Hi, would you be able to share some of the ways to help make a strong clay based soil more useful over say 10 years. I have ducks but they seems to have destroyed grass and compacted my soil. They are now confined to free ranging the top garden. Without grass the soil has started to be just a deep sludge which forms surface puddles in less than an hour whenever there’s rain. My uncle has told me I need to get about 10yon of grit sand and 5mm or less diameter pebbles/stones in to aid drainage and open the clay up. Is he close to being right? Is he missing anything? Your thoughts please if you can spare time?

Wood ash and charcoal raise the ph. We say it "sweetens" the ground.

I add small charcoal from the wood stove to my compost pile. I activate it by pouring my urine on it. (Many people forget about activating the biochar.) This is the first year of doing this, but so far it seems like my compost is ready quicker. I do cold composting.

I call BS, the parts of the Amazon I’ve seen is very sandy and some of the poorest soils in the world!

Can't answer the exact question but this is from wikipedia: Soils whose upper horizons consist of less than 1% of organic matter are mostly limited to deserts, while the SOM content of soils in low lying, wet areas can be as great as 90%

@@FarmerTed well farmer Ted... I'm just speculating here but maybe it's because they're not utilising the same farming techniques they once used???

In a forest it really depends how deep you test because it isn't mixed up with the substrate. The top several inches is almost 100% organic.

Yes. Alfalfa has an allelopathic effect on new alfalfa seeds -- stopping them from growin.

Other species are fine, but do have to compete against strong, established plants

Well first off corn has more residue than sunflowers, and you grow a crop you need a market and there really isn’t one for sunflowers

@@gfgf2417 It's still profitable, have you seen just a few acres farms? he is a small farmer with livestock. It's just that farmers want to have more land to get higher profits. Also the current climate favours larger farms.

@@zeusmacafee5097 depends where you live. Sunflowers are deep rooted, they have a very large root ball and produce a lot of thick organic matter when broken down.+ they are great a sheltering the ground.

@@mattcraztex9940 Agreed but first the vast part of America there is little to no market for sunflowers. And I’ve grown the, just on a sub acre scale before and the residue doesn’t come close to corn. I can see almost all the ground with sunflowers while corn residue I see none. Plus corn robots go deeper as well

@@zeusmacafee5097 I agree, but corn is a very demanding crop that can't really break up compaction as the roots get stubbed. Where as i have seen sunflower roots punch right throu it. Downside being yea corn dose have more residue and also more market share then sunflower. But sunflowers are a lot more healthier for the soil structure.

Late reply but you can normally rent a no till drill from your local Soil and Water Conservation extension for a decent rate. Price and availability will vary based on location but that could be a good resource if you don't have the cash to buy a new or used drill.

I'm assuming they are talking about very large areas of land.

My understanding is that they till because if the top of compacted soil gets rain, but then dries out, the surface crusts over and the germinated seed can't break through and dies. They have lost their window for planting.

@@NRay-bt2kj I was commenting on TILE not Till. You know that underground piping system that drains water?

@@NRay-bt2kj cool. That is really all that matters, that we keep on learning.

Soil test

I have used sulfuric acid to oxidize the carbon and titrate the remaining solution.

In my home garden, I put a shovel full of soil in a clear jar and fill it with water. Let it settle and the organic matter will rise to the top.

@@NRay-bt2kj You are measuring plant material. Organic matter is fully decomposed plants or animals. It takes SOM years to be mineralized. In a field it has a half life of 25 years or so and is 55% carbon.

@@NRay-bt2kj What simple compounds are you describing as being taken up by plants as food? To me organic compounds are compounds containing carbon.

Its called a Replicator. Everything is recycled ♻️. EVERYTHING.

Yes 👍... You said it right

Well what Do you suggest? You can’t really bash something without giving viable option..... wouldn’t you agree? I’m all ears

@@farmermatt629 I am not sure what to do, what we are doing now will not work forever, it has shown that the weeds are developing a resistance to chemicals, Mares tail for example. If this continues we are going to have a bigger problem. What would you suggest?

@@deanpahl8591 a good start would be to not short your herbicide program... resistance comes from cutting rates and letting weeds get to big.... all problems that can be solved... unfortunately some farms are greedy or unable to spend the money... maybe getting a fair price for crops would help... unfortunately small farms can’t survive with government regulations and cheap food policys... and we continue to look to government and universities to solve our problems... their policy’s have failed farmers time and time again...

@@farmermatt629 I farm organically, I have been able to raise 56 bu. beans, at that rate why do I need to use chemicals? My brother worked for the Co- OP running their floater spraying, he got in the hospital sick, of the chemicals he used he had 17 of them in his blood.

Do you you have links to any video or article?