Soil Test Calculations

Hi All,

Looking to start doing soil tests with recommendations on how to improve the soil to produce nutrient dense foods
for small time farmers and market gardeners.

I have done a couple of courses and know the fundamentals but need to know more about how the calculation are been done.

At present I am working my way through Ideal Soil by Michael Astera which does a good job of explaining the how and why.

I have spoken to a couple of agronomist and they seem to make it some sort of black art,
which I don't buy as I think if you have the soil test results you will be able to identify what the soil needs in minerals.

Another issue is that most of the soil tests, are been conducted by company agronomists who are in turn selling their own product.
I believe you could use simple base minerals to achieve the desired result and which could be cheaper in the end.

I am also discovering that its also down to the person doing the report, because they are influenced by different authors and in turn
follow their methodologies.

Am I missing some thing and over simplifying the whole process?

So any advice or recommendations on getting the above information would be greatly appreciated.


Thanks in advance

Anthony

Anthony I am 100% with you on this.

I cannot figure it out, in much of society they take science and throw it away, yet in farming they take what is simple and make it super scientific. It makes no sense.

But getting off my soapbpax, and being more to the point to answer your question; the answer lies in the PH levels. All crops have a preferred PH range, and while all the proper major and micro nutrients help, without the proper PH levels, they are unable to uptake them. The hard part is getting a getting the PH right, for each varity of crop, consistently, year after year.

Hi Travis,

My understanding is that once you get the minerals in the soil balanced, the PH should rebalance to around 6.4.
Also keep in mind that the PH around the rhizosphere of the plant can be quite different from the rest of the soil.

If you want to adjust the PH for certain plants and trees I would be adding amendments to make the soil either more alkaline or acidic
but remember that could in turn throw out the soil balance of the minerals as some may become unavailable.

I would do tests before I did this to the whole crop and see if it performs as expected.

I only use the PH of the soil to get a reading before I start the remineralisation process.

Cheers
Anthony