We'd actually need photos at 2 minutes and 2 hours. At 11 hours, that top layer is composed of both silt and clay. The third photo is at 2 days.

Off the cuff, I already have a guess as to your soil composition, but I'd prefer to see the images at the proper times.

The reaction from the wife isn't uncommon - last year, I did the jar test and Logan labs analysis (thanks again to Morpheuspa for the feedback), and when my wife saw me putting soil in the jar with water and taking photos, she called me crazy.

My wife thought I was nuts when I shampooed the lawn. I think that softened the blow for when I took soil samples for the jar test and lab analysis. Now that I'm throwing cornmeal out on the lawn she seems relatively immune.

Also, from what I can tell after reading through quite a few posts, Morph is the man when it comes to KBG, so you are in good hands.

Give her time. She's taking photos and notes and will have you committed. Then everything will be hers.

Ok, so here we go...

2 minutes:

2 hours:

As for the wife, I'd like to say she's used to my odd behavior, but I guess I stepped it up a notch when I took a jar of pasta sauce and dumped it into a ziplock and then filled the jar with dirt and water and then shook it like a madman.

Gotcha. In this case, the water is dirty enough that I'll need to see the 2 day photo--there's enough suspended clay to possibly be significant.

Uh oh. That doesn't sound very promising.

A quick question: am I supposed to be trying this with a fresh sample and fresh water? I just reshook the jar with the "old" soil and water.

Also, hopefully 42ish hours will be sufficient. I'll be in transit at the 48 hr mark.

The old stuff is fine--it's been rained on in the yard for years, decades, or centuries, after all!

It's not a bad thing. It just means that you have enough clay in the soil that it has to settle. In that previous case, I had him stop the test at 2 hours as there was no clay in his soil, just some sand and a huge amount of silt.

So far, yours has some sand and a good amount of silt. And some clay or the water would be clear. You're still going to come out on the silt side of the equation unless you added a LOT more soil than I think you did from what I see.

And yes, 42 hours is probably just fine. It'll be good enough for me to give you a decent read, and if I need you to leave it while you travel and re-photograph whenever you can, I presume you can do that.

24 hours down, 24 hours to go.

Here's a photo of the 24 hour jar for giggles:

Here we go, I got an exta hour out of the lady, so here we are at 43 hrs.

Doesn't look too much different from the 24 hr one. :/

It does look the same. Put in a tiny drop of dishwashing liquid, like Dawn, or liquid shampoo. Leave it set while you're away and photograph it when you're back.

If pixel inspection works here--it's tough when the color is orange-brown--your makeup as currently read is 30% clay, 30% sand, 40% silt. That puts you in Clay Loam, a fairly heavy soil. I don't see your locale, so I'm not sure how normal that is.

I'd expect the EC to come back high on your Logan test, but how high depends on the type of clay. Certainly 15+.

Thanks! I'm actually already away. I forgot to post the pic prior to my departure. No worries though, I'll be returning home tomorrow afternoon. I have a feeling I'll be accused of taking better care of this jar of mud than I do my own two offspring!

I'm in somerset county, New Jersey btw.

Wow. That's some document! Honestly, none of the towns listed are close. In fact most of them aren't even in somerset county! I think you're 100% on the money though; the builder probably just brought in whatever was cheap and plentiful.

I think we'll call it a wrap at this point and wait for the Logan report. Thanks for your help and analysis thus far!

No problem! Even if not quite there, the current analysis is close enough to give you an indication. That's all you really need.

For the most part, the EC number off your Logan Labs report is going to be how I base your recommendations anyway. Just because you have clay doesn't mean you have a high EC. Bentonite clay has a low exchange capacity and has to be treated more like silt.