Potassium or Potash

soil potassium test supplies — potassium test supplies

Soil Testing

A garden’s need for potassium or potash is not so simple to describe. It seems that clay soils “fix” or hold onto potassium, whereas, sandy soils tend to experience severe leaching of their potassium levels. So, the type of soil you have greatly affects the levels you may have. It is important for all kinds of reasons including larger fruit, strong stalks, disease resistance, less wilting, and much more.

The potassium soil test is a little more complicated to run. It starts the same with some measured extracting solution in the test tube. Shaken not stirred, then soil settled. Use of an eyedropper to put liquid into a second test tube for the “before” color on the card. Next we count how many drops it takes of the other solution to match the “after” color on the chart. It says to add two drops at a time, then shake and see if it matches but we actually started with eight because our

Out of 10 areas of soil tested all had over 10 drops to even come close to match. For instance, 12 drops equals a “medium-high level” of potassium and we had two of those. 14 drops equals a “medium level” which we had 4 of. A couple 15 drop guys, which are “medium-low” potassium levels and a couple 188 drop results showing “low”.

soil potassium test 02 — potassium test 02

soil potassium test 03 — potassium soil test 03

soil potassium test 04 — soil test potassium 04

Phosphorus

Testing for Phosphorus in your soil test. Phosphorus encourages root development, increasing crop yield and resistance to disease. It is important stuff.

This test begins the same as the others with a solution put in the test tube to mix a little of the soil in and shake. Then, after the soil is settled, the liquid is drawn up by an eyedropper and put into another clean test tube.

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A different chemical tablet is added and then, the test tube is shaken till the tablet dissolves, making a blue color appear.

We compare the resulting blue liquid to a chart to see what the result is. Results can be anywhere from a trace to high levels of Phosphorus.

Nitrogen Testing of Soil

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Photosynthesis

The nitrogen testing of soil reveals information about a most vital link in the world’s food supply. Nitrogen is an integral part of the photosynthesis process. Its presence in proper levels promotes healthy green “above-ground” growth in plants. Testing for nitrogen helps to determine how much decomposed organic matter, or fertilizers need to be added.

Nitrogen is an element that needs to be replenished in our gardens as it is depleted when we harvest, or rain leaches levels down, and when some of it is simply returned to the atmosphere.

Our test results on all ten soil samples showed trace or zero levels of nitrogen in our soil. Consequently, we had to look up how much nitrogen is needed to be added to the garden for the different crops we have selected. We are glad that LaMotte test kits have little booklets on how to figure all of this stuff out.

Testing pH Levels

soil pH test supplies — pH test supplies

Testing pH levels shows if the soil is more acid (sour) or alkaline (sweet). Testing involves measuring an amount of test solution into the test tube, then adding soil and shaking. Then allowing sediment to settle before comparing the color to the chart.

The correct pH level is the most essential building block for having good crop production. Where the soil is on the pH scale, greatly affects how the microbiology activity (fertilizers) can function. Therefore, we must initially have the pH level right before any thought of other nutrients is even beneficial.

This is the lowest neutral pH range test we had in this testing series at 6.0

This is one of the highest neutral pH ranges in our test batch. All ten test areas fell into the neutral pH range in our garden. It is probably because, over the years, we have composted and put lime down as needed.

A pH test measures the acid and alkaline levels and then assigns a corresponding number somewhere between 3.0 to 11.0 as the results.

Neutral pH or Slightly Acidic pH

There are two basic plant groups. One prefers a “neutral range” of pH levels anywhere between 6.0 to 8.0. The other group prefers a “slightly acid soil” in the range between 5.0-6.0.

If soil test results reveal numbers out of these two acceptable ranges, then application of either limestone or alum will be needed to correct it. Remember, to get the pH range right before adding any fertilizers (nitrogen, phosphorus, potash).

Testing Our Garden Soil

LaMotte Garden Guide Kit, EL — LaMotte Soil Sample Test Kit 5670-01

Testing our garden soil is very important to us. If you have never done this you may find it really interesting and helpful. We purchased a LaMotte Soil Testing Kit discovered on the Burpee.com seed website one afternoon. This is a good soil test set for us. It allows multiple tests and comes with absolutely everything you need to get started. Additionally, it includes “how-to” booklets explaining exactly how to perform soil tests correctly.

Garden Guide Manual
Soil Handbook
A Study of Soil Science

When our garden got bigger the “single-use” test kits were not very helpful. Because we needed to be able to test more than a single area. Using this kit is similar to doing an experiment in chemistry class. It is a lot of fun but requires careful observance of instructions to be safe. The chemicals in this kit are available for purchase to restock the kit after you use up what’s in the kit. Check out www.forestry-suppliers.com for more information on supplies.

Getting Soil Samples

soil sample 06 — gathering soil sample 6

After reading the instruction booklets, we labelled 10 zip lock baggies to put soil in. Then marked 10 popsicle sticks with the numbers from 1-10. Out to the garden, we collected 10 soil samples from different areas, leaving a popsicle stick marking where we took what samples.

Testing Preparations

Afterwards, laying out 10 paper towels (1-10) so the damp soil samples could dry out overnight.

Look at how much lighter the soil looked the next morning. Next, we smashed any lumps and clumps in the soil with a large glass, also removing any organic matter we noticed. The soil samples are ready to test, so we re-read all the information about how to do it before we began.

By the way, don’t underestimate the time required to do the test on the soil samples. We had anticipated spending about half a day running tests on the ten soil samples but, it actually took us all day long.