Took a soil test with a home kit

13 years ago

I know I should get a real soil test, but I didn't and wont until the fall.

This year I'm doing what I consider to be my first, real garden.

I live on cape cod and my soil is sand. So back in the fall I started four 5' tall piles made up of kitchen scraps, leaves, horse manure/shaving and large amounts of coffee grounds and eel grass.

I spread out the mostly finished compost in the garden (18'x18') about 3 weeks ago, and added 40lbs of dolomite (soil is acidic out here). I've been turning it with a shovel about once a week.

Today I did a home soil test and it came up with a surplus of potash, a slightly low to nuetral ph, and I was deficient in nitrogen and phosphorus. I was expecting to be low in nitrogen and added 3lbs of blood meal right after I took the test and before I got the results.

Any thoughts, recommendations, or advice?

Thanks.

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Comments (7)

Kimmsr
13 years ago
What any soil test says about Nitrogen depends on your soils temperature, so if the soil was cool enopugh that the Soil Food Web was not very active you would see a low level of Nitrogen, which may well be too much later on when the soil warms up. That is one of the reasons a good soil test lab does not test for Nitrogen today.
oldpaddy
Original Author
13 years ago
That's very interesting. It's the first time I've heard it, but it makes total sense. Any idea at what temperature it becomes available?
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Contact you extension service and tell them of you plight, if you are lucky, they can point you to a commercial lab. speaking of commercial labs, try and get, from your extension service, the type of soil in your area, with that info. you can hopefully find a lab that deals with your soil type. I had to go through the same process and even was wanting to find a lab that was in a state with commercial apple production and research and my types of soil for the best recommendations. yep, I'm picky and choosy. Colo. State was my choice and the accepted my out of state sample from the apple orchard and provided recs. that I mostly agreed with. The soil type and lab is a very important combination because of the methodologies different labs use to actually extract the soil samples prior to analysis. There are a number of different extractants and not one is suitable for all types of soil. Find out your soil type and tell the lab before sending the sample.
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I have not found these soil test kits to be very reliable, and the information you get is only very general. Your available Nitrogen is highly dependant on soil temperatures so a reading now of "very low" may or may not be of any significant. The other nutrients are in the same category. The soil pH test more often than not will give you the same reading if you test soil, vinegar (acid), or baking soda (alkaline). If you have a good amount of organic matter in that soil those results are way off. Contact your local office of the North Carolina State University USDA Cooperative Extension Service about having a good, reliable soil test done and dig in with these simple soil tests to see what you do have, 1) Structure. From that soil sample put enough of the rest to make a 4 inch level in a clear 1 quart jar, with a tight fitting lid. Fill that jar with water and replace the lid, tightly. Shake the jar vigorously and then let it stand for 24 hours. Your soil will settle out according to soil particle size and weight. A good loam will have about 1-3/4 inch (about 45%) of sand on the bottom. about 1 inch (about 25%) of silt next, about 1 inch (25%) of clay above that, and about 1/4 inch (about 5%) of organic matter on the top. 2) Drainage. Dig a hole 1 foot square and 1 foot deep and fill that with water. After that water drains away refill the hole with more water and time how long it takes that to drain away. Anything less than 2 hours and your soil drains too quickly and needs more organic matter to slow that drainage down. Anything over 6 hours and the soil drains too slowly and needs lots of organic matter to speed it up. 3) Tilth. Take a handful of your slightly damp soil and squeeze it tightly. When the pressure is released the soil should hold together in that clump, but when poked with a finger that clump should fall apart. 4) Smell. What does your soil smell like? A pleasant, rich earthy odor? Putrid, offensive, repugnant odor? The more organic matter in your soil the more active the soil bacteria will be and the nicer you soil will smell. 5) Life. How many earthworms per shovel full were there? 5 or more indicates a pretty healthy soil. Fewer than 5, according to the Natural Resources Conservation Service, indicates a soil that is not healthy. If you have a goodly amount of organic matter in your soil those test results should not have been that far off. Here is a link that might be useful: NCSU CES
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I have not found those soil test kits sold in garden centers to be at all reliable, whether that is because my good, healthy soil fools them or not I have no idea. Solvita is supposed to have one, but it is (in my estimation) expensive and I can get a better test for less from Michigan State University USDA Cooperative Extension Service ($12.00 per sample) and since a soil test is only needed about once every 5 years it is less of a problem to use that resource than keep a soil test kit around. Here is a link that might be useful: Solvita Soil Test Kits
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Your University of Illinois Cooperative Extension Service no longer provides soil testing, although they do have a list of labs that will. Get a good soil test done. That "soil specialist" at that nursery is suspect because of his statement that the fertilizer you were using was not working properly and he had another one that would, without looking at the plants or doing a soil test. You need a good reliable soil test to determine what, if anything, needs to be done. These simple soil tests may also help. 1) Soil test for organic matter. From that soil sample put enough of the rest to make a 4 inch level in a clear 1 quart jar, with a tight fitting lid. Fill that jar with water and replace the lid, tightly. Shake the jar vigorously and then let it stand for 24 hours. Your soil will settle out according to soil particle size and weight. For example, a good loam will have about 1-3/4 inch (about 45%) of sand on the bottom. about 1 inch (about 25%) of silt next, about 1 inch (25%) of clay above that, and about 1/4 inch (about 5%) of organic matter on the top. 2) Drainage. Dig a hole 1 foot square and 1 foot deep and fill that with water. After that water drains away refill the hole with more water and time how long it takes that to drain away. Anything less than 2 hours and your soil drainsÃ¢ÂÂ too quickly and needs more organic matter to slow that drainage down. Anything over 6 hours and the soil drains too slowly and needs lots of organic matter to speed it up. 3) Tilth. Take a handful of your slightly damp soil and squeeze it tightly. When the pressure is released the soil should hold together in that clump, but when poked with a finger that clump should fall apart. 4) Smell. What does your soil smell like? A pleasant, rich earthy odor? Putrid, offensive, repugnant odor? The more organic matter in your soil the more active the soil bacteria will be and the nicer your soil will smell. 5) Life. How many earthworms per shovel full were there? 5 or more indicates a pretty healthy soil. Fewer than 5, according to the Natural Resources Conservation Service, indicates a soil that is not healthy. Here is a link that might be useful: UI CES
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Kimmsr
13 years ago
I'm not sure anyone really knows since I have seen mention of temperatures from the mid 40's on up with some people adamant that the soil needs to be in the 50's to 55 degrees. However my grass greens up long before soil temperatures get that high, indicating there is some Nitrogen available then.
gardengal48 (PNW Z8/9)
13 years ago
Soil temperature is only one factor (and btw, that is 45F/5C below which soil organisms are not active) and is only valid when discussing the mineralization of organic N. Nitrogen is present in the soil in various forms, both organic and nonorganic -- home test kits test only for available nitrogen, which tends to be the least stable form (nitrogen is the most mobile of the basic plant nutrients and is lost from the soil via volatilization, immobilization, denitrification and leaching). Many professional labs DO test for nitrogen (nitrate nitrogen - NO3) but this is only one of multiple forms nitrogen can take in the soil so is only an approximation of what existing levels of nitrogen may be.

