# Help with bad soil core from front-yard



## tragiclawn (Oct 4, 2020)

Hello,

I was in the process of performing a soil test by taking soil samples. While my backyard is great and has a deep dark top soil being pulled my front yard is not in the best of shape. Below is the picture of the worse core i pulled.

Is the black soil the top soil?
What is the light brown soil called?

What's going on here and what should i do to fix the problem? It looks like i need to add a top dressing of top soil but i would love some feedback on what others think


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## mjh648 (Sep 1, 2020)

It's Houston soil. Lots of clay. Good at keeping nutrients, bad at absorbing water. Still fully capable of growing lush lawn on top of it. I've been introducing humates to it 2-3 times a year to soften up the soil to promote deeper root growth and more permeable soil. Microlife 0-0-4 humates is a good local choice.

What's the grass look like right now?


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## g-man (Jun 15, 2017)

The bottom looks like sand. Do it feel like sand?


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## tragiclawn (Oct 4, 2020)

g-man said:


> The bottom looks like sand. Do it feel like sand?


Yea it looked like sand to me as well but i wasn't sure if that is what soil normally looks like under top-soil. I could grab some roll it in my hands but as the original posted mentioned it does have a clay like texture....i had to use a screw driver to get it out of my core sampler


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## mjh648 (Sep 1, 2020)

@tragiclawn Here's a jar test method to approximate your sand, clay and silt percentages. I plan on trying this out.

https://hgic.clemson.edu/factsheet/soil-texture-analysis-the-jar-test/

in addition you can fart around on here for a LONG time if you are bored. My area is around 46/44/11 for sand, silt and clay percentages. A lot of places around town are in the 30-50% levels for clay.

https://websoilsurvey.nrcs.usda.gov/app/


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## tragiclawn (Oct 4, 2020)

Hey @mjh648 ,

Thanks. I'll take a look at that when i get a chance. That looks interesting. Also, I think your right and i will need to lay down a fine compost to help break down the clay over time to get that top soil depth my grass roots really need.

As a side note, Doing a quick ( and i mean quick ) google search it looks like humate is the solid form of humic acid. From my understanding humic acid is a biostimulant for helping roots take in nutrients better. It doesn't seem like this would soften up the soil


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## mjh648 (Sep 1, 2020)

Clay being so fine makes it easy for it to clump together and forms a barrier that makes water and roots have a hard time penetrating. Humic products are supposed to encourage these particles to separate allowing a more porous lawn.

Here's an interesting post about testing of humates

https://thelawnforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=10489&p=170849&hilit=clay#p170849

It's not something that will be immediately noticeable. When you lay down humates you are in it for the long haul but I believe they are beneficial.

if you google clay and humates you can find more articles talking about this.


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