The Representative Soil of Puerto Rico

The Bayamon soils are interspersed between limestone hills (haystacks) along northern Puerto Rico. They are used for sugarcane, pineapples (seen in picture), a wide variety of food crops, pasture, and hayland.

A typical Bayamon soil profile consists of a 20 cm topsoil of dark reddish brown clay and a weak red clay subsoil to a depth of 2 meters, or more.

The Bayamon soils formed in highly weathered, clayey marine sediments. Thee soils have low to medium fertility and are strongly acid to extremely acid throughout the profile. Crops respond well to applications of lime and fertilizer.

When Christopher Columbus discovered the island of Puerto Rico on his second voyage (1493), the inhabitants were the Tainos Indians. The word "Bayamon" was derived from a local Indian chief named Bahamon. Bayamon is also the name of one of the main cities and a river.

See a graphic showing the distribution of the Bayamon soil in Puerto Rico.

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