Using Web Soil Survey to define your soil settings

Schedules & Zones Set Up & Edit Zones
41

Cool, thanks again David…

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42

Thank you everyone for your responses. I did four mason jar tests. Two were silt loam in the front and side yard. Two were loam in the back. This decreased watering times by 7-8 minutes per station as available water went from 0.2 from the Soil Survey to 0.17 to my mason jar test.

Now I’ve go to run the spreadsheet on my catch cup tests with 113 measurements. What did I get myself into :joy:

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43

Is this only able to be used on a PC or MAC? I’m attempting to use it on my Android smartphone and can’t figure out how to draw a square around my property in the “area of interest” step.

44

Yes, unfortunately that government website is not meant for mobile use. A long time ago there was a university mobile app for iOS that interfaced with it but that app is no longer maintained. No idea if someone on the android side has interfaced with it.

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45

Thanks, I’ll use it on the PC when I get home from work. Looks like a very useful tool.

46

@azdavidr
I’m in a fairly new subdivision. My house was built last July , and my landscaping put in last fall.
My landscaper said that I have Clay or Clay Loam, it’s pretty heavier dirt.
When he laid down the sod/seed, he put black dirt down prior to laying.
When I go to the web soil survey, I get this information for my lot (house isn’t on the lot as the image is old).

Lake County, Indiana

BlA—Blount silt loam, Lake Michigan Lobe, 0 to 2 percent slopes

Typical profile
  • Ap - 0 to 7 inches: silt loam
  • E - 7 to 13 inches: silt loam
  • 2Bt1 - 13 to 26 inches: silty clay
  • 2Bt2 - 26 to 32 inches: silty clay loam
  • 2Cd - 32 to 60 inches: silty clay loam

So my question is, should I use Clay, Clay Loam or Silt Loam per the website? Not sure which depth to use either for picking soil type from website.

47

If you follow the directions in the original post, you’ll get numbers for available water. That number allows for more finely set values then using the default soil settings that you’re referring to. I would start with that available water number and use a slightly higher or lower number based on your judgement.

Incidentally I grew up in Lake County, Indiana. You guys have real soil compared to our sandy colored, rock-hard desert “soil”.

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48

Thank you.

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49

I used the soil survey map and the soil type (under my sod layer) is “very stony loam.” I would put this somewhere around clay loam, right?

50

I would tend to say no. Stony soils would be more free-draining, the exact opposite of clay.

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51

We have “very stony loam” according to the web soil survey site, so would “Sandy Loam” be an appropriate setting to use for us?

52

Thanks for the time you put into gathering this info. Many of the links in the pdf are out of date. This has more to do with the Community links changed.

53

Just came across an Android app called SoilWeb. It apparently uses GPS to pull info out of the soil survey making the entire process much easier. I’d be curious to hear of people find the app accurate.

54

I used the SoilWeb and found we have “Exchequer very stony loam” which makes sense because every hole I dig/excavate for a plant I end up with about 20 river rocks. Which soil option in Rachio is closest to my soil type?

55

@azdavidr
@franz
@sunny
@tmcgahey

Thank you for creating this guide. Very useful.
I am came up with the following:
Available Water: 0.19
Setting
Landform: Hillslopes
Landform position (two-dimensional): Backslope, shoulder
Landform position (three-dimensional): Side slope
Down-slope shape: Convex
Across-slope shape: Convex
Parent material: Silty and clayey residuum weathered from shale
Typical profile
A - 0 to 10 inches: silt loam
BA - 10 to 16 inches: silty clay loam
Bt1 - 16 to 22 inches: silty clay
Bt2 - 22 to 68 inches: silty clay
C - 68 to 79 inches: silty clay loam
Properties and qualities
Slope: 3 to 5 percent
Depth to restrictive feature: More than 80 inches
Drainage class: Somewhat poorly drained
Capacity of the most limiting layer to transmit water
(Ksat): Moderately low to moderately high (0.06 to 0.20 in/hr)
Depth to water table: About 12 to 24 inches
Frequency of flooding: None
Frequency of ponding: None
Maximum salinity: Nonsaline to very slightly saline (0.0 to 2.0 mmhos/cm)
Available water supply, 0 to 60 inches: High (about 10.6 inches)

Few questions for the community, please.

  1. What soil type would you pick? Silty Clay?
  2. What option would you select for the slope?
  3. I have a 25ft raised garden vegetable bed with a water drip, is there a particular way to set that up? (i.e. soil type, etc)

Thank you for your awesome help!

56

  1. What kind of vegetation are we talking? Based 9n depths, it looks like grass could he one setting, and trees (if on their own zone) could be another.

  2. I wouldn’t look at the website for slope use your own judgment there. If you have a slipe to your yard where you might have runoff, then set accordingly. The only thing slope setting will do is decide whether a cycle soak is needed.

  3. IMO, raised garden beds create their own hurdles. Since they not only get sun from the tip to the soils, but also from the sides, which heats the soil, drying it out quicker, it can be tougher to dial in. Is this a vegetable garden? In many cases fixed scheduling might be better for certain raised bed gardens…