Why does plants grow better in soil than sand and clay?

Answer 1

Plants do better in soil because of the nutrient content. Plain sand has no nutrients for plants although it IS good for sharp drainage. Clay, on the other hand, is very dense and heavy-little or no drainage. It will contain the moisture but is too heavy for roots to do really well.

Answer 2

All soils are made up of small particles of rock. Nursery plants on the other hand are commonly grown in "soilless" mixes which are referred to in the trade as "media" and not "soil" or "dirt". A soilless media is really primarily composted bark and peat moss. Sand is a type of soil -- as is clay. Sand is coarser grained and we all know what a beach looks like. It forms from the pulverizing of certain kinds of rocks. Clay is from another kind of rock and the particles are much, much smaller and so tend to stick together. The can be so sticky as to have relatively less air in beween than grains of sand and this is bad for growth of plants. Clay can be waterlogged when wet or hard as a rock when dry because water does not easily flow through the soil. Clay will hold more nutrients than sand though since there is less leaching of chemicals as water runs through the soil as there is in sand. In additon to the above, soils include what Nature adds in organic elements like leaf litter, dead plants and animal, or manure, all of which is where the nutrients are, to the minerals that are present in any given location. There are many many kinds of soils. Soils are classified and named just as plants and animals are. Every state's Department of Agriculture has soil maps to reveal the kind of soil on each parcel of land. Farmers need these to determine how to best manage practices on each field. As mentioned above the term 'loam' is referring to a mixture of sand, clay, and organics. It could be a 'sandy loam' or a 'clay loam' . Loam is good for growing plants since it has both good drainage and the capacity for holding nutrients. This is a very simple explanation but you get the idea. There is a whole lot more which is very scientific. So your question while a good one has a complicated answer.

Answer 3

Can't say that is all true. I live in FL and I've had better luck planting down here in the clay/sand that when I lived in CT where there is actual dirt and soil.

Every state has its own variety of plants and trees that thrive there.

Answer 4

no nutrients in clay and sand to grow plants

Answer 5

Sand and clay are too dense to support most plants. The roots would be suffocated.

Answer 6

The magic words here are nutrients. It all makes the difference in how much nutrients are in the soil.

Answer 7

clay and sand dont have any nutrients nor do they allow water to the roots