Testing for soil health.

[cows r us]

Ive just carried out some soil testing to monitor soil health. I'm just wondering what tests others do to establish whether there soil is in good condition or not. I used the nrm labs soil health suite. It tests organic matter, micro organisms, soil composition, macro nutrients.

 

[Kiwi Pete]

The proof is in the pudding to a certain degree.
Does it infiltrate your rainfall, do the cowpats decompose in good time, does it need inputs to produce, etc?

Generally we test infiltration rates, a slake test for aggregate stability, and thanks to @Blaithin I now look at the litter layer and what it's doing, as it bears a large part on the others on my list.
Unfortunately (and this is purely my own opinion!) MOST soil testing is quite flawed, because it is based on the theory that it is chemistry, and not biology, that supports the plant kingdom.
Biology is much easier to address cheaply, so the weight is behind the chemical composition.
Albrecht nearly had it right, in that the ratios are more important than the actual amounts - so for soil health then it is the cycling and flows that dictate productivity or natural capital, or however we name its ability to profitably grow things.

This takes a degree of permanence, which aggregate stability and infiltration tests can help relatively demonstrate.

Just my 2p, will be interesting to see what others have to say.

 

[cows r us]

The other aspect that would be good to hear about is how everyone's best soils analyse out at. It could give others something to aim for rather than comparing your own soils against each other.

 

[Dead Rabbits]

The proof is in the pudding to a certain degree.
Does it infiltrate your rainfall, do the cowpats decompose in good time, does it need inputs to produce, etc?

Generally we test infiltration rates, a slake test for aggregate stability, and thanks to @Blaithin I now look at the litter layer and what it's doing, as it bears a large part on the others on my list.
Unfortunately (and this is purely my own opinion!) MOST soil testing is quite flawed, because it is based on the theory that it is chemistry, and not biology, that supports the plant kingdom.
Biology is much easier to address cheaply, so the weight is behind the chemical composition.
Albrecht nearly had it right, in that the ratios are more important than the actual amounts - so for soil health then it is the cycling and flows that dictate productivity or natural capital, or however we name its ability to profitably grow things.

This takes a degree of permanence, which aggregate stability and infiltration tests can help relatively demonstrate.

Just my 2p, will be interesting to see what others have to say.

What do you think of the haney test?

 

[Kiwi Pete]

What do you think of the haney test?

From what I understand of it, the respiration 1-day test is probably exactly the type of indicator the OP is looking for.

That's a fair part of the issue, soil doesn't really work in a lab, it works as a part of an ecosystem. But the Haney test comes pretty close to determining microbial levels, in quite a simple way.

 

[Low ground pressure]

someone came up with the "pants test" which you can easily compare fields on your farm. the fast the pant decompose the better condition the soil is in.

 

[CornishTone]

People are starting to get interested in soil microbial analysis here now. It’s a fairly one dimensional test as it simply provides numbers indicating the variety of species and numbers per 50mg of soil, but it’s a starting point to benchmarking soil health.

There was a really good talk on diversity and numbers of soil bacteria in cropping situations at a field day a few months ago. The speakers were doing work on what crop residues attracted and sustained the most beneficial microbe populations and how they affected the following crop.

Some info below for those interested...

Hopefully you can read it ok.

The table on the last page was quite interesting I thought, showing the effect of different herbicides on soil biology in general terms.

 

[cows r us]

I'll put the results up here when I get them in. I've tried an area this year with some proper Elaine Ingham's compost I made so will be interesting to see if microbial activity is good in that block.i haven't done a microbial variety test. That sounds interesting.
The test I've done is called a co2 burst test.

 

[juke]

The cheapest way is with your own eyes ,nose and a spade .. if it smells like a greenhouse soil from a good gardener you know your doing something right ..

 

[Clive]

Sniff it, dig it, look at it, touch it, count worms, time infiltration

But mostly sniff it !

 

[juke]

Sniff it, dig it, touch it, count worms, time infiltration

But mostly sniff it !

Another soil pervert

 

[cows r us]

Do any of you test for soil nitrogen? I'm thinking where we are building organic matter we will be mineralising a lot more nitrogen in the soil.

 

[juke]

Do any of you test for soil nitrogen? I'm thinking where we are building organic matter we will be mineralising a lot more nitrogen in the soil.

We did a test this spring after a cover crop with lots of legumes amongst it , I if I remember rightly there was 9 kgs of N in the soil..

 

[CornishTone]

Do any of you test for soil nitrogen? I'm thinking where we are building organic matter we will be mineralising a lot more nitrogen in the soil.

All our customers test for N at the end of the summer when the soil is at it’s driest. We test down to 60cm and work back through growing season rainfall, soil type, OM, crop protein and expected yield to give a pretty accurate N requirement.

Trouble with testing for N in the UK is that it’s so mobile in the wetter climate, so the time you’ve got the results back they’ll be wrong. But, you can pretty easily work out the amount of N mineralised from OM based on growing season rainfall and soil bulk density. I’ll dig out the equation for you.

Edit: I say it’s pretty easy... I should say, it’s pretty easy in our predictably dry climate. It depends allot on soil conditions and climate. I’ll find my book of words with it all in when I get home.

 

[cows r us]

All our customers test for N at the end of the summer when the soil is at it’s driest. We test down to 60cm and work back through growing season rainfall, soil type, OM, crop protein and expected yield to give a pretty accurate N requirement.

Trouble with testing for N in the UK is that it’s so mobile in the wetter climate, so the time you’ve got the results back they’ll be wrong. But, you can pretty easily work out the amount of N mineralised from OM based on growing season rainfall and soil bulk density. I’ll dig out the equation for you.

Edit: I say it’s pretty easy... I should say, it’s pretty easy in our predictably dry climate. It depends allot on soil conditions and climate. I’ll find my book of words with it all in when I get home.

That would be great. Our soils are fairly high in clay and organic matter so nitrogen does stick around a fair bit with us.

 

[bovrill]

someone came up with the "pants test" which you can easily compare fields on your farm. the fast the pant decompose the better condition the soil is in.

Sniff it, dig it, look at it, touch it, count worms, time infiltration

But mostly sniff it !

Seriously though, I would think you'd have to watch the soil over a long period of time to get a true picture. All autumn soil has looked wonderful here, especially for clay, crumbly and full of OM, but as the winter progresses and it spends longer wet, the texture and smell changes for the worse. A few weeks warmth and dry in the spring and it loses that dank mineral smell and the life comes back to it.

 

[Clive]

Do any of you test for soil nitrogen? I'm thinking where we are building organic matter we will be mineralising a lot more nitrogen in the soil.

waste of time / money on lighter or loamy soils and certainly no indication of soil health

 

[Brisel]

Do any of you test for soil nitrogen? I'm thinking where we are building organic matter we will be mineralising a lot more nitrogen in the soil.

I’ve done it a few times comparing winter legume cover crops and plain stubbles and seen no difference. More useful if you’re following intensive vegetables.

Have a chat with @Warnesworth

 

[CornishTone]

I’ve done it a few times comparing winter legume cover crops and plain stubbles and seen no difference. More useful if you’re following intensive vegetables.

Have a chat with @Warnesworth

We usually see a significant difference after a legume crop. Just as an example, these are from the same property, paddocks next to each other on the same soil type.

First is after several years of cereals, wheat and oaten hay.

Second is after one year of Lentils following a 2 years wheat and oats.

But different conditions, N doesn’t have anywhere to go until it rains significantly, by which time there should be a following crop growing to utilise it.