Teaching Organic Farming and Gardening

Soil Tests and Amendments

Unit 1.11 | 21
Demonstration 1

Demonstration 1:

Taking a Soil Sample for Laboratory Analysis

for the instructor

Overview

Collecting a representative

sample of a given soil is critical

to receiving accurate soil analysis

information. In this demonstration,

the instructor should discuss the

sampling considerations given

in the Demonstration Outline,

and demonstrate the tools and

techniques used to take soil samples

and prepare a suitable sub-sample

for laboratory analysis.

resOUrces and references

•   Agronomy Handbook: Soil and Plant Analysis. A & L

Western Agricultural Laboratories, Inc. 1311 Woodland

Ave., #1. Modesto, California 95351. (209) 529-4736

•    Magdoff,   Fred    and Harold  Van Es. Building Soils for

Better Crops, Second Edition.   Handbook    Series  Book    4,  

Sustainable Agriculture Network. Ch. 19: Getting The

Most Out of Soil Tests. Available from http://www.sare.org.

PreParatiOn and MateriaLs

•    Stainless  steel   or  chrome  soil    auger   or  stainless   steel   trowel

•    Plastic    buckets

•    Sample bags    from    laboratory

•    County soil    survey  maps

•    Laboratory forms   for submitting  sample  and request for 

analysis

•    Notebook,  pen,    and folder  for documenting

•    Student    prepatory   reading:    A   &   L   Reference   Guide—

“Soil Sampling”

PreParatiOn tiMe

1.5 hours

deMOnstratiOn tiMe

1.5 hours