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Soil-profiling

InglezinhoInglezinho Posts: 568
in Problem solving
Has anyone taken advantage of a soil-profiling service: ph, acidity/alkalinity; nutrients, NPK etc? I would like to hear your experience. Did you find it useful?  What can I expect to pay?(De)recommendations welcome. Thanks.
Everyone likes butterflies. Nobody likes caterpillars.
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  • InglezinhoInglezinho Posts: 568
    Disappointing response. If you're serious about gardening, you would have wanted to know what's in your soil, I would have thought.
    Everyone likes butterflies. Nobody likes caterpillars.
  • K67K67 Posts: 2,506
    Why do you get so upset when nobody responds ?
    I don't need to know that much detail about my soil, I use a basic soil testing kit to find if its acidic as I live on a new build estate otherwise I would look at what does well in the gardens around me.
    I add soil improver and mulch with manure every year and make sure I try to find the right plants for my soil.
    My roses and clematis get fed but I don't bother to feed anything else, been here 3 years now and had the odd failure but I don't see knowing that much detail of my soil would have prevented it.
    I would consider having it analysed if everything I planted didn't grow well or died.
    It's the insects that I battle with as we have a lack of birds but they are starting to move in very slowly.
  • punkdocpunkdoc Posts: 15,039
    Being argumentative again?
    I have gardened for many years, without needing to know any of that, apart from pH.
    How can you lie there and think of England
    When you don't even know who's in the team

    S.Yorkshire/Derbyshire border
  • steephillsteephill Posts: 2,841
    It would be overkill for most people, mainly of interest to those engaged in agriculture. Acid or alkaline - look at your neighbours gardens to see what grows. There is a lot of free info available on soil too e.g. http://mapapps2.bgs.ac.uk/ukso/home.html

  • InglezinhoInglezinho Posts: 568
    My question is answered. Don't bother a lot. Get your own soil testing kit, for acidity/ alkanitity, so you don't plant Rhododendrons on a limestone cliff.  Otherwise just watch what the rest are growing. Thanks for reponding,
    Everyone likes butterflies. Nobody likes caterpillars.
  • NollieNollie Posts: 7,529
    I would like to get my soil analysed out of curiosity, but it’s not essential. PH is easy to assess yourself, I know my soil is very alkaline (heavy clay) not just through PH tests, but knowledge of local geology and which plants do not thrive in my soil or in the natural environment around me. My water is very hard - very evident in cal buildup and confirmed by a well water analysis for human health purposes. Plants are quick to tell you if there is a specific nutrient deficiency and with a bit of experience you can learn how to diagnose which one. I know certain plants need additional magnesium and iron, not that there is necessarily a shortage here, just that a high PH means take-up from the soil is inhibited. But they only need it when I’m short of rainwater, so my water hardness has a more dramatic effect than soil type.


    The danger of analysis is, even with samples taken from several areas, that a blanket approach to ‘correction’ may be taken, without regard to other factors including climate, water, plus widely differing soil types and variable environmental conditions on the same plot.

    In conclusion, watch, listen and learn from your plants 🌱 
    Mountainous Northern Catalunya, Spain. Hot summers, cold winters.
  • ButtercupdaysButtercupdays Posts: 4,546
    edited March 2021
    I know my soil is acid because our spring water corrodes the copper pipes. I know it is rich in iron because I see the rusty deposit at the sheep waterholes. I know the subsoil is yellow clay because I have dug it up. I know the most fertile parts because of the number of worms and the wettest parts by where I can safely walk.
    All this is straightforward observation. Much harder for me to gauge is whether a plant new to me will do well in my specific conditions here in the hills, exposed to wind from east and west and with possibly brutally cold conditions at times over winter.
    Hardiness ratings  or injunctions to plant in a sheltered place are not altogether adequate, nor do they give much indication of a plant's ability to recover after a setback. Some will curl up their toes at the first breath of adversity while others will prove surprisingly resilient, though never achieving their full potential.
    It would also be useful to know which plants are especially attractive to sheep. My escapees always home in on the Hemerocallis! :)
  • JennyJJennyJ Posts: 10,576
    I know that my soil is slightly on the acid side of neutral and is sandy and well-drained. That's enough for me. I don't feel the need to fork out for soil profiling when I could spend that money on plants, or mulching materials, or any number of things that would be more useful for me. Each to their own.
    Doncaster, South Yorkshire. Soil type: sandy, well-drained
  • B3B3 Posts: 27,505
    I wouldn't bother. I'd look around locally and see what's growing. That would give enough of a clue for my purposes.
    In London. Keen but lazy.
  • steephillsteephill Posts: 2,841
    It turns out that you can grow rhododendrons on a limestone cliff, they have been found growing in China in that situation. There is an article in the January edition of the RHS Garden magazine which discusses this. A rhodo specialist retired to a new house with a disused limestone quarry in the garden, taking 400 varieties with him. They weren't doing well as we would all expect. The trick is the level of manganese in the soil. It would need supplementing until a decent leaf bed builds up under the plants which only takes a few years.
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