The best time to take samples for soil analysis is 2-3 months before you seed your fields or plant your garden. This ensures that you’ll have enough time to get your results and make changes by adding fertilizers, lime or compost. The soil takes time to react with the chemicals, so retesting after applying treatments…
Soil Testing, Analysis, Products and Information from Midwest Labs
Soil Testing May Need Testing the Manure First
One of the most nutrient-rich substances a farmer or gardener can use is manure, but not all manure is created equal. Manure varied in nutrient content and in contamination levels – contaminated by microbiological pathogens or heavy metals in the environment. Because this variety is significant, it is just as important to test the manure…
Soil Testing Benefits Of a Pre-Sideress Soil Nitrate Test
Nitrogen is, of course, an essential plant nutrient – but it also can negatively affect both growth and quality of a crop and so must be carefully managed. Crops take up nitrogen that is released to the soil as a direct result of several catalysts, including atmospheric deposition … soil organic matter mineralization … crop…
Soil Testing Determines Soil Contaminants
Soil testing company, Midwest Laboratories, is able to determine the presence and concentrations of various common soil containments in the environment from heavy industry and transport infrastructure. A soil test allows a land owner to balance the potential impact of harm from soil contamination against the cost of undertaking a cleanup operation with the…
Soil Testing in Soil Cleanup Operations
Soil can be contaminated by any of a number of ways, rendering the land it occupies unsuitable for crops and livestock, illegal to develop, and potentially toxic to the human environment. Soil testing represents the key first and last steps of any cleanup operation. Depending on the levels and type of toxicity, a cleanup…
Explanation “Estimated Nitrogen Release”
Estimated Nitrogen Release or ENR is a calculated estimate of how much nitrogen will be released through the growing season from the organic matter (O.M.) or humus-like materials. Therefore, as the % O.M. increases, so will the ENR. This calculation is based on the “rule of thumb” that organic matter contains 5% nitrogen. The rate…
Factors Effecting Crop Response To Fertilizer
1. Fertilizer or liming materials improperly applied or not thoroughly mixed in soil: (a) Material still on top of soil – poor incorporation or drought. (b) Coarse materials not dissolved or not extract-soluble. (c) Row fertilizer applications not constituting a proper proportion of sample. 2. Leaching of certain elements due to materials used, rates of…
Factors Effecting Irregularities in Soil Testing
1. Varied depth of sampling (Sample at tillage depth). 2. Combining unlike soil areas into one composite sample. 3. Combining soil areas with different past liming, fertilizer, or cropping histories into one composite sample. 4. Combining an insufficient number of sub-samples into composite from extremely varied or land-leveled fields. 5. Attempting to use single composite…
Soil Testing for Soil Chemistry Health
Soil testing can yield important information for growers and grazers about the general health, fertility, structure, and physical properties of any given land and its suitability for different crops. By combining diligent record keeping with professional soil testing, it is possible for modern farmers to build up knowledge about the characteristics of their farm and…
BASIC SOIL TEST INTERPRETATIONS
Percent Organic Matter – An overnight digestion process that shows a level of humus and protein materials. It should contain a minimum of field residues visible to the eye. For herbicides, consider visible residues in addition to the % O.M. reading. ENR – Estimated nitrogen release from the O.M. to the next crop. It is…
