Soil Chemistry Overview

This data reflects both the natural elemental composition at the site and the historical influence of nutrient management. Some soil properties such as organic carbon indicate overall soil health, whilst other such as Sodicity, Aluminium and salinity may indicate constraints to root growth and soil water extraction. Comparison between sites of the same soil type will help better understand the difference between these two influencing factors. High or low levels of some nutrients may indicate that some changes in nutrient management may be necessary and we suggest that you contact your local agronomist for their recommendations.

Soil pH is ideal being slightly acid in the A11 horizon at 6.5, and moderately to strongly acid at 5.3 - 5.8 in the A12 horizon and subsoils. The cation exchange capacity at 4.07 meq/100g and 2.58 meq/100g in the A11 and A12 horizons is very low. Somewhat surprisingly the CEC of the two subsoils is even lower. This indicates the soil has little ability to hold and supply nutrients to the tree. Despite the low CEC, the A11 and A12 horizons have high levels of soil organic carbon at 2.48 % and 2.54 %. The soil profile is not saline, however the B1 horizon is technically sodic having an ESP greater than 6.0 %, however given that the B1 only has a CEC of 1.58 meq/100g an ESP of 6.33 is not overly concerning. Potassium is in the optimal range, whilst phosphorous appears to be over supplied in the A1 horizon.