basis from which all your future food forest will grow. There are numerous methods to learn different aspects of the soil. Some are very basic and you can easily do it yourself, for others you need help.
What is your soil texture?
The Earth used to consist of mother rock. These rocks have started to crumble due to wind and rain erosion, animals and vegetation. Simply imagine that rough pieces of rock eroded into large-grained sand. When grains of sand are ground even finer, you get loamy sand. Clay consists of clay platelets that are chemically formed from silicon and aluminum salts. A soil usually consists of these 3 types in different amounts as you can see on the soil texture triangle (illustration). Below you will find three fun methods to determine the soil texture of your site yourself.
Analyze your soil with the donut test
This is a very fast, but less accurate method that requires nothing. Take a mixture of different samples of soil and moisten it slightly. Knead it with your hand and roll it into a nice ball. Now try to roll it into a sausage and then a donut. If your ball falls apart quickly, you are probably dealing with sandy soil. If you can make a sausage out of it, then you are more likely to have loamy soil. If you can make a donut with it, then you are dealing with clay-loam soil or clay soil.
Read your soil thanks to the jar test
Fill a jar one-quarter full with a mixture of different samples of soil and three-quarters full with water. Shake well and let it settle overnight. The next day the earth will have divided itself nicely. At the bottom are the largest and heaviest particles, namely the sand. Above that you have loam and above that you have clay. Now you can measure the approximate percentage of the amounts of sand, loam and clay. This test is also not super accurate, as clay is difficult to dissolve, which can result in a distorted image.
Feeling the bottom with the 'between your finger test'
This is Fingerspitzengefühl ! Take a little soil and rub it as hard as you can between your thumb and your index finger. If you feel a thick grain, you are dealing with sand. If only some color remains on your fingers, you have clay. If the result is something in between, then it is loam, sandy loam or clay loam.
With humus-rich soil, the more black remains between the pores of your hands, the more micro-organisms remain behind and therefore the higher the humus content of the soil.
How do you determine the pH of your soil?
In addition to soil life, the acidity or pH of the soil plays a very important role for plants in the absorption of nutrients. The pH scale runs from 0 to 14. The value 7 is neutral, 0 is extremely acidic and 14 is extremely basic or alkaline.
You can measure the pH in different ways. A quick way is to buy pH strips, mix some soil with water and measure the pH. There are also simple pH devices that you simply push into the soil. After a few seconds, they show you fairly accurately what the specific pH is of that piece of soil. You can also use indicator plants to determine whether your site is acidic or alkaline. The more different indicator plants you see, the more certain you are that the soil is acidic or alkaline, disturbed or not disturbed. This is of course not an exact science. More information about this can be found in the Atlas Of Plant Communities by EJ Weeda. The most accurate and professional way is to have a soil analysis carried out. Commensalist does this as standard for every project: we measure not only the pH, but also the nutrients and heavy metals.
Where can you do a soil test yourself?
Netherlands : https://www.goedgrondbeheer.nl/grondonderzoek
Wallonia : https://www.brabantwallon.be/bw/entreprendre-travailler/agriculture-
1/pole-laboratoires-d-analyses-agricoles/laboratoires-pour-entrepreneurs-et-
amateurs-de-jardins/
Flanders : https://www.bdb.be/nl/
We prefer to use the one from Wallonia.
Would you like to learn more about food forest design? Then read 'Design your own food forest' by Commensalist founder Louis De Jaeger or book a no-obligation phone call with one of our Commensalists.