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% Moisture	Sand	Sandy Loam	Clay Loam	Clay
Close to 0%	Dry, loose, single grained, flows through fingers	Dry, loose, flows through fingers	Dry clods, breakdown into powdery condition	Hard, baked, cracked surface, loose crumbs on surface
50% or less	Appears dry, will not form ball	Appears dry, will not form ball	Crumbly, holds together with pressure	Pliable, will ball under pressure
50% - 75%	Same as above	Will ball, but will not hold together	Forms a ball, slight slick with pressure	Forms a ball ribbon between fingers
75% to field capacity	Sticks together, forms a weak ball	Forms a weak ball, will not become slick	Forms a ball, very pliable, readily forms a slick	Easily ribbons between fingers
Field capacity	Under pressure, moisture appears on hand	Same as sand	Same as sand	Same as sand

"Hands On" gives in field guidelines for identifying field moisture. This is still an estimate only!

For optimum results, soil moisture must be at 50% - 80% of field capacity in th etop 2-3 inches at time of Metam-Sodium application with no clods larger than 1/2 inch in diameter.

Source: R.W. Harris and R.H. Coppock (Eds.), Saving Water in landscape Irrigation, University of California, Division of Ag Science Leaflet 2976, 1978.