I recently noticed that the soil in my garden has turned a surprising red color after some waterlogging. I'm curious if this change could be due to fungus or something else happening in the soil. Has anyone experienced this before?
2 Answers
It might just be the clay responding to the water. If you check out pottery videos, you'll see red clay can look totally different when it’s wet versus when it’s dried out. It’s pretty common, honestly!
The red color could also be from the oxidation of iron in the soil. I chatted with my local soil department, and they mentioned that high humidity can cause unexposed iron to oxidize, leading to this reddish tint.
That's definitely true! But this looks like a powdery layer on the surface of the soil, which is new to me.