How to do a Soil Texture Test at Home

Hi Treeps,

It’s Soil Week and we’ve talked about the importance of healthy soil, its composition, and the ecosystems it supports in our gardens and other green spaces.

Today, our good friend and soil expert, Chris Imhoff, wanted to share how you can find out the composition of your soil at home with a quick and easy Soil Texture Test.

Finding out your soil’s texture is important when planting your own trees and plants since they all have different requirements to grow and thrive.

Let’s hear from Chris:

Soil is composed of three particle sizes: sand, silt, and clay. Sand is the biggest and grittiest and doesn’t hold a lot of water, while silt and clay are smaller, finer, and can compact to hold more water.

Step 1:

Take some soil from your garden and remove any organic material like leaves, grass, and branches.

Step 2:

Add some water to a handful of soil and mold it so you can make a ball. If it falls apart easily, it could be mainly sandy soil.

Step 3:

Flatten out the soil into a ribbon and squeeze it evenly with your thumb over your index finger until it breaks off. The size of the broken part should be between 1–2 inches in length and put aside.

Step 4:

Wet a bit of soil and rub it in the palm of your hand. Based on what you feel and the size of your broken piece of soil, follow the flow chart on the worksheet below to determine the composition of your soil.

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