9 Ways To Know If Your Soil Is Healthy

Instead of going into all the biological details of what makes up a healthy soil, I’m going to have the infographic give you the details of the explanation of all the components!

The short and sweet explanation is that your soil needs carbon, bacteria and mycorrhizal fungi to create aggregates which in turn holds carbon, water, nutrients and minerals that feed the plants.

What I am going to do is tell you how you know whether you have healthy soil or not.

How do you know if you’ve got healthy soil?

1.      Is your soil covered by plant material at all times? If it is, then your soil will be healthier than those soils that have been tilled or have no vegetation on it. Tilling breaks down the aggregates and root structure, deteriorating the health of the soil.

2.      Has your soil received any herbicide or pesticide application? Do you spray annually or only as needed? If you’re soil has received any chemical application, then it is likely not as healthy as it could be as the applications kills the bad and good bacteria and fungi living in the soil. Repeated applications kill off the remaining bacteria and fungi.

3.      When it rains, does the water runoff, stand or get absorbed in the soil? If the water runs off or stands then your soil is likely not healthy as there are not enough aggregates to hold the water in the soil.

4.      Do you have plant diversity in your pastures? Just like we don’t like to eat the same thing for every meal, the soil bacteria and fungi do much better when they have a diversity to feed off.

5.      Does your livestock manure decompose slowly or quickly? If your manure doesn’t decompose quickly then your soil cannot support dung beetles which help break down the manure and feed the soil.

6.      In a drought, does your pasture die off quickly? If your soil was healthy, it would have stored water and be able to support the plants for much longer.

7.      Is your pasture root system short or long? A healthy soil and a long root system will support the plant for longer in time of drought.

8.      Does your soil look like chocolate cake? A healthy soil will be as brown as chocolate cake and a similar consistency.

9.      Have you had a soil analysis to test for organic matter, vitamin and minerals? The Haney soil analysis tests for the bacteria/fungi/minerals/vitamins content of your soil.