Gumbo (soil)
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Gumbo soil is typically defined by the overwhelming presence of very fine particles of
clay Clay is a type of fine-grained natural soil material containing clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolinite, ). Most pure clay minerals are white or light-coloured, but natural clays show a variety of colours from impuriti ...
, but often has small amounts of
sand Sand is a granular material composed of finely divided mineral particles. Sand has various compositions but is usually defined by its grain size. Sand grains are smaller than gravel and coarser than silt. Sand can also refer to a textural ...
and/or organic material. Although gumbo soils are exceptional at water retention, they can be difficult to farm, as precipitation will turn gumbo into a unique muddy mess that is challenging to work using large commercial farming equipment. Avoiding
tillage Tillage is the agriculture, agricultural preparation of soil by mechanical wikt:agitation#Noun, agitation of various types, such as digging, stirring, and overturning. Examples of manual labour, human-powered tilling methods using hand tools inc ...
of this type of soil through
no-till farming No-till farming (also known as zero tillage or direct drilling) is an agricultural technique for growing crops or pasture without disturbing the soil through tillage. No-till farming decreases the amount of soil erosion tillage causes in certa ...
appears strongly correlated with higher yields, as compared to more traditional tilling practices.


References

{{Authority control Types of soil Horticulture