"Everything grows in the soil, and food is fundamentally based on soil." To understand cultivated land, we should start with understanding soil. If you have ever done farm work or grown flowers and plants, you may have noticed that farmers often need to loosen the soil for crops, and the soil in flower pots is also prone to clumping if it's not repotted regularly.
There are several reasons for soil clumping. Firstly, some soils are too sticky, meaning they contain too much clay. Long-term irrigation can easily wash away nutrients in the soil, greatly reducing the organic matter content and causing imbalance in soil nutrients, which can lead to surface cracking. Secondly, the water used for irrigation may be too hard, with high concentrations of calcium and magnesium ions. Over time, this can cause "calcareous" phenomena in the soil, making it hard and compacted. It can be seen that soil becomes compacted when it's too dry or the organic matter content is too low. If excessive nitrogen fertilizer is applied to the soil, the increased nitrogen supply can lead to microbial activity that breaks down organic matter. It has been calculated that for every 1 unit of microbial activity, an additional 25 units of carbon are consumed. The carbon consumed comes from soil organic matter. Reduced organic matter content affects microbial activity, which in turn affects the formation of soil aggregates and leads to soil compacting.
Soil compacting affects soil quality and fertility, seriously impacting crop growth.
To improve soil compacting, sand, charcoal residue, or fermented sawdust can be added to the soil. For potted plants, you can also add a certain amount of organic fertilizer during repotting. Another method is to loosen the soil, which helps plant roots grow deeper, but care should be taken not to dig too deeply.