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your own soil testing

14 years ago

can i test my own soil? what equipment can i use and who sells it?

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Comments (10)

rosessecretgarden
14 years ago
for alkalinity,acidity and PH test read this:
http://frugalliving.about.com/od/gardening/ht/Soil_Test.htm
anney
14 years ago
Those soil test kits for the home are not worth doodly, don't test for everything you need, give incorrect readings, etc. You'd be far better off to send a soil sample to your county extension office. The cost is around $15 here in Georgia. It may be less where you are.

Truly, don't waste your money.
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my soil test, your recomendations
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Comments (23)
I'm just now looking at soil tests, myself. The wife and I retired and relocated to Oklahoma within the last year. The lot at our 'new' home has clay...and nothin' but clay. A few trees still need to be removed, but otherwise, it was a blank slate...and a very desperate landscape. I spent most of the summer working on a landscape design and working amendments into the soil - by hand - to a depth of ten to twelve inches. Although I'm far from finished with this stage of the operation, the most recent compost amendment has turned the soil a dark, rich, crumbly brown - almost black. (Yes, I added lots and lots of sand.) Now that I've managed to get it all loosened up, a visit to the county extension office for a soil test is on the calendar for the first of next month. I have some experience at this sort of thing, though. Several years of landscaping with over fourten years of buildings and grounds maintenance and management help me to avoid some of the worst mistakes that people often make. The difference is, this time, I'm working on an edible landscape, with over 2,400 sq ft of beds... Working on your own landscape, the trick is to not become impatient. Add one type of amendment at a time - and wait a week - or more - before adding another. Once or twice a month, turn it all over and ...wait... Let it compost 'in situ' and allow nature to take its course. At one point, I waited almost two months before I added anything else. Emotionally, I really, *really* wanted to start installing my major plants last spring and this fall...but I've waited until the soil told me when it was just about ready. We all know what the 'before' pic would look like (it's not soil, it's brick that hasn't been fired, yet), so a pic of 'after' is linked below. I've let it sit for about a week and a half, now. I'm going to start adding some cotton burr mulch to all of it, next...after I see what the soil tests tell me ...before I do too much else. Here is a link that might be useful:
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Soil Testing: Your opinions?
Q
Comments (11)
The saga with this bed continues. I was out with a soil cultivator today... kinda a garden fork kinda thing.... loosening the soil so that the mulched up leaves could settle into the air pockets with the spring rains and thaw. The previous owner, of whom I regularly question and curse the landscape decisions, installed a very questionable means of lighting the landscape. There's a 3" pvc pipe running under the sidewalk you see in pic 1... that's not the questionable part though. I runs into the bed at the left, which I've replanted and now contains annabelle hydrangea. The pvc pipe in the bed I'm working in, has a rock trench running from the pvc at the sidewalk out to the corner of the retaining wall, next to the ninebark. Um, HUH? It's almost like a drain/dry rock bed, but it's not even properly done for that!.... Looks like your bed will have a lot, or even full sun. Now would be a great time to install soaker hoses. Those hostas will need more water. You might also consider raising that retaining wall to make your bed more level. You have a very pretty home by the way. Yes, swmo, you're correct. It will be getting nearly full sun as it will be from approx 10am to 3pm, with the tree's current canopy shadow. And I'd already planned on doing either a soaker or drip for that area. There is already a sprinkler head by the driveway (approx where the ninebark tree is), so I was just going to tap off of that or add a separate drip line off the faucet at the side of the house.... we'll see what hubby is willing to help with in that arena! That retaining wall used to be another course higher and that allowed for the limestone to be level(ish) up by the sidewalk. However, in our 2nd year here, we noticed that the rock had pushed the retaining all stones forward as the were not properly set. So, we took off the top layer so as not to draw attention to the fact that they were tipping forward. We're not willing to do the work to correct the wall's foundation, so we'll have to just deal with it as it is, unfortunately. I'm sorta leaning toward testing at the U... I know it'd be accurate that way.
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Taking soil samples for lab. analysis. Get your money's worth.
Q
Comments (14)
I wasn't disagreeing, I just wanted to get the information on record :-). I actually think excluding the top inch is a good idea for the reasons you mentioned, but also because it will skew your OM measurement, especially if you're applying a lot of organic fertilizers. There is high concentration of organic matter on the surface from organic amendments, clippings, thatch etc, but your typical grass plant with 6" roots has probably 85% of the root mass below that top inch. Also, the organic matter sitting on top is actively decomposing and most of it will be lost in the form of CO2. You average the OM in that top inch across the other 3 inches and you're going to get some inflated OM numbers. I think when we're measuring OM we're looking not for a measurement of the alfalfa or milorganite we just put down a couple months ago but of the stable organic matter a little further down that will be there for 50-100 years.
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what is the cheapest way to make your own potting soil
Q
Comments (3)
I might add that the usefulness of homemade potting soil will depend somewhat on what you want to do with it. Many people don't like putting real soil in containers because, as the organics gradually degrade away, what you're left with is just soil, which can compact. I expect we're going to get some complaints about that. That happens most seriously on a time scale of years. So if you're just using the potting soil to plant something for a short time, no problem. If you're planting a tree, you might want to use something better. Or, just dig up the plant every few years, stir in some more organic material, and replant. The advantage of real soil is that many of the nutrients are there. Soil-less potting soil has few nutrients to speak of.
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digdirt2
14 years ago
Agree with Anney - the home test kits are notorious for being inaccurate and can only lead you to making things worse instead of better. They come up for discussion often on the Soil Forum here and folks have reported on either the same resulta no matter what soil is tested or no results at all.

