I had a survey completed on my (well not quite yet mine, but soon ;D) land this past fall. On the survey, it states the soil types. I tried looking them up online to see what they mean, but all the descriptions I find are way too detailed and use big words that I don't know what they mean ;D ;D ;D
Can someone simplify the explanation of the following soil types? Pretend your explaining this to an 8 yr old :D :D :D
Here is exactly what it says on the survey:
Soils Type = BC Soils book sheet 40, Gloucester GrC (8-15%), GrD (15-25%), GsD (8-25%), GsE (25-60%), Muck and Peat MP along brook.
For what it's worth, the land is in Belknap County, NH.
Some of my considerations with wanting to find out what the soil types mean.....
GsD, and GrC, these are the two soil types that my driveway and building site will be on, how are these when considering putting in a gravel driveway? Is it considered beneficial, or not, to have this soil type?
Can you tell by soil type if it will be good digging for foundation/underground power (700' long roughly)
-How about for growing conditions? Currently the land is all forested, and eventually it will be cleared for lawn around the house, and possibly fields waaaaay down the road. What grows good in this type of soil?
HrE-There is a rather large ridge of this type of soil, I think it's called Gloucester soil type, and according to my surveyor, I can get some gravel from this ridge, and use it for my driveway. Only problem is, I'd need to cross some wettish (but not wetland according to the wetland scientist) areas to get there. Those wettish areas (and yes wettish is a word in my dictionary :D) are the areas that are marked on the survey as Mp.
Thank you in advance ;D
The number next to the soil series name is the % slope. Get a copy of the Soil Survey for your area. Copies may be available at the NRCS. In this publication, there is a hoard of information on each soil series and the suitability of the series for a number of applications, including, road fill, septic fields, AG, and timber production.
Another option is to go the the Web Soil Survey (Google it). There, you can look up your soil online and also get the suitability info. Here is a link to Gloucester: https://soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/G/GLOUCESTER.html
When you get to the Web Soil SUrvey home page, look on the left and click "Official Soil Series Descriptions". Click "View OSD by Series Name (with best-match feature)". Enter Gloucester and click find. This will take you to a fact sheet. This should give you a good start.
You can also click the BIG Green Button on the top right, find your property, outline an area of interest (AOI), and your property will be mapped with the soil series. You can then click on the Soil Data Mart and get all kinds of engineering specs. The AOI feature also calculates acreage.
This is a wonderful tool.
Gotta second the web soil survey. What a wonderful tool 8)
I also recommend plotting your property on the Web Soil Survey. Once you define your property boundaries as your Area of Interest (AOI) you can generate a soil report that includes the names of the soils along with their descriptions, suitability and limitations for use, along with soil properties such as average depth to bedrock. It will also show where these soils are located on the property.
I'm not sure I can get to 8 year old, but an 8th grader may understand that the soil for your house site (Gloucester Gr and Gs series) was deposited by a retreating glacier (glacial till) and consists of many different sizes of material from fine clay to large stones. It's a great place to grow rocks. You will likely find a new crop of frost heaved rocks every spring. It should drain well. It will be hard to dig by hand. You can use your rocks to help prevent erosion, because when you disturb the soil, it will want to wash down the hill (it's highly erodible).
The Hinkley (HrE) soils on the ridge were deposited by water flowing under, off, or by the glacier. These individual particles should be more uniform in size and sorted. It has the potential to provide gravel for your driveway. This soil is also highly erodible.
The MP - muck and peat is just that, wet organic soils that are best avoided if possible. A bridge may be in your future if you must cross these soils.
The local NRCS office may be able to give you more information on these soil types.
Okay I checked out the web soil survey and Wow that really is a great tool. Thanks for providing the information. I read some of the 'soils 101' information and learned a good amount.
After reading clearcut's description it makes very good sense now. I can attest to a lot of rocks on the property, not only do the 3 large piles of rocks that were piled by farmers long ago give it away, but also the many many stone walls around the area. There are certainly a lot of rocks!
So I would most likely be able to use a good amount of the Hinkley soils in the construction of my driveway but the Gloucester soils may contain too many larger rocks and boulders making it hard to dig.
I do have a backhoe and plan on putting in the trench for power along the driveway, I will hope and pray I don't hit toooo many unmovable boulders, I'm sure I'll hit a lot, but maybe I can get around some ;D
I am thinking that these soils aren't the best for gardens? Is that true? We have all raised beds now and could of course continue that trend. Although, I guess it depends what I want to grow as I'm sure like so many things, there are too many variables. ;D
most likely you have some clay areas running through also ..most times the clay areas will hold water if you want to dry out the wet clay area you can try removeing most surface rocks grade it sloping to where you want the water to go then put down a mix of sandy soil ,you should be able to drive over even the day after a rain storm ,,,worked for me just a idea ,,also take a look at what type of trees you have oak maple trees and other hard woods are a good sign of good fertile soil cherry,birch trees may be on ledge,and pine well you know they just everywhere ,,by the way if you find large rocks you can easily split them in half by drilling a series of holes and use feathers and wedges in the holes to split the large rocks ,,