Self soil testing

[onthehoof]

Is it easy/accurate with kits available on the market

 

[curlietailz]

I bought one of those kits. Cost about £50 I think ( from memory)
I did loads of tests when I got it
And found the worst thing was .... after you have collected the samples you need to dry them ( oven or radiator) then crush them up and prepare the sample for testing
By the time I’d done all that I was a bit sick of waiting
The results were comprehensive and good ( I think)
I got it coz although we sample SOYL about 10% of the farm each year..... there was talk of needing a soil sample & index in order to be able to put fertiliser on..... I was “being prepared” lol

it’s sat in the cupboard now

if you could get an instant one that just does it.... bit like a corn moisture meter then that would be awesome ( but probably really expensive)

 

[teslacoils]

What do you want to test?

 

[Kidds]

Is it easy/accurate with kits available on the market

No.
Send the samples away. Much more accurate results and far less time consuming.
pH kits are OK but beyond that best sent away

 

[Brisel]

It's not expensive to send the samples away to NRM, Lancrop etc for proper testing. For what people spend on fertiliser, I'm surprised at how little testing is done.

 

[teslacoils]

It's not expensive to send the samples away to NRM, Lancrop etc for proper testing. For what people spend on fertiliser, I'm surprised at how little testing is done.

I'm surprised so few splash out for variable rate pH........surprised so many pay for broad spectrum, som, CEC and other "fancy but ultimately just the shiny baubles on an already iced cake" tests.

pH is king.

 

[Brisel]

pH is king.

Definitely. With an acidic soil you're denying the plants so much more by lockup. My average pH is 8.2, but there's little I can do other than use acidic fertilisers and plenty of sulphur.

The trouble with fancy tests is cost. Better to sort the soil structure out and do VR testing than one tiny sample of a dog's bollox test that doesn't represent your farm's diversity IMO. It's all great information, but it needs to be accurate to drive good business decisions.

 

[teslacoils]

pH
Soil structure
Organic matter

Blanket fibrophos or manures. Use combine data to identify trouble spots or areas for topups.

pH test should be pennies.
Soil structure with a spade.
Organic matter is pointless testing - see the results of 25 years addition in the adhb lit and you can see om does not rise fast. Just make sure you keep topping it up. Om also helps bring pH to nuteral. All three help microbes.

Interestingly my two farms side by side have very different pH. A legacy on one side of huge beet lime addition. Reducing alkalinity in non-sodic clays is interesting.

I await a whole raft of essentially pointless testing foisted upon us by well meaning folk with non-food agendas. Test and remedy pH on a regular basis. Work towards increasing soil OM and avoid compaction.

 

[Warnesworth]

I'm surprised so few splash out for variable rate pH........surprised so many pay for broad spectrum, som, CEC and other "fancy but ultimately just the shiny baubles on an already iced cake" tests.

pH is king.

Calcium is king.

 

[Brisel]

Calcium is king.

I've got a fair idea of where you're going with this, but please explain that statement

 

[Still Farming]

How much per test ?,as this maybe deters some every year and lots of fields.

 

[teslacoils]

Half decent soil pH probe can be yours for £150. Go make your own soil maps.

 

[teslacoils]

Calcium is king.

Calcium sulphate for me.

 

[Still Farming]

Half decent soil pH probe can be yours for £150. Go make your own soil maps.

Do they to trace elements and indexes?

 

[teslacoils]

Nope. Just pH.

But tsp, boron etc are exciting. Som and CEC are sexy. Lime is not.

 

[deleted user 837354]

A lot of truth to what Tesla says but I always used broad spec because it let me anticipate problems. P and K I agree are best sorted field by field. Also a collection of coloured graphs demonstrate to the ministry we are paying attention to what we are doing. I hoped the collection of nutrients included would deter anyone from being too clever as well.

The pH is king but never had to do a huge amount of lime.

 

[Brisel]

How much per test ?,as this maybe deters some every year and lots of fields.

£10- 25/sample depending on what you want to see and who took it.

 

[Grass And Grain]

Half decent soil pH probe can be yours for £150. Go make your own soil maps.

Do they work ok? Any recommendations of brand? Might get one.

 

[czechmate]

Definitely. With an acidic soil you're denying the plants so much more by lockup. My average pH is 8.2, but there's little I can do other than use acidic fertilisers and plenty of sulphur.

The trouble with fancy tests is cost. Better to sort the soil structure out and do VR testing than one tiny sample of a dog's bollox test that doesn't represent your farm's diversity IMO. It's all great information, but it needs to be accurate to drive good business decisions.

I’ve never heard of such high ph! Do all crops combinable grow/yield well on it?

All below 5 here, naturally, so on stop liming...

 

[teslacoils]

Do they work ok? Any recommendations of brand? Might get one.

Dunno. I have a pH probe so do my own soil solutions. They must work - it's not far removed from a bit of litmous paper on the surface of damp soil. Basic test for soil alkalinity is dry a bit and spoon of vinegar on it to see if it fizzes.

In terms of bang per buck, I'd strongly recommend pH testing in hectare blocks especially on variable soils. If you can't do your own, then the ££££ difference between just pH and then the suite of nutrients is different. But that said, there is no economic justification to fix your p and k until you fix the pH. My pH is so high it locks up K - when I was an idiot I added K rather than remedy pH first.

Even stuff like microbial biomass will be pointless checking if you have pH of 5.

pH here is between 6.5 and 6.8 on one heavily beet limed block. From 7.2 to 7.9 on the adjoining unlimed block. Not bad enough to limit crop, but bad enough to cost more in fert than just trying to get the pH closer to nuteral.

You can generate variable p&k for offtake from combine yield maps.

This comes down to something I am studying and it's basically weighting of indicators. If I were a microbiologist I'd say microbes were important and so testing should focus on that. But in the context of profitable cropping AND the rest, I'd give pH half the pie in terms of importance to the whole of soil analysis. It's the MASTER VARIABLE - say that at your winter NRoSo meetings and you'll get a bonus point for sure.