***When soils sampling, keep in mind that you are wanting to represent thousands of pounds of soil in 1 test.***
It is best to pull multiple ‘plugs’ or ‘scoops’ per acre to ensure their is equal representation of weak and strong performing spots in a field.
Soil samples can be taken using a soil probe, spade, or shovel. A bucket of sorts is needed to collect the plugs. Once the plugs are collected, shake or stir the bucket to mix the soil, break apart clods, and remove unwanted roots or small rocks. Pour the sample into a test bag with customer name, phone number, field ID, sample ID, and crop. For hayfields and pastures, only sample the top 3-4” of a soil. Gardens or row crop ground needs to be sampled up to 6”.
