Soil Testing Question

[nrowles]

I am getting ready to send in some samples for soil testing. As of now it will be for food plotting and a small area of fruit trees. Should I check for anything other than ph, fertilizer requirements, and organic matter?

 

[bbcoach]

Most reputable testing facilities will give you all of these recommendations and a lot more information with their service. Make sure you specify what you plan on planting for each sample so they can tailor their recommendations for that particular sample i.e. if you are going to plant clover say clover, if it's going to be corn or beans than corn or beans. Each plant requires different amounts of N,P,K and sometimes the PH can be more acidic or more alkaline.

 

[nrowles]

Most reputable testing facilities will give you all of these recommendations and a lot more information with their service. Make sure you specify what you plan on planting for each sample so they can tailor their recommendations for that particular sample i.e. if you are going to plant clover say clover, if it's going to be corn or beans than corn or beans. Each plant requires different amounts of N,P,K and sometimes the PH can be more acidic or more alkaline.

I understand all of that. What I am asking is if I should request (costs additional) additional testing such as soluble salts, nitrate nitrogen, total nitrogen, ammonium nitrogen, total carbon, etc, etc, etc. The list goes on. I assume the standard ph, fert requirements and organic matter are all I need but wanted to check for sure if any of the other stuff on the list I should do as well.

 

[bbcoach]

Who is doing your tests? As I stated, most State Ag schools that have an Agronomy Dept (in your case Penn State) test and give you all this for the cost of their service. If your paying for each item, then PH, CEC, OM and fertilizer and lime recommendation will be sufficient. NC State does our test for free April-October and $4 Nov-March (high usage time).

 

[S.T.Fanatic]

Still reading up on it but what percent of trace minerals the soil is composed of is apparently important info as well.

 

[yoderjac]

If you are just starting out, start with the basics. You won't know what to do with the additional information anyway. Soils tests are a good place for someone starting out to begin, but you will find we have a lot of differences from farmers for whom the tests were designed. I posted more details about this on another thread as to why. Focus on best sustainable practices for nutrient cycling. Soil science is a very complex area and beyond my competence. There are quite a lot of factors, but unless you have a specific problem, don't sweat it. The lime recommendation is the most important part of soil amendments. The most important part of practices are not to harm the soils that you already have.

Thanks,

Jack

 

[S.T.Fanatic]

Like mentioned above lime is key. Soils with higher calcium contented ensure that legumes will produce more protein.

Many of us frequent these forums for the same reason, to learn. In your free time do yourself a favor and go to soilhealth.org and do some more learning. There are many books and articles that "relate" to food plotting. All free of charge.

Taking a line from one of the books im reading, "It is, therefore, the soil and not the plant pedigree that decides what nutritional values and chemical composition the crop has."

There is no magic food plot seed. The magic comes from the soil.

 

[nrowles]

I figured the basics I mentioned would be a good start. Maybe after a couple years I can get a bit more detailed with it if that's an option.