Soil Testing
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Soil Testing |
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Soil should be tested once a year; although intensive farming operations or areas that are troublesome may dictate testing be done more often. Mission RCD can only test soil from properties within its district's boundaries. The SOIL PARAMETERS Mission RCD can test are: pH: A measure of a soil's acidity or alkalinity. pH is important because different plants have different pH preferences, and pH affects the availability of certain nutrients to plants. Electrical Conductivity (EC): EC is a measure of a soil's soluble salt content. High levels of salinity are harmful to many plant species. Please visit our Salinity Management page to learn how salinity can harm or help your crop! Nitrate (NO3-): Nitrogen is the most heavily consumed plant nutrient. Nitrate is a form of nitrogen that is readily available to the plants. Poor crop yields are often caused by lack of nitrogen. Phosphorus (P): Phosphorus nutrition is critical because the supply of phosphorus in most soils is low and not readily available for plant use. Phosphorus deficiencies can usually be corrected by additions of phosphorus fertilizers. However, excess phosphorus applications can cause plants to have problems with the uptake of other nutrients such as zinc. Exchangeable Potassium (K+): While many soils have abundant amounts of total potassium, only very small amounts may be available at any given time. Exchangeable K+ is major source of potassium. Mechanical Analysis: This procedure precisely measures a soil's sand, silt and clay proportion. This allows an accurate determination of a soil's textural classification and water holding capacity. If you are interested in bringing in a soil sample for testing, please use the following protocol to COLLECT A SOIL SAMPLE: If soil testing is being used to diagnose possible problems, be sure to take a composite soil sample in an area that does not have a problem to be used as a comparison. 1. Use a clean soil probe, shovel or trowel to obtain your samples. 2. Scrape away surface litter at each sample location. Care should be taken to avoid samples from abnormal areas such as near dirt roads, fence rows, fertilizer spills, steep grading, or contaminated areas. 3. Collect about 15-20 sub-samples of soil for each composite sample. Small gardens usually require only one sub-sample, while larger groves could require up to fifteen sub-samples. Be sure to keep all sample sizes proportionate. Sub-samples can be representative of the entire crop root zone (0"-18" for example), or just a portion of the root zone (0"-12", 12"-18", etc). The root zone for turf grass extends approximately 3 to 4 inches below the surface. The root zone for most garden crops ranges from 4 to 18 inches below the surface. The root zone for tree crops ranges from 3 to 36 inches. 4. Take the 15 to 20 sub-samples and use a clean bucket to mix (and form) one composite sample. 5. Do not touch the sampled soil with your hands any more than necessary. 6. Place the sample on a clean piece of plastic or paper to dry. The soil should be allowed to air dry in an area free of dust and wind. Do not bake the soil to accelerate drying. 7. Place the sample in a clean paper or plastic bag and label with an indelible marker. Include your name, phone #, sample depth and crop. The sample is now ready to be tested. The COSTS of the soil testing are as follows: Basic Soil Analysis Package - $25.00 (pH, Electrical Conductivity, Nitrate, Available Phosphorus, and Exchangeable Potassium) Mechanical Analysis - $10.00 Individual Tests - $7.00/each (pH, Electrical Conductivity, Nitrate, Available Phosphorus, or Exchangeable Potassium) |
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Last Updated: June 10, 2008