Because nitrogen is so mobile, it is most often deficient in soils, especially heavily cropped soils or those without benefit of applied organic matter. Virtually ALL professional soil tests will indicate a need for additional nitrogen, based on proposed crops. Organic matter is only one means of application - other methods may be more efficient and faster acting.
oldpaddy
Original Author
13 years ago
Such as?

Thanks everyone!
gardengal48 (PNW Z8/9)
13 years ago
Such as?

High nitrogen fertilizers are the fastest and most efficient at delivering soluble, plant-available nitrogen - ammonium sulfate, ammonium nitrate, urea, etc. Nitrogen fixing cover crops are another good source but these, as well as organic fertilizer sources (seed meals, etc.) and manures/other OM, require mineralization to make the nitrogen available and that is dependant on soil biological activity and is not necessarily fast. Some organic sources - blood meal, bat guano - tend to be offer N in very close to soluble forms, so may be more efficient than other organic methods
dianazone5
13 years ago
My 7th grader is working on this same thing as a science project for school. I have very similar results so far. 2/5 test sections are completed, with 6.5 pH, normal to surplus potash, and deficient in nitrogen and phosphorus. Makes sense that my plants were not very leafy and seemed to have pathetic root systems when I pulled them at the end of last season. It seemed like we had all the right things added going in to the season, but with the low production of tomatoes and non existent pepper production I was wondering what was wrong. The only thing that produced well were the bush beans.

Took a soil test with a home kit

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Took a soil test with a home kit

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