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Visual indicators of soil condition

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  1. Pasture growth

    In the paddock
    1 quiz
  2. Indicator 1 - dark green patches
    1 quiz
  3. Indicator 2 - yellowing pastures
    1 quiz
  4. Indicator 3 - grass dominant pasture
    1 quiz
  5. Indicator 4 - stock camps
    1 quiz
  6. Indicator 5 - reduced summer growth
    1 quiz
  7. Indicator 6 - lucerne stunting
    1 quiz
  8. Sub-Clover and Legume Nodulation
    Plants and pastures
  9. Indicator 7 - small, dark green leaves
    1 quiz
  10. Indicator 8 - bronzing of sub-clover
    1 quiz
  11. Indicator 9 - stunted sub-clover plants
    1 quiz
  12. Indicator 10 - few or white nodules
    1 quiz
  13. Soil Characteristics
    Soil surface and clover roots
  14. Indicator 11 - soil surface
    1 quiz
  15. Indicator 12 - soil disturbance
    1 quiz
  16. Weeds as Indicators of Soil Condition
    High fertility indicators
    1 quiz
  17. Low fertility indicators
    1 quiz
Item 4 of 17
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Indicator 3 – grass dominant pasture

What do you see and when?

  • Grass dominant pasture with little or no legume and slow growth
  • Best seen late winter to mid spring

What could this indicate?

  • Possible phosphorus or molybdenum deficiency
  • Low soil pH (soil acidity)
  • Inappropriate sub-clover management, such as leaving too much dry material at the autumn break, long rotations encouraging grass dominance or cutting hay in later maturing clovers.

What test can I do to confirm?

Pictured: Amount of loose litter in late summer. Ideally one to two handfuls in 0.1 m2 quadrat promotes hard seed breakdown of sub-clover
  • Soil test, with reference to phosphorus, pH and aluminium.
  • Plant tissue test for molybdenum.
  • The dry material litter test in late summer/early autumn.

 

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