26.03.2013 Views

Soil Management Handbook - Ministry of Agriculture and Lands

Soil Management Handbook - Ministry of Agriculture and Lands

Soil Management Handbook - Ministry of Agriculture and Lands

SHOW MORE
SHOW LESS

Create successful ePaper yourself

Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.

Chopaka <strong>Soil</strong> <strong>Management</strong> Group<br />

<strong>Soil</strong> Series: Bessette (BT), Chopaka (CK), Duteau<br />

(D), Gill<strong>and</strong>ers (GS), Nisconlith (N) (N:ca),<br />

Priest Creek (PT) <strong>and</strong> Strutt (ST)<br />

General Characteristics: These soils have<br />

developed on recent alluvial floodplain deposits<br />

<strong>and</strong> on fluvial fan deposits. The floodplain soils<br />

<strong>of</strong> this group consist <strong>of</strong> stone-free, medium to<br />

moderately fine-textured overlays which vary in<br />

depth from less than 50 cm to 100 cm or more in<br />

thickness. These deposits are underlain by<br />

coarse-textured s<strong>and</strong>y <strong>and</strong> gravelly deposits. The<br />

alluvial fan soil – Priest Creek (PT) – is<br />

moderately coarse to medium-textured in the<br />

surface <strong>and</strong> subsurface <strong>and</strong> can be slightly stony<br />

(S1). Gravels occur quite deep in the subsoil.<br />

<strong>Soil</strong>s developed from both parent materials are<br />

calcareous. They have topographies that range<br />

from nearly level (0.5%) to very gentle (5%) <strong>and</strong><br />

drainage that is poor to very poor.<br />

Dominant <strong>Soil</strong> Limitations:<br />

• The soils in this group are subject to flooding<br />

in the spring.<br />

• These soils are poorly to very poorly drained<br />

<strong>and</strong> are subject to a high groundwater table.<br />

• This group has varying levels <strong>of</strong> salinity,<br />

ranging from none to moderately saline.<br />

Well Suited Crops: Forage crops – wetter sites <strong>and</strong><br />

grassl<strong>and</strong>s.<br />

Suited Crops: When soils are drained, annual<br />

vegetable crops, blueberries, cereals, corn, forage<br />

crops – drier sites, nursery stock <strong>and</strong> Christmas<br />

trees <strong>and</strong> strawberries. Where drainage or<br />

flooding protection is provided <strong>and</strong> salinity can<br />

be controlled through irrigation, some sites may<br />

be suited to tree fruits.<br />

<strong>Management</strong> Inputs:<br />

Water <strong>Management</strong> System: Drainage is required to<br />

lower the groundwater table <strong>and</strong> to remove salts<br />

that have been leached by irrigation. The<br />

suggested drain spacing is 16 to 18 m at a 1.2 m<br />

depth.<br />

Unsuited Crops: Alfalfa, asparagus, ginseng,<br />

grapes, raspberries <strong>and</strong> tree fruits.<br />

Reasons: Because <strong>of</strong> the normally deep-rooting habit<br />

<strong>of</strong> these crops, minimum watertable levels<br />

required for maximum yields could be achieved<br />

only at very high costs.<br />

<strong>Soil</strong> <strong>Management</strong> <strong>H<strong>and</strong>book</strong> – Okanagan-Similkameen Valleys 13

Hooray! Your file is uploaded and ready to be published.

Saved successfully!

Ooh no, something went wrong!