Why will soil grow plants better than sand or clay?

Answer 1

Soil can be made up of particles of sand and clay, it just depends on the area you live in as to what soil type you have.
All have the capacity to hold nutrient. Sand is just more free draining than other types of soils, so organic matter has to be added to help with moisture retention.
Clay is caused through too much moisture and the addition of organic matter or gypsum has to be added to break up the clay. Its consistency just makes it harder for plants to use the nutrient that it holds onto. It is very technical.
What you are talking about is called a loam, it has a good Constancy, great drainage and high in organic matter.
Ideally your loam could have a degree of sand added to it, as sand helps divide plant roots as they grow.
It actually depends on what you want to grow, Sand is Great for Golf courses and Football Grounds where all you want to grow is Grass.
Loam is great for all your other plants and vegetables, But here where I live, soils containing large amounts of Clay is normal, and we grow Lots of different types of plants and Vegetables successfully.

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

The answer can be yes or no depending on the situation. Actually, sand is a
type of soil. Soils are composed of three particle sizes: sand (0.05 to 2.0 mm
diameter), silt (0.002 to 0.05 mm) and clay (less than 0.002 mm). Soils are
named based on the percent by weight of sand, silt and clay they contain using
a soil textural triangle.

Sandy soils generally have low fertility, low water holding capacity but high
aeration. Aeration is important because plant roots require oxygen. High
aeration also means water will drain quickly from the soil during heavy rain.
Fertility is a measure of how well the soil can supply the plant with essential
mineral nutrients such as nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium. Clay soils
usually have high water holding capacity and high fertility but low aeration.
The best soils for plants are usually a mixture of sand, silt, and clay, termed
loams. They have good levels of fertility, water holding capacity and aeration.

Sandy soils can grow excellent plants if adequate water and fertilizer are
supplied. If watering is infrequent and adequate fertilizer is not applied,
then plants in a loam may grow much better than those in sand. Plant
researchers used to grow plants in pure sand for mineral nutrition experiments.
Grass growing in pure sand is popular for golf putting greens and football
fields in pro and college stadiums because sand does not compact like loams,
drains well even during heavy rain, and doesn't muddy uniforms.

Answer 4

Soil holds nutrients that plants need a lot better than sand or clay. Clay is hard, so it makes it harder for roots of plants to grow down to reach the water or nutrients under it.
Soil has millions of pores which hold and store nutrients, water, and oxygen so it can distribute it throught out the plant. Sand has too much ventilation which will no be able to hold anything well.

Answer 5

Soil is a man made medium that professional greenhouse growers usse to grow their plants, there are soil many different types of premade prepackaged soil as you can see when you visit your home and garden stores. Do'nt be discourged at the thought that you can never grow anything in sand or clay, because you can. In Georgia we have red clay, all kinds of native plants grow here, the nursery I grow for is know for selling native plants for native soil. We have daylillies that we call ditch lillies, that come back year after year and know one has ammened their soil, there are all kinds of plants that will grow in sandy soil conditions, in most plant books if a plant is labeled "can tolerate poor soil", they generally mean native soil with little or no ammending.My parents and grandmother grew beautiful gardens and never bought the first bag of "soil", they used the dirt under their feet and in some cases added woods dirt, and vigoro with love and hard work. I like this question, it let me go back and remember my yard and my granny's yard and also let me realize how green thumbs are passed to certain family members generations after generations. HAPPY PLANTING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Answer 6

Are you serious? Soil has organic matter, leaf mould, nitrogen, all the requirements for root, leaf, and flower growth. Sand and clay have no nutritive elements and tend to compact and smother plants. Try growing the same plant in all 3 mediums and see what happens.

Answer 7

Loam will grow plants better than sand or clay.

Answer 8

This question (if not similar to this) has already been asked by some in here. These 3 should be able to give you the answer. do no just read the Best Choosen Answer, read what others have to say too.. as the answer is somewhat there.

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AsvnaKUYesa9aflsqbnXfcojzKIX?qid=20070207220033AAuZMry

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=1006052203481

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20070115154106AAFpdnD

take a look at this too http://www.madsci.org/posts/archives/sep2000/969410800.Bt.r.html

Answer 9

improper nutrients and drainage