Soil sampling is one of the simplest land management tools available to today’s grower. Soil analysis provides valuable information about soil chemistry and the level of available nutrients to the plant. The foundation of soil analysis is to establish a baseline inventory of soil composition. This is the initial building block of defining a soil nutrient program.
Managing the nutrient content of the soil is one key to optimum performance of any plant. Over or under application of these essential plant nutrients is very costly in terms of lost yield or quality. For that reason, soil testing should be the foundation of any crop management plan.
I take a different approach to soil analysis. The conventional approach is to consider chemical extraction of nutrients and then design a fertility plan. This only takes into consideration the total analysis of the soil, not what may be actually available to the plant. My method considers total soil nutrients, nutrient portion that is available to the plant, irrigation practices, and soil microbiology.