Soil management groups-A tool for communicating soils information

Abstract

A “soil management group” concept was developed in Michigan to communicate soils information and to aid in the use of soil survey reports and maps. This concept, used for approximately 20 years, combines soils with similar profiles, management requirements, and responses to like management practices. Numbers and letters are used to provide for easy recall of the dominant profile texture, natural drainage class, and other important profile characteristics. The addition of slope and erosion, if severe or very severe, to the soil management group forms a soil management unit. Soil management groups and units have been used to locate research sites and to summarize research results. Fertilizer and no-till recommendations, soil drainage system designs, selection of coniferous planting stock, and farmland evaluations have been based on these groups. The degree of limitation of soil management units for several land uses, including municipal waste water disposal has been developed to aid land use planners.