10 Ways to Tell If Your Land Is Fertile（1）

10 Ways to Tell If Your Land Is Fertile

How can you tell if the soil is fertile? Today, with such advanced technology, there are many high-tech means for scientists to test the fertility level of the soil, but what about farmers who do not have those highly sophisticated instruments?

I. Look at the color of the soil

The colour of the soil is a clear indicator of its fertility and is one of the easiest ways to get a handle on it. Soils that are darker in colour are generally fertile, while those that are lighter in colour are poor.

II. Look at the depth of the soil (tillage layer)

Soils in fertile fields are deeper, usually more than 60cm deep (except for paddy fields), while poor soils are very shallow, even below 20cm in severe areas, with only a top layer of soil.

III. Look at the arable nature of the soil

In general, the fertile soil is loose and easy to cultivate, "dry ploughing is like incense and ash, wet ploughing is like sugar", while the poor soil is sticky and ploughing is laborious, "knocking a hole, hoeing a slit".

IV. Look at the precipitation pulp and cracks

Fertile soils are less prone to slurry and have more and smaller soil cracks; poor soils are very prone to slurry and slabbing and have fewer and larger soil cracks.

V. Look at the water quality

Water that is slippery and sticky, with large bubbles when exposed to sunlight or when stepped on by the foot, is fatty soil; water that is light and colourless, with no bubbles in the paddy, or with small and easily dispersed bubbles, is poor soil.