Provided is an artificial soil particle which can maintain high air permeability while ensuring good water-retention properties. An artificial soil particle (50) which is provided with both a base (10) obtained by aggregating fibers (1), and a moisture-absorbing porous cover layer (2) that covers the base (10), wherein: the artificial soil particle exhibits such water content characteristics that the pF reaches 1.7 within 24 hours after irrigation and remains within a range of 1.7 to 2.7 for 48 hours or more the gas phase rate at a pF of 1.5 is set to 30% or more and the ratio of the thickness (a) of the moisture-absorbing porous cover layer (2) to the diameter (b) of the base (10), a/b ratio, is set to 1/1200 to 1/200.
