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Sun, Feb 6, 11 at 10:06
| Is there a difference between loam and topsoil? |
Follow-Up Postings:
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- Posted by piedmontnc 7b-8 (My Page) on Sun, Feb 6, 11 at 10:17
| Loam is a soil texture classification which has roughly equal parts sand and silt, the rest being clay (see link for percentages). Topsoil is the uppermost soil horizon, the 'A' horizon which has the majority of soil organic matter, where most plant roots are found, and the majority of soil microbial activity takes place. Topsoil may have a loam texture, but not all loams are topsoil. |
Here is a link that might be useful: Soil TEXTURE
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| Undisturbed topsoil is likely non-existent in the average garden/landscape. What's sold as topsoil varies according to where it was collected. It can be a source of nasty perennial weeds. Examine closely before you purchase it or welcome a free "gift." Loam is approximately equal percentages -- not parts -- of sand, silt, and clay. |
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| Loam is a specific soil type, sandy loam, clay loam not withstanding, that is often implied to be the "topsoil" being sold but is not. There is really very little loam available to most of us. As a rule of thumb spending money on "topsoil" is a waste because more then likely what you get is simply more of what you already have. Concentrate instead on adding organic matter to what you have so that will become a good, healthy soil. |
Here is a link that might be useful: Loam
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| Topsoil for sale, was once for new houses & the contractor would put it down where a hill had been cut away. the ground around the house would be all sand or clay. But the seller found he could sale to anyone who did not know they had topsoil that just needed amended with OM. My backyard was wet & had the dark soil that is more of a sign of slow drainage the OM. My front yard was hard clay & a little sand. I was confused until I looked across the street & saw the front yard, was a sloping hill that had stopped at the street, to drop 48 inches straight down. They had a front yard on my lot that was taller then the front door of the house. So they dug it up and hauled what was not put under my foundation. Leaving my land in a mess. I got some old sawdust enrich soil hauled in, with every invasive weed/grasses in the state. But with a little work I got a lawn & sometime I wonder if the weeds would be better. |
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| People have been selling stuff called "topsoil since long before I started gardening in the 1950's and people have misunderstood what that "topsoil" was since before that. The legal description of "topsoil" is that it is the top 4 to 6 inches of soil from some place. It might, but does not have to, have some organic matter mixed in it and the organic matter is what most every soil I have looked at since the 1950's has needed. If compost or leaf mold is available at the same price, or less, then "topsoil" you would be much further ahead buying the compost or leaf mold then the "topsoil". |
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| kimmsr, correct me if I misunderstood. Topsoil is the top 4 to 6 inches of soil. That does not mean if a bulldozer scrapes off the top 12 inches of soil, that the next 4 to 6 inches is top soil, even though it is now the top 4-6 inches. They were building houses before 1949. |
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- Posted by michael357 5b KS (My Page) on Wed, Feb 9, 11 at 23:30
| Piedmont: very nice answer, clear, concise and correct. I'm wondering what the others read in the OP's statement, "Is there a difference between loam and topsoil"? Sorry folks, it's late and I haven't had my nitey night bottle yet. |
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| "Topsoil" could be that soil exposed by scraping off 12 inches by a bulldozer, jolj. Once that 12 inches is scraped off what was under that now becomes the "topsoil". Sometimes the sod that was growing there is removed, often 4 inches of the top, and what is under that sod is sold as "topsoil". Often gardeners are advised to remove that sod and through it away, the topsoil they have, and build their garden on the subsoil that was under that sod. |
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| Robert Rodale/ Organic Gardening Magazine. printed in the 1960 or earlier. "This problem is surely a problem to tens of thousands of new home owners in heavy clay soil regions. For when the area is stripped and leveled by the bulldozers, the subsoil becomes very much impacted. Even though topsoil put back by the contractor, it is often true that when you go out to dig a hole the first few inches are easy-but after that it is like iron." If I fell & scrapped all the skin(topsoil) off my arm. The paramedic would not look at the bloody flesh(sub-soil) on my arm & say the skin is really red on your arm. I have worked the soil on large & small farms for over 40 years. This is the last word on this, we can just agree to disagree. |
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