Penetrometer

Examples of Soil Improvement at EPRIDA
Doug Clayton, April 2007
[G2:144]
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I took the pictures when I visited Danny Day at Eprida last month.

The first shot is of the red Georgia clay before and after charcoal had been tilled in two years prior. The second shows some "structure" as a result of the charcoal treatment. The untreated had become very hard (compacted).

Three and four illustrate how tilth was improved. In both shots Danny

Measuring soil compaction using a penetrometer (soil compaction tester)
Pennsylvania State University,Department of Crop and Soil Sciences, Agronomy Facts 63, 2002

Soil compaction can easily reduce crop yields by 10 percent, and can lead to water and soil quality degradation due to increased runoff and soil structure destruction.

Penetrometer: A diagnostic tool to measure the extent and depth of subsurface compaction is a penetrometer, or soil compaction tester.