Northeast Region Certified Crop Adviser (NRCCA) Study Resources

In This Section

• PO 8 Hydrology cycle
• PO 9 Water budget
• PO 10 Characteristics of rainfall
• PO 11.1 Soil Infiltration
• PO 11.2 Evaporation and Transpiration
• PO 11.3 Leaching
• PO 11.4 Runoff
• PO 11.5 Soil Water Storage
• PO 12.1-3 Field Capacity, Permanent Wilting Point & Available Water Capacity
• PO 12.4 Total Soil Water Storage Capacity
• PO 12.5 Drainable Porosity
• PO 12.6 Soil Texture and Structure
• PO 12.7 Macroporosity/Preferential Flow
• PO 13 Permeability and infiltrability
• PO 14 Seasonal soil conditions and landscape position
• PO 15 Assessing soil water conditions
• Summary

Competency Area 2: Soil hydrology AEM

PO 15. Know simple field methods to assess soil water conditions.

One simple method to assess soil water conditions in the field is the "Feel" method, a somewhat more specific approach to the "ball test". Soil will either feel wet, moist, or dry. When the soil is wet, it will leave water on your hand (about field capacity). When the soil feels moist, it likely will be somewhere in the plant available water content range. A soil that feels dry is usually below the critical threshold of the readily available water moisture content.  Sandy soils may rarely feel wet because of their high drainable porosity. For a more detailed description of the "Feel" method go to: http://www.wy.nrcs.usda.gov/technical/soilmoisture/guideline.html