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Soil Evaluation For Desirable And Detrimental Properties

Soil Health Property	Healthy	Unhealthy	Corrective Action
plant appearance	lush, uniform, dense, tall, large, sturdy, proper color	yellow, stunted, small, poor color, light green, spotty	Correct soil problem or test plant for needed actions
soil structure	crumbly, loose, holds together, granular	hard when dry, doesn't hold together, lumps fall apart, massive, cloddy, clumpy, tight, compacted, powdery	Amend and condition to increase physical properties
roots	large, branches and spreads out, white, grows downward, numerous, good penetration, lots of feeder roots	won't penetrate, undeveloped, balls up, grows crossways, discolored, diseased, shallow, short	Amend and condition to increase physical properties
soil color	dark, black, dark brown, gray, holds dark color when dry	orange, brown, light, white, red blue-gray, bleached, sandy color, light brown, pale, anemic	Add organic matter
water infiltration	water does not stand, absorbs, water moves into soil, soaks, rapid, no ponding	water runs off soil, sits on surface, water stands, won’t absorb, puddles, nonporous	Amend and condition to increase physical properties
compaction	doesn't pack down, not compacted, remains loose	compacted, hardpan, tight, packed, difficult to till	Till, amend and condition
earthworms	many present after rain or irrigation, holes and castings present, found during tillage	not present, no holes	Correct soil chemistry and/or correct physical problems, add organic matter
erosion	soil will not erode, remains in place	blows away, washes away, erodes, causes dust clouds, rills present	Amend and condition
drainage	water disappears quickly, no ponding, soil dries out quickly	tight, waterlogged, ponding, saturated	Amend and condition to increase physical properties
ease of tillage	breaks up in one pass, mellow, smooth, crumbles, minimum amount of effort needed	clods don't breakdown, lumpy after tillage	Amend and condition to increase physical properties
water retention	holds moisture, gives and takes water freely, excessive irrigation not needed	has too much water, doesn't hold water, either too wet or too dry, droughty, remains wet	Remove surface crust or improve physical properties