Glossary Of Soil Terms

A Glossary Of Terms Related To Soil

SOIL- The surface layer of earth that supports plant life, made up of particles of weathered rock, organic matter, air, water, and microorganisms.

HUMUS- Largely decomposed animal and vegetable matter in soil.

FERTILE SOIL- Contains many elements and properties, like minerals, organic matter, and good drainage to make plants thrive.

POOR SOILS- Soils that are low in the qualities that make plants thrive.   (Many of us start with poor soil.)

ORGANIC- When applied to science, “organic” means any chemical compound containing carbon. When applied to farming and gardening, “organic” means grown with only animal or vegetable fertilizers, such as manure, bone meal, blood meal, or compost and also using only natural, mined forms of minerals, as opposed to water-soluble salts.

ORGANIC GARDENERS & FARMERS- People who fertilize exclusively with organics and control pests, treat plant diseases, and solve weed and soil problems with natural rather than chemical pesticides and products.

CONVENTIONAL GARDENERS AND FARMERS—People who use synthetic fertilizers and chemical controls to overcome problems such as pests, diseases, and weeds.

SOIL AMENDMENT- Anything added to soil to improve its texture, drainage, chemical composition, or fertility.

ORGANIC SOIL AMENDMENT— Any animal or vegetable matter added to soil to improve it. (When this rots it becomes humus.) Anything that was once alive and then breaks down in soil to become humus. (Do not fill pots, containers, or raised beds with “soil amendment” meant for digging into the ground.  Alone, uncombined with soil, it won’t sustain plant life.)

EXAMPLES OF ORGANIC AMENDMENTS: homemade, bagged, or trucked compost, apple and grape pomace, bean straw, alfalfa     straw, chipper materials, bagged or trucked commercial organic soil amendments (many kinds), homemade compost, grass clippings, green manure, ground carrot, apple, and vegetable fibers, kelp and seaweed, leaf mold, leaves, aged manure, nitrolized or composted wood shavings, peat moss, pine needles, rotted hay, sludge, vegetable and fruit leavings from kitchen or supermarkets, wheat and oat straw(use as mulch only), wood and bark chips (use as mulch only.)

POTTING SOIL- This is sold loose or bagged and is a product containing sand or other mineral materials as well as organics and is meant for filling pots and containers and it is not meant for digging into the ground (like organic soil amendment) or for using as mulch. Do not fill pots with soil from the garden since it does not drain well enough for pots. (Decomposed granite soil north of the railroad tracks in Claremont, California, near Pomona, in the San Gabriel Valley is a rare exception to this rule.)

MULCH- A layer of loose organic material that is applied to the surface of the soil to reduce evaporation, cool the soil, stop surface cracking, discourage the growth of weeds, and improve bacterial action, such as hulls, nutshells, wood or bark chips, tree trimmings, hay, & sawdust – (though the latter will rob nitrogen from soil as it rots).  Other good mulches are newspapers, agricultural fabrics, rocks, pebbles, gravel, and clear, red or black plastic.  Clear plastic warms soil, black plastic warms the air above the plastic but shades the soil which is good for melons and corn in coastal zones; red plastic warms both soil and air and increases harvests of crops such as tomatoes in cool weather.

FERTILIZER—Any of a large variety of natural or synthetic substances that are spread onto soil or combined with it in order to improve its capacity to support plant life.

COMPLETE (OR BALANCED) FERTILIZER—A plant food that provides a combination of the basic plant nutrients in more or less equal amounts.

N-P-K- These letters stand for Nitrogen, Phosphorus and Potassium, the main elements for plant growth. Every package of fertilizer bears three numbers, such as 10-10-10 or 5-10-5 or 3-3-3. When you are using organic fertilizers these numbers don’t mean too much but when using commercial synthetic fertilizers they tell you what kind of fertilizer you are buying.

NITROGEN- (N) One of the most important elements required for plant growth. Creates green top growth.

PHOSPHORUS- (P) A non-metallic chemical element that contributes to root and flower growth and overall         health of plants.

POTASSIUM- (K) A chemical element that occurs abundantly in nature and contributes to flowering and             overall plant health.

TRACE ELEMENTS- Iron, Magnesium, Calcium, Manganese, Zinc, Cadmium, Boron, and others. (Trace elements are included in many commercial fertilizers, are provided by products called “chelated iron and trace elements” (used to combat chlorosis).In organic gardening trace elements can be provided by applying humic acid, seaweed, kelp. Humic acid can release trace elements from soils in which they are “locked up”, which means incapable of being used by roots.

CHELATE- An organic molecule that prevents iron, manganese, and zinc from being “locked up” (becoming insoluble) in alkaline soils by binding itself to them. In this combined form they stay soluble so plants can use them. Chelated iron, or iron chelate are included in fertilizers to correct “chlorosis.”

CHLOROSIS- Condition denoting a lack of chlorophyll (green pigment in plant cells) often produced by lack of soluble iron in soils. A chlorotic plant has yellow leaves with green veins, signifying a lack of  iron and other trace elements. This is often caused by waterlogged soil. Also caused by alkaline soil.

