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Penn State Master Gardener > Soil Health And Fertilizer Management > Flashcards

Soil Health And Fertilizer Management Flashcards

1
Q

What role does healthy soil play in plant health?

A
  • mechanical support
  • Absorbs, holds and releases water
  • exchanges gases
  • Convert nutrients tied up in organic matter to nutrients available for plants
  • Resist erosion
  • Suppresses insect pests and plant pathogens
  • Sustains biodiversity
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2
Q

What’s the difference between soil health and soil quality?

A

Soil quality is the ability of soil to function for a purpose, such as agriculture or building material. Soil health is an assessment of the state of the soil regarding specific subjective goals and soil management.

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3
Q

What are the distinct principle layers of most soils and what is the collective term for?

A

Soil profile
Four distinct horizons:
- Horizon A: Topsoil
- Horizon E: subsurface
- Horizon B: subsoil
- Horizon C: parent material

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4
Q

What is the most common soil material in PA?

A

Transported soil materials: alluvium, colluvium, glacial till.

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5
Q

Which horizon has the most organic matter and the greatest concentration of plants roots?

A

Surface soil - Horizon A and E

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6
Q

What color is the subsoil?

A

Shades of red brown, yellow, and gray

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7
Q

What part does parent material play in soil health?

A

It influences soil, texture, natural, fertility, acidity, and depth.

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8
Q

Based on the content of organic matter, what are the two types of soil?

A

Mineral soils: containing less than 20% organic matter
Organic soils: containing more than 20% organic matter

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9
Q

What is the soil make up of most soil’s in Pennsylvania?

A

Most soils in Pennsylvania are minerals soils because of the presence of sandstone, shale, and limestone sedimentary rocks.

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10
Q

What are some factors influencing a soils physical properties?

A
  • Climatic factors: e.g. rainfall temperature
  • Relief: e.g. Slope and direction of the land surface.
  • Vegetation
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11
Q

What are some physical properties of soil?

A

Texture, color, structure, internal drainage, depth

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12
Q

What determines the kind of crop is grown vs what determines the expected yields?

A

Soil properties determine the crop, yields depend on fertility level.

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13
Q

What causes the color of the soil?

A

Organic matter content, drainage, conditions, degree of oxidation/extent of weathering

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14
Q

What might light surface soil color indicate?

A

Lower organic matter content, coarse, texture, bleached conditions, or high annual temperatures.

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15
Q

What might dark surface soil color indicate?

A

Poor drainage, low annual temperatures, high organic matter content, slow oxidation, parent material.

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16
Q

What are some dark surface soil temperature-related properties?

A

Absorbs heat more rapidly during the day, lose heat faster at night, generally warmer than light soils during the warm seasons.

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17
Q

What do subsoil colors indicate?

A

Air, water, and soil relationships, degree of iron oxidation in the soil.
Red/brown: soil allows relatively free, movement of air and water
Gray/yellow: slow, internal drainage, too little oxygen

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18
Q

What determines the soil texture?

A

The amount of sand (>0.05 mm), silt (0.002-0.05mm), and clay (<0.002mm) present in the soil.

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19
Q

What are the five general textural classes most PA surface soils fall into?

A
  • silt loam
  • loam
  • Silty clay loam
  • Sandy loam
  • Clay loam
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20
Q

How does bigger soil particles alter the properties of the soil?

A

Allow water to enter faster, water can move more freely, warm up faster because of air present between the particles.

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21
Q

What are peds or aggregates?

A

Soil particles group together in soil formation processes.

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22
Q

Why is strong soil structure favorable and how can we promote it?

A

Strong structure allows good movement of air and water. Strong structure in surface soil is promoted by adequate supply of organic matter and working the soil when it’s not too dry/wet.

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23
Q

What are the types of soil structure?

A
  • Granular: characteristic of horizon A
  • Platy: commonly occurs in horizon E
  • Blocky: found in horizon B but may occur in horizon A
  • columnar: usually found in horizon B most common in arid regions
  • Prismatic: usually found in horizon B, most common in arid regions
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24
Q

Why is soil structure linked to the biological health of the soil?

A

Most beneficial soil organisms can only live in the existing pores and channels in the well aggregated soil.

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25
Q

What are some minute processes that produce granular aggregate?

A
  • plants roots enlarge the openings in the soil
  • Organic matter formed from decaying roots serve as a cementing agent.
  • soil bacteria producing stable exudates and develop small electrostatic charge
  • Fungal hyphae knit particles together
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26
Q

How do large soil organisms help soil health?

A

They can move the soil and create macropores in the soil. Their feeding pattern and waste products also contribute.

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27
Q

What is internal drainage?

A

The rate an extent of water movement in soil across the surface as well as downward.

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28
Q

What are the different effective soil depths?

A
  • very shallow: soil is less than 10” to a layer that restricts root development
  • shallow: 10-20”
  • Moderately deep: 20-36”
  • Deep: 35-60”
  • Very deep: > 60”
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29
Q

What is the principal reason for soil erosion in PA?

A

Lack of sufficient, vegetative cover, cultivation of crops on Steve soils.

30
Q

What are some methods to combat soil erosion?

A

Using crops, best suited for soil, promote plant growth, using proper tillage methods/mulch.

31
Q

What are the four major components of mineral soils?

A

Mineral materials, organic matter, water, air.

32
Q

What is the soil food web?

A

The community of organisms living all or part of their lives in the soil.

33
Q

What are the two groups soil organic matter can be divided to.

A

Labile, and stable portions or pools.

34
Q

What makes up the labile pool of the organic matter and what is the percentage of the total pool of soil organic matter?

