The Proposed State Soil of Louisiana

Soils of the Ruston series have been selected to be the official state soil of Louisiana by the Louisiana soils staff and soil survey partners. However, no legislative action has been taken to adopt this selection.

A typical Ruston soil profile consists of a 5 inch topsoil of dark grayish brown fine sandy loam and an 8 inch subsurface of pale brown fine sandy loam; a bisequal subsoil of red clay loam in the upper part, yellowish red fine sandy loam in the middle part, and red sandy clay loam in the lower part.

Ruston soils are mainly used for woodland consisting of southern pine and some hardwoods and an understory of shrubs or grasses. Some areas of understory vegetation are managed as range conditions which provide grazing for cattle and some are managed for wildlife habitat. A small acreage is used for cotton, corn, soybeans, small grain, truck crops, and pasture. A considerable portion of acreage formerly cultivated has been converted to pasture or southern pine woodland. These soils exist on 733,714 acres of landscape in Louisiana.

The Ruston series consists of very deep, well drained, moderately permeable soils that formed in loamy marine or stream deposits. These soils are on uplands of the Western and Southern Coastal Plains. Slopes range from 0 to 8 percent. The Ruston soil has low fertility and moderately high levels of exchangeable aluminum within the rooting zone that are potentially toxic to some agricultural crops buy ideal for the production of loblolly, slash, and longleaf pine. The average site index for loblolly pine is 90. This soil has slight limitations for woodland use and management.

See a graphic showing the counties in Louisiana where the Ruston soil is located.

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