Soil Testing Available to Agricultural Producers and Home Gardeners

Agriculture Producers: Have you been thinking about testing the soil in your pasture, hay, or crop fields? The District continues to offer limited soil testing as a service to agricultural producers and growers in Jefferson County.

We will send out staff to collect soil samples on up to 100 acres of crop or pasture fields per producer per year, at a cost $20 per sample. Fields over 20 acres or with differing management or landforms will require multiple samples and will be determined with you prior to sampling. A & L Great Lakes Laboratories will be used for sample analysis. In addition to soil test results, lime and fertilizer recommendations will be provided.

If soil testing through the District seems like the solution for you, we would like you to be there! It’s a great opportunity to catch up and talk about your farm. Although we would love for you to walk with us as we collect samples over all of the acreage, that isn’t a requirement; however, we would like you to meet with us on site either ahead of time or on the morning of sampling to go over any pertinent items such as field maps, cropping history, yield goals, etc. If we will be testing pasture fields, we ask that you please remove livestock from the fields to be tested during sampling. Fields that have had recent applications of herbicide or pesticide will not be scheduled for testing until at least a week after application.

If you wish to test more than the 100-acre limit, or if you would like to take the samples yourself, the District can provide a soil sampling probe and empty sample bags. The sampling probe can be checked-out for a maximum of 10 days, and requires a $100 deposit, which will be returned to you when you bring the probe and filled sample bags back to the office. The cost of each sample taken yourself is $10. 

Home Gardeners:  The District is also offering a comprehensive soils analysis to home gardeners. A basic test includes: organic matter, available phosphorus, exchangeable potassium, magnesium, calcium, soil pH, buffer pH (if needed), and cation exchange capacity with graphic display of results and suggested fertilizer materials (for lawn, garden, nursery, landscape, and golf course samples only). The cost per sample is $30.00. A complete test is also available, and includes all of the above as well as soluble salts, sulfur, zinc, manganese, iron, copper, and boron. The cost is $40.00. Samples can be taken by District staff or taken yourself.

General: Additional soil test kits can also be purchased through the District for $11 per sample. Samples will need to be taken by the purchaser, dried, and mailed in the bag provided. Results are through Penn State.

To find out more, or to schedule soil sampling, please call Wendee Dodds at (740)264-9790.