Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Liable to be leached: allowing water to percolate through, as gravelly or sandy soil. Also letchy.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective Permitting liquids to pass by percolation; not capable of retaining water; porous; pervious; -- said of gravelly or sandy soils, and the like.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective Permitting liquids to pass by percolation; not capable of retaining water; porous.

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

leach +‎ -y

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Examples

  • It is well to apply the nitrate of soda in two applications a few weeks apart, especially on soils which are leachy and in wet seasons, as part of the nitrogen may leach away if all is applied at once.

    Apple Growing M. C. Burritt

  • But as these soils are apt to be leachy it seems best to fill them with organic matter to as great a depth as possible to increase their water-holding power, and this can best be done by plowing farm manures in deep.

    The First Book of Farming Charles Landon Goodrich

  • In the laying of cement it is important that the walk be well drained by a layer of a foot or two of broken stone or brickbats, unless the walk is on loose and leachy land or in a frostless country.

    Manual of Gardening (Second Edition) 1906

  • Lands that, on the one hand, are very hard and solid, with a tendency to bake, and, on the other, that are loose and leachy, are very greatly benefited by the addition of organic matter.

    Manual of Gardening (Second Edition) 1906

  • There is no other form of fertility that can fully replace manure, for either compact or leachy land.

    Crops and Methods for Soil Improvement Alva Agee 1900

  • But a maximum crop could never, and a full one very seldom, be produced on a soil, no matter what its composition, which could not be, or was not put into and kept in a good state of tilth, or on one which was poorly drained, sodden or sour, or which was so leachy that it was impossible to retain a fair supply of moisture and of plant food.

    Tomato Culture: A Practical Treatise on the Tomato 1883

  • Throughout the State of Connecticut, for instance, are found abundant examples of light, leachy, hungry soils, which consist of coarse sand or fine gravel; are surface-dry in a few hours after the heaviest rains, and in the summer drouths, are as dry as an ash-heap to a depth of several or many feet.

    Peat and its Uses as Fertilizer and Fuel 1869

  • Hungry, leachy soils, from their deficiency of vegetable matter and of moisture, do not adequately yield their own native resources to the support of crops, because the conditions for converting their fixed into floating capital are wanting.

    Peat and its Uses as Fertilizer and Fuel 1869

  • We have laid much stress on the amending qualities of peat, when applied to dry and leachy soils, which by its use are rendered more retentive of moisture and manure.

    Peat and its Uses as Fertilizer and Fuel 1869

  • If I had my choice between a farm of cold, stiff clay or light, leachy land, I would unhesitatingly take the former, and I would overcome its native unfitness by the following methods: If at all inclined to be wet, as would be natural from its tenacious texture, I should first underdrain it thoroughly with tile.

    Success with Small Fruits Edward Payson Roe 1863

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