What's new
TerraForums Venus Flytrap, Nepenthes, Drosera and more talk

Register a free account today to become a member! Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members through your own private inbox!

Soil vs soilless

Joseph Clemens

Moderator
Staff member
Moderator
Sometimes when growing media are mentioned they are referred to as "soil". I am sharing the following definitions from my new soils vocabulary; artificial soil and natural soil to help clarify the distinctions necessary for optimum culture.

Natural soil: soils formed by entirely natural means.

Artificial soil: soils formed by combining mineral and/or organic ingredients which may or may not include natural soil. Also known as soilless media unless at least one ingredient is natural soil.
 
By that definition, there isn't much natural soil in the northeast.  Most places I've stuck a shovel in the ground have a plow zone.  Instead of having an A horizon of a couple inches or less, which would be natural here, we typically have much thicker Ap horizons.  It ain't natural, but it doesn't exclude a soil from being a natural soil.  A Wetherfield loam with a plow zone is still a Wethersfield.  It takes a bulldozer pushing the soil around and cutting and filling while building a subdivision to turn it into a Wethersfield-Urban Land Complex.  Then it isn't a natural soil.  But it isn't something I'd plant a CP in.
 
Back
Top