Spend the 10-15 dollars to get a professional test done from your local county ag extension office. It will tell you he results and what you need to do to fix it.

Even the Frugal Gardening site linked above recommends getting a professional test done.

Dave
californian
14 years ago
California is the biggest agricultural state in the nation but the state does not do soil tests and we don't have county extension offices. They used to have one about ten miles from where I live but they closed it down years ago. And with the current budget crisis I expect whatever services they were providing through the University of California will be cut back too.
Can anyone recommend a private soil testing lab that does tests at a reasonable cost?
jtcm05
14 years ago
What are you looking to test for? If only pH, there are many good pH meters available for sale that will give accurate results.
timmy1
14 years ago
These folks can do your soil tests. And they can also do plant tissue tests.

Here is a link that might be useful: Waters Lab
digdirt2
14 years ago
California shut down most of their county offices? WOW that is too bad. UC had one of the best multi-county extension services in the country. Many states pattern their programs after them. They still list individual county contact info and services on their website http://ucanr.org/County_Offices/ so they may be able to direct you to a soil test source.

Maybe they have combined some of them during the state budget crunch and will be able to open them back up if the fiscal crunch ever ends.

Meanwhile you can apparently get a soil test done via ANR Labs at UC linked site below with contact and how-to info.

Dave

Here is a link that might be useful: ANR Analytical Labs
cyrus_gardner
14 years ago
You can buy an inexpensive PH tester fo about 20 buck.

The principal on which there gages operate is simple.
I am sure the manufacturers can caliberate them , by trila and error,
to get a relatively practical reading. I will leave myself a margin of +0.15 / -0.15 error on PH readings.That is fine for me.

To test those devices, place them in distilled water, you should get 7. Add drops of lemon, you will get reading unde 7. Or some add wood ash, you will get over 7.
So, the point is that they work but maybe not be super accurate.
wordwiz
14 years ago
Michigan State (or maybe it's the University of Michigan) will test the soil, but I do not know what the normal cost is. I live in OH, but there was a program from the Soil & Water Conservation group that allowed an individual to send them two samples and the only cost was the postage (about a buck, two thirty-nine). But it was a basic test, pH, N, P, and K.

Mike
big_mike
14 years ago
A good farm supply store will have access to soil testing. It'll be a little more costly than Extension Services, but many times you'll be able to get more results. We used Peterson Labs in Hutchinson, KS when I was in the Ag business.

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