Welsh Poultry Centre

Soil Testing

Soil is your most valuable asset. Out of soil, one way or another comes all life. It is some of the micro organisms within soil that allow nitrogen fixation. Nitrogen is one of the basic building blocks of amino acids, which themselves are essential to protein and thus life, (see the clover article for more information). To get the most out of this asset the soil requires care, attention and nourishing. Before you can do that you need to know what your soil is made up of and where that attention and care needs to be applied.

Once you know this you need to monitor it. Deficiencies can creep up unseen until productivity starts to decline. Once you know trends you can prevent problems arising. Although it is hard to measure knowing your soils will save you money in the long term. Instead of having to react to a problem you will be able to prevent the problem appearing.

If you have a rotation, then the soil test should be carried out at the same point in the rotation,e.g. or just before reseeding a grass/clover ley. If you just have grass production consider doing it every six or seven years.

Soils will vary across your farm and even within a field. Field boundaries represent some of the oldest structures in the UK. Slightly different management over sometimes hundreds of years will have led to different soil status for each field. Soil testing should therefore be done on a field bases. With records of what you have applied and with regular soil tests, you should, over time, be able to plot improvements and avert deficiencies.

How To Take Soil Samples

There are a number of places that will carry out soil tests for you. Some will only look at the main nutrients while others will look at all nutrients and trace elements. It is the latter, which will be of value to you. Although they do cost, (you can expect to pay between £30-50), they will return in saved fertiliser and increased production, many times over.

The laboratory doing the testing will often give instructions for how to take your soil samples. First of all you will need a clean trowel or spade, and a clean plastic bucket for collecting and mixing your sample. You will also need a plastic bag to put your mixed sample in and some means of marking the sample. If your implements or bucket have previously been used for fertiliser or manure they could,potentially, contaminate your sample.

Assuming it is on a field bases a number of samples should be taken across the whole field. Try not to sample where there has been a muckheap, or a farm track and don't sample to close to a hedge or fence line. The depth to sample to some extent depends on what you are intending growing. In grassland and other non-cultivated crops a sample should be taken at 4-6inches while if the sample is taken after cultivation, when the soil has been mixed up by the cultivation, 3-4inches will be sufficient. Take between 15-20 samples randomly across the field and combine and mix them in the plastic bucket to produce one sample. If there are obvious differences in soil texture and appearance in the field consider dividing the field and doing two tests.

When To Soil Test

Soil testing can be done at any stage. However, if you are doing it before a reseed or other planting, you need to have enough time to make good any deficiencies that the soil test demonstrates. Therefore soil testing is normally done in the autumn or early spring.   Try to carry out soil testing at the same time each year. Maybe doing one field a years or whatever suits your rotation on a regular bases.

Interpreting TheResults

There are book written about interpreting soil test result. Fortunately when you get the results back the lab will also indicate if the nutrients are low med or high. They will also often give you an idea of the amount of soluble fertiliser you need to adjust the nutrient levels.

If you wanted to use mineral fertilisers, such as basic slag or rock phosphate, you will need to adjust the amounts based on the P and K levels of the mineral fertiliser. This information will be available when you purchase or enquire about the fertiliser.

Other Soil Problems

The soil test will not take into account other potential problems within your soil structure. Soil compaction can occur where heavy equipment has compressed the soil. This pushes the particles in the soil together thus not allowing air and water to move freely. This can lead to runoff of rainfall and erosion. It also becomes difficult for plants to develop their roots. Compaction can also be cause by certain cultivating equipments smearing at one level. This can cause a pan which water and roots find difficult to penetrate.

To see if this is a problem in your soils dig an 18-24 inch hole and look at the soil structure. Notice if roots are distorted or straight and if the top is much drier than the bottom. Cultivation at the required depth will reduce compaction.

Waterlogged soils are easy to identify. In many part of the UK, especially the southwest, a sure sign of bad or broken drainage will be the growth of clumps of reeds. Like compacted soils the waterlogged soil will not allow adequate air movement in the soil and will inhibit plant growth. In heavier soils a mole plough may reduce the problem. Other than that it is a case of repairing or reinstalling proper drainage.

 Ends article

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About theauthor

Stephen Merritt is a partner in The WelshPoultry Centre and an accredited advisor and board member of The Institute ofOrganic Training and Advice and has spent over 30 years working in sustainableagriculture in developing countries, England and Wales.  In the last 8 years Steve hasspecialised in free range and organic poultry production and now offers on farmadvice and training to this sector.