As we are trying to build up the nutritional value of our soil , soil samples become important . The other day I watched as my neighbor walked over his 25 acres with a shovel and bucket to collect soil . I'm not sure why I would think every one would do similar to me . I use a 1 1/4 in. ship auger drill bit on my cordless drill . It takes about 10 plugs to get a cup soil . I feel this gives me a better " over all " sample .

I totally agree. In my 2 year Cert IV Organic Ag course we did a lot of work with soil and soil tests and from our own experience, a good and unbiased soil test is a great tool to help us improve our soil. We get our soil tests done organically through Kinsey Agricultural Services in America as we have found them to be very unbiased and as they are not attached to any company selling inputs have accurate organic input recommendations. Our teacher studied under Neil, so I guess it also makes it easier for us to read as we did a lot of work with his tests. It takes a bit of adjustment with the inputs as your perecentages are different to ours in Australia. I would like to add as a caution though that we did find in our studies of various recommendations on the same piece of soil, that some of the recommendations from other labs were somewhat suspect and if they had been followed the soil would not have been improved in the long term with many minerals being locked up. Some soil tests, or at least the recommendations, we saw actually would have been detrimental to the soil. Something to be aware of and more the reason for us all to have a basic understanding of soil chemistry rather than blindly following recommendations. I have been surprised how many farmers never get soil tests. Many organic farmers here also do not add soil tests as part of their management practice. As an example of why soil testing is a good idea, on our last place we would have added animal manures (composted) as part of our inputs for the year as we had ample available on the farm in other areas and in a sustainable management practice, would seem the logical choice. When our soil test came back we had extremely high phosphorus, even though the general area itself is generally phosphorus deficient. Had we done this we would have created more lock ups and taken years to sort it out. Just curious David, when you take your tests how deep does your drill go? and I wonder if this would add iron to your results?

I would be interested in learning more about basic soil chemistry and how it relates to tree health. If growers who have had experience with soil tests and amendments would be willing to share their understanding soil chemistry and the relationship between different nutrients and minerals I think it could be very valuable on this forum as an alternative to recommendations found in test results.

The bit I use for the moment goes in 8-10" and I can go shallower or deeper if I care to . Care to expand on adding iron ?

David, I thought the drill idea was a good one. One thing with any soil test is to ensure there is no other element via the implement used that could effect the result. I was wondering if the grinding motion of the drill could add iron to the test result. In the types of implements that we use here for taking soil samples (basically a hollow tube made of stainless steel that pulls a sausage type sample there is no contamination of the sample. It is also a factor not to touch the sample as this can effect the sodium readings, that sort of thing. Chris, I would be happy to put something together on basic soil science if no one else wants to do it - might take me a while though as we have just moved to a new property and things are a bit hectic at the moment. I am sure there are many others who know lots about this on this site. See how it goes and if anyone else wants to do this a little faster than I could - still happy to give it a go if the need is there.

Oh, as an extra Chris, I was thinking more for farmers to be able to check amendments recommended rather than actually replace the recommendations completely, although with enough understanding this would be possible if someone wanted to go to that extent of study.

Just a plug for a Fruit Wiki page on Interpreting Soil Test Results for Orchards. Another Fruit wiki page could be dedicated to Soil Amendments for Orchards. Both would belong in the Growing Insights category. Discussion also certainly belongs in posted messages as well, though now you might zero in even more specifically, such as base saturation related to soil type or the need for zinc, say. I know this post on soil sampling has me ready to get out there with my stainless sample tube and test different blocks. This year it's my intention to send the same sample to 4 or 5 different labs using network funding and then compare side-by-side recommendations. This would involve A&L Eastern Labs, AgriEnergy Resources, International Ag Labs, and a very biologically-minded consultant in Michigan. I doubt I'll have the funding to include Neil Kinsey in this mix. Of course, I won't be telling the labs what's really up here.