Soil texture a combination of the most abundant particles sizes, e.g. "sandy clay" or "silty clay". A fourth term, loam, is used to describe equal properties of sand, silt, and clay in a soil sample, and lends to the naming of even more classifications, e.g. "clay loam" or "silt loam". Determining soil texture is often aided with the use of a soil texture triangle. An example of a soil triangle is found on the right side of the page. One side of the triangle represents percent sand, the second side represents percent clay, and the third side represents percent silt. If you
Sand-based athletic fields a major concern when managing a sand-based turf system. Nutrient leaching occurs more readily in a sand-based system because sand has a relatively low cation exchange capacity (CEC). This refers to the sand's ability to retain nutrient particles. Soil particle "hold on" to positively charged nutrient particles because they are negatively charged. The opposite charges cause the nutrients to adhere to soil particles which can then be taken up by plants. Sand has virtually no CEC, whereas clay and organic matter have relatively high CEC. This means that the higher the clay and organic matter of a soil, the more