A
  • 5-20%
  • Living biomass of soil, organisms and plant roots; fine particles of organic detritus; simple, organic compounds (polysaccharides, organic acids, etc)
35
Q

What stimulates the decomposition of the labile organic matters?

A

Excessive tillage which introduces oxygen.

36
Q

What makes up the stable pool of the organic matter and what is the percentage of the total pool of soil organic matter?

A
  • 85-95%
  • complex organic compounds that are relatively resistant to decomposition, or protected within soil aggregates.
37
Q

What are some determining factors of organic matter content?

A

The kinds of plans that have been growing on the soil, long-term management practices, temperature, and drainage.

38
Q

What is aggregate stability?

A

The ability of soil aggregate, to hold together against erosion (mainly water).

39
Q

Why is good aggregates stability important?

A

It will help maintain the pores within the soil, where water and gases move.

40
Q

What are the different functions of macropores and micropores?

A

Macro: promoting good aeration, and rapid infiltration of rainfall
Micro: absorbing and holding water

41
Q

How does air occur in soil?

A
  • oxygen: needed for growth; too much water will push the air out
  • carbon dioxide: released during decomposition; replaces some of the oxygen; dissolve by water in the soil to form a weak acid (this will react with the minerals of the soil)
42
Q

What is the percentage of solid material to open/pore space in surface soil best for plant growth?

A

50% solid (mineral material + organic matter)
50% pore space

43
Q

If reducing water holding capacity is the goal than what kind of organic material should be introduced?

A

Adding large amounts of undecomposed organic material.

44
Q

Why is decomposition an important step in nutrient cycling?

A

Nutrients in organic matter are not directly available to plants, but only become available when it’s broken down or decomposed by soil organisms.

45
Q

What are some terms use for organisms that are active in decomposition?

A

Decomposers, detritivores, microbivores, saprophages

46
Q

What are the primary decomposers of soil organic matter?

A

Microbes (bacteria, fungi, protozoa)

47
Q

What is the process of converting organic nitrogen to plan available nitrogen is called?

A

Mineralization

48
Q

What is CEC and how can we promote it?

A

Cation exchange capacity. Cation exchange household positively charged nutrients in the soil. Increasing the organic matter content of soil can help promote it.

49
Q

What are antagonists?

A

Microbes in the soil that reduce plant diseases.

50
Q

How do extremes in soil pH impact plant growth?

A

Highly acidic soils (low pH): aluminum and manganese 10 concentrate at a toxic level; calcium phosphorus, magnesium become tied up and unavailable
alkaline soil’s: phosphorus, iron, copper, zinc, boron, manganese, become less available

51
Q

What are some key considerations to applying to lime to make soil less acid?

A

The size of the grind: the finer the grind the more rapidly it becomes effective
Also: soil texture, organic matter content, crop to be grown.

52
Q

What are some considerations to applying wood ash to amend the soil?

A
  • Twice as much ash must be applied to have the same effect as limestone
  • Should not come in to contact with germinating seedlings or plant roots
  • Never use coal ashes or large amounts
53
Q

What can be added to the soil to reduce alkalinity?

A

Elemental sulfur, or aluminum sulfate.

54
Q

What is iron chlorosis? And how can it be managed?

A

Plants that require a slightly too strongly acidic soil, will develop iron chlorosis, when planted in alkaline soils. Can be corrected by reducing soil pH.

55
Q

What are chelates?

A

Chemical “claws” that help hold metal ions, such as iron, in solution so the plan can absorb them. Different chemicals can act as chelates (e.g., natural chelates like citrate; more complex manufactured chemicals). Most nutrients do not require the addition of a chelate to aid absorption.

56
Q

What is a fertilizer material?

A

A compound or substance that contains one or more essential plant nutrients.

57
Q

What is a mixed fertilizer?

A

Contains two or more fertilizer materials.

58
Q

What is fertilizer ratio?

A

Refers to the relative amounts of nitrogen (N), phosphate (P2O5), and potash (K2O).

59
Q

What is fertilizer analysis?

A

How much of an element is in a formulation based on percentage by weight.

60
Q

What is fertilizer grade?

A

The three numbers that indicate the guaranteed analysis.

61
Q

Why don’t the nutrient amounts in the fertilizer add up to 100%?

A
  • Nutrients are present in a compound/material that contains other elements, e.g. potassium in the form of potassium chloride
  • fertilizer may also contain other nutrient sources, absorbents, fillers
62
Q

What does WIN and WSN mean?

A

Water, insoluble, nitrogen, and water soluble nitrogen.
WIN is considered a slow-release nitrogen source.

63
Q

What are complete fertilizers?

A

Containing each of the three major plant nutrients.

64
Q

What are slow-release fertilizers?

A

Fertilizers containing one or more essential elements that are released or made available to the plant over an extended period.

65
Q

What is the main consideration when trying to prevent compaction?

A

Soil moisture. Compaction is much more severe on the wet soils than dry soils.

66
Q

What are the advantages of having cover crops?

A

Provides additional organic matter, holds nutrients that might have been lost during winter, helps reduce erosion and topsoil loss.

67
Q

What are the disadvantages of excessive tillage?

A
  • increases oxygen in the soil therefore promoting decomposition of organic matter
  • Disrupt the network of soil fungi
  • Can compact soil
  • Disrupts biodiversity and beneficial insect activities
68
Q

How to crop rotations, help building soil health?

A
  • Break up soil-born pest and disease lifecycles
  • helps manage weeds
  • Help reduce nutrient excesses on deficiencies
69
Q

How can overfertilizing crops increase problems?

A

Increasing soluble nitrogen levels in plans can decrease their existence to pests resulting in higher past densities.

70
Q

What is composting?

A

Using the natural process of decay to speed up and change organic materials into a valuable humus-like material.

Penn State Master Gardener (3 decks)

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