soil test

We provide soil testing services for clients around the world through Brookside Labs, and have an active research program in the area of turfgrass nutrition, soil and plant analysis, and sampling methods.

Minimum levels for sustainable nutrition—MLSN—is a modern method for interpreting soil tests for turfgrass.

A project that investigated soil nutrient levels of good-performing turf all over the world.

Measure exact topdressing effect, and requirement, by checking total organic matter by depth.

These questions came by email. After watching the ATC Office Hours autumn 2022 OM246 review (and other ATC content) I had a few questions. I have researched and studied two specific items but couldn’t find the exact answer to what I was looking for.

I spent a couple hours today collecting total organic material (OM246) samples and soil nutrient samples. When this Tifeagle bermudagrass green was tested for total organic material twelve months ago, the OM2 (total organic material in the top 2 cm) was 11.

This topic—carbon in turfgrass soils—was the subject of a Frankly Speaking podcast episode. One of the topics host Frank Rossi spoke about with guests Drs. Claire Phillips and Alec Kowalewski was the nitrogen mineralized from soil organic matter.

I recommend annual soil testing of professionally-managed turfgrass grown on sand rootzones. For turf growing in soil, I don’t mind testing every two or three years. But sand rootzones usually aren’t very well buffered and important soil properties can change rapidly.

After I wrote this post about the differences in P fertilizer recommendations when using different methods for soil test interpretation, I heard from some readers that it seemed I was taking something simple—MLSN—and making it seem complicated.

I air dry soil samples before sending them to a lab for analysis. The effect of this drying is to stop soil microbial activity and to stop ion exchange reactions. Allowing the samples to air dry also reduces the mass of the sample prior to shipping.