LaMotte Soil Texture - Manual (Page 5)

SAMPLING TIPS
1.
When sampling a lawn, take sample from the upper 2 or 3 inches of
soil. When sampling a garden or farm crops, take sample from the
upper 6 or 8 inches of soil.
2. When sampling a lawn or other specific area, take samples from
several different areas and mix them together. The resulting samples
will provide an average value representative of the entire area.
3. A clean trowel, spoon or knife should be used to collect the samples.
4. Do not touch the soil unless necessary.
COLLECTING SAMPLES
1.
Clean area of leaves and plants.
2. Use trowel or other tool to collect 4 or 5 heaping teaspoons of soil.
3. Spread soil thinly on piece of clean paper or plastic to dry. Leave for
several hours or overnight.
NOTE: Do not bake soil to dry.
4. Remove leaves, stones, roots and other foreign matter.
5. Crush lumps until they are less than g“ in diameter.
6. Place soil samples into soil sample bags (0615).
PROCEDURE
1.
Fill Soil Separation Tube (0763) to 10 mL
line with soil sample. Gently tap the tube
after each portion is added to pack the soil
down and eliminate air spaces. Place the
plastic ruler (0170) next to the tube.
Measure the total height of the soil. This is
Reading A.
2. Add tap water until the tube is filled to the
40 mL line.
3. Hold the bottle vertically and add 10 drops
of *Texture Dispersing Reagent (5644).
(Figure 1)
4
Figure 3.
Measuring the
height of soil
fractions
40 mL
10 mL
Figure 2.
Shaking the tube
40
mL
10
mL