FREE ORGANIC SOURCES OF FERTILIZER: Nitrogen: Fish trimmings, dead fish, grass trimmings, wet vegetable trimmings from kitchen or market, spoiled alfalfa, horse manures, green manure, earthworm castings, seaweed, human hair (From hairdressers. Put a handful under every tomato plant at planting time), human urine (This clean, though off-putting, free substance contains nitrogen and phosphorus and unfortunately lots of salt. It was widely used in rainy countries before the discovery of synthetic fertilizers and is used in the Pacific Northwest today and almost universally used in Finland.) Homemade compost, banana peels for phosphorus and potassium, papaya peels also.

NO DIG GARDENING- A type of gardening first advocated by Ruth Stout in her book called “How to Have a Green Thumb Without An Aching Back” (1952), now usually practiced in raised beds, sometimes called “Lasagna Gardening”, requires no digging. Beds are filled lasagna-style with layers of organic matter such as straw (on the bottom only), alfalfa hay, blood meal, and compost, watered by drip systems laid on top (“leaky hose” for example) and fed with organic fertilizers, such as blood meal, cottonseed meal, and other seed meals.

HUMIC ACID—A dark brown, concentrated form of humus. A form of organic plant matter that was discovered in the 1960’s to have highly beneficial agricultural applications. It is possible to extract humic acid from humus, but a more frequent source is leonardite ore, a type of lignite containing over 85% humic acid and less than 7% Fulvic acid. (see leonardite.) Humic acid is also extracted from other kinds of coal. It can be purchased in liquid or solid form and is an ingredient in some fertilizers. Among a host of other benefits, humic acids increase water retention and nutrient holding capacity of soils, prevent fertilizers from leaching out of the root zone, promote growth of microorganisms, stimulate root growth (especially the length of roots), increase the total nitrogen in soils, promote the conversion of nutrients into forms available to plants, and improve the structure of soils.

LEONARDITE- A soft ore, found in North Dakota, Utah, and New Mexico, China, Russia, and Eastern Europe, that is similar to lignite but contains at least 85% humic acid and less that 7% Fulvic acid; a low-grade, brown coal made of terrestrial plant matter that is an outcropping of lignite, and usually found close to the surface. Leonardite is named for Dr. Dave Leonard of the University of North Dakota who discovered it in 1919. It is used in oil drilling, in iron foundries, and as a detergent or decontaminant of soils or bodies of water. Since the 1960s Leonardite has been a major source of humic acid. (See humic acid.) JOHN AND BOB’S- An expensive but beneficial product containing humic acids, kelp, trace minerals, and rhizobia.

RHIZOBIA- Originally, in agriculture: A group of beneficial soil bacteria, each of which has a symbiotic relationship with a particular species of legume. Recent research shows these organisms have beneficial relationships with the roots of all plants, not just legumes.

MICROORGANISMS IN SOIL- Many types of live biological organisms, including beneficial bacteria, rhizobia, and beneficial fungi. All these aid plants to absorb nitrogen and other nutrients as well as fighting pests and diseases. Synthetic fertilizers and poisonous pesticides kill these organisms thus creating “dead” soils and increasing plant diseases and pest problems. Organic fertilizers and products, such as compost tea, humic acid, “John and Bob’s Soil Optimizer”, Biosol, and kelp, increase the numbers of beneficials in soil and create a situation where the soil itself creates nitrogen as plant and animal substances rot in the ground creating humus and giving off nitrogen in the process. This is why organic fertilizers don’t need to have a high first number (nitrogen content) in order to produce abundant health and growth in plants.

CHITIN— A substance which forms the hard shell of anthropods, such as insects, spiders, and crustaceans.

CHITINASE—An enzyme that can break down chitin, a substance that forms the hard shell of anthropods, such as insects, spiders, and crustaceans. (Chitinase is contained in earthworm castings and may explain why earthworm castings and earthworm casting tea, when used as spray, control pests.)

BENEFICIAL NEMATODES- Nematodes are tiny worm-like creatures that live in soil. Root-nematodes are destructive, entering plant roots and deforming them, but beneficial nematodes kill, eat or parasitize the harmful ones and also attack harmful larvae in the soil.

KELP AND SEAWEED- Great sources of trace minerals and organic matter for soils can be gathered free off the beach or purchased in products.

MANURE–An ancient soil amendment and fertilizer that has been used for thousands of years and consists of the droppings of farm animals as well as the urine, which is rich in nitrogen, especially of cows, horses, cattle, chickens, and rabbits. (Never use pig manure.) University of California Extension does not recommend manure due to salt content. My own opinion differs. I am strongly in favor of using manures, particularly on sandy soils and especially horse manure by applying it all over the ground in fall. Horse manure picked up daily by horse owners usually has fewer salts. Rabbit manure is excellent also and does not burn. Aged chicken manure is high in phosphorus and potassium as well as nitrogen.  Also, cow manure is okay if you know the source and it’s not too salty, and has no hormones added. The recent bad rap in the newspapers about manure causing salmonella was due to a specific and rare kind of manure that comes only from the droppings of lizards, snakes and alligators. The newspapers never properly explained this fact. If you plan to use manure make sure your tetanus shot is up to date. Always wash vegetables well, but once manure has rotted in the ground it is no longer manure. Beneficial microbes and rhizobia abound in healthy organic soils, and these beneficial organisms kill all the bad stuff.

COMPOST: An ancient practice of piling up organic materials and letting them rot. The organic materials that come from such a pile.

COMPOSTING METHODS:

• Hot composting
• Cold composting
• THE SOLAR GREEN CONE and other enclosed systems.
• Earthworm composting.
• Burying kitchen waste straight into soil.