# Anyone here do their own soil testing?



## fastline (Mar 2, 2013)

I have been debating a lab test kit for years mostly just due to the timeline sometimes in waiting for tests to get back. It would sure be nice to test on the spot. I have some other ventures I want to pursue where soil data will be important.


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## rjmoses (Apr 4, 2010)

Tried it, didn't like it, didn't work (well enough), quit it.

Took a lot of work to prepare a sample. And the results were not as accurate as a labs print out. Worse part: my wife didn't like dirt all over the kitchen!.

Ralph


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## gradyjohn (Jul 17, 2012)

It is best to test for available nutrients. Where I use to live it tested high for Potassium ... but not alot was available because it was tied up. Also you can take plant samples. No I don't do my own.


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## somedevildawg (Jun 20, 2011)

Better things to do than mess with the sampling.....I hate going out to the field to take the sample.....


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## gradyjohn (Jul 17, 2012)

somedevildawg said:


> Better things to do than mess with the sampling.....I hate going out to the field to take the sample.....


Who does your sampling? I thought he was meaning doing the actual testing with a testing kit??

I would love to have someone come out and do the samples ... not my most favorite thing. Someone has to do it.


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## fastline (Mar 2, 2013)

Yes, I was just referring to the actual mineral testing. I guess I don't much mind collecting samples but I do hate waiting for my results.


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## FCF (Apr 23, 2010)

Guess we are lucky HERE. The fertilizer dealers come out take the samples and send them off to the state or Waters Labs for basic soil test at no charge to the producer. Didn't have that kind of service back where we lived in Maryland.


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## gradyjohn (Jul 17, 2012)

Wow! I'm going to check with mine ... but if they do you can bet they charge for both sample and results. We have a COOP and another place that isn't consistant with being open.


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## Mike120 (May 4, 2009)

I've got a LaMotte AST-5 that I use once in a while. I used to use it more but I quit worrying about my horse paddocks and now only test when I'm renovating one. For my fields it's easier to just send it off and I have evidence of testing if the local tax authorities bother me.


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## somedevildawg (Jun 20, 2011)

gradyjohn said:


> Who does your sampling? I thought he was meaning doing the actual testing with a testing kit??
> 
> I would love to have someone come out and do the samples ... not my most favorite thing. Someone has to do it.


Yea, you might have misinterpreted that last statement, I was saying; I hate going out to gather the samples.......much less doing any testing on them. Although as we can see from another post, some people do go out and take the samples for you......don't think I could trust em to take enough plugs.....


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## hay wilson in TX (Jan 28, 2009)

A good 35 years ago I used the LaMotte kit and used it 5 years. It was a good learning experience. Switched to TAMU and stayed with them for 5 years. They were a good learning experience, mostly learned their phosphate and potash information were not all that great for *HERE*. Changed to A & L Plains, and stayed with them for 10 years. Changed to Midwest Labs and still with them more than 10 years later. They really advanced my understanding of what I was looking at and what I REALLY need.

Learned to appreciate a measured CEC. Learned to appreciate the percentage of free lime (calcium carbonate). I suspect it has been a learning experience on both ends.

Now I use Midwest labs plant analysis almost exclusively but they analyze hay samples. Talk about a learning curve.
*vhaby *who post on these pages taught me a good deal. A couple contributors on New Ag Talk provided some key information about fertility and soil analysis.

It has been 60 years & more of learning. I am a slow learner.


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## Mike120 (May 4, 2009)

hay wilson in TX said:


> It has been 60 years & more of learning. I am a slow learner.


Maybe, but it's beneficial to the rest of us that you are a good remember-er.......


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## ng429 (Apr 1, 2013)

We tired testing ourselves a few times, however our results were far too different from what we had been seeing from the county extension we stopped doing it.


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## hay wilson in TX (Jan 28, 2009)

If I were to use the LaMotte kit again I would use the Tissue Quick Test.

I have been hearing some talk of using a BRIK reader. 
May get one from Gimplers and give it a try. 
Use a Garlic Press to extract the juice.


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## vhaby (Dec 30, 2009)

It's not difficult to understand that the scientist in each of us might want to play around with chemical soil test kits to try doing our own soil analyses. However, when we stop and think about the time involved to save less than $1.00 per acre (even less when considering the cost of the testing kits) doing our own analytical testing seems impractical. The $10 cost for analysis of one composited sample taken from a 20 acre field becomes almost insignificant when considering the cost of other inputs such as limestone to correct acidity and fertilizers to produce forage.

Sometimes it is quite difficult to wait a couple of weeks to receive test results if you need the test results now and you have not received them. Better planning on your part to have collected the samples and submitted them earlier would have solved the problem. I do understand procrastination; that's what I'm doing now; it's almost 9:00 AM and I have other things to work on outside.

The use of the qualitative test kits to analyze the sap of plants for nitrate, phosphorus, and potassium is somewhat different. Plants don't stop growing after taking a sample of the vegetation, sending it off for analysis, and then waiting a couple of weeks for the test results. In the case of forages cut on a 28-day schedule, harvest time might be a week away by the time test results arrive.


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## mlappin (Jun 25, 2009)

Mike120 said:


> I've got a LaMotte AST-5 that I use once in a while. I used to use it more but I quit worrying about my horse paddocks and now only test when I'm renovating one. For my fields it's easier to just send it off and I have evidence of testing if the local tax authorities bother me.


If the tax authorities bother you? HUH?


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## slowzuki (Mar 8, 2011)

He's talking about horse pastures, I'm guessing its the same as here, farm taxes are lower on pasture than pet horse on residential lot next to mcmansion. We have to fight to get our ag status given all the development here. Evidence that it is farmed is helpful in filing an appeal. I hay a 7 acre field of my aunt's, they put it in residential when she bought it and has been fighting ever since. They say 7 acres isn't big enough to be farmable. Huh? In an area where fields are rarely over 10 acres?



mlappin said:


> If the tax authorities bother you? HUH?


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## Mike120 (May 4, 2009)

slowzuki said:


> He's talking about horse pastures, I'm guessing its the same as here, farm taxes are lower on pasture than pet horse on residential lot next to mcmansion. We have to fight to get our ag status given all the development here. Evidence that it is farmed is helpful in filing an appeal. I hay a 7 acre field of my aunt's, they put it in residential when she bought it and has been fighting ever since. They say 7 acres isn't big enough to be farmable. Huh? In an area where fields are rarely over 10 acres?


Yes....that's it. Here you have to have more than 8 acres to qualify for an Ag tax exemption and you have to be able to prove that you are using it for legitimate Ag purposes. In the case of hay....annual soil tests, fertilizer receipts, spray permits, production records, etc. I've never had any problems with them but I have a neighbor (our village idiot) with about 30 acres of weeds, that puts out about 1 ton total of fertilizer annually, has the weeds rolled up once a year and leaves the rolls in the field with a few nags. He has probably taken every regulation ever written right to the edge and the tax/building code authorities visit him often. The rest of us are legit and we enjoy watching him and wondering what he'll do next. We have many "Danny the cowboy" stories. I've got a field next to him, I put extra fertilizer on it and keep it as clean a possible......just for the contrast.


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