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Silt or clay? Or both?

 
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I'm probably over-thinking this but about how much clay is in my soil here? If any lol
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Location: Victor, Montana; Zone 5b
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Hi Jennifer, it looks like a sandy soil to me. It is hard to tell without watching the settling process, but sand is going to settle within 30 seconds and silt will follow quickly--everything after that is usually clay, but it take a while for the suspended clay particles to sink--it looks like you may need to let is sit a while longer

This is my best guess without actually seeing the settling process. How long did you let this settle before snapping the photo?


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Jennifer Hart
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For about 3 hours. I took a larger sample in a glass jar and let it set much longer. This is what i got
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Jennifer Hart
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That top half inch is just clear water and some small twigs floating.
 
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Jennifer Hart wrote:I'm probably over-thinking this but about how much clay is in my soil here? If any lol



If left to settle for a a few days longer you'll get a better idea of the amount of clay. This is mine after 1 week it took roughly 72 hours to settle down good and become clear again so you can really get a good picture of how much clay.
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Hi Jennifer,

I had the same as you, very thin layer of clay. I also hoped that when the water would clear there would be more clay but it didnt grow much. I did some experiment with earthen bricks but they broke very easily. I am not expert at all in this subject but i think this ground does not have the charcteristic to keep itself togheter. Probably you have to add some clay?
 
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