By Charles Mitchell
Have you ever had a soil test done for your lawn, garden, or landscape plantings? Well, now is a better time than ever to do it. This is a free service offered by the North Carolina Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services’ Agronomic Division. It only takes a little time on your part. All you need is the soil test box, form, and a means of taking the sample. A question that is often asked is – Where do I get the soil test box and form? Well, we have free soil test boxes and forms in every Cooperative Extension Office across the state. We also have forms for nematode assays, and plant/waste/solution analyses among many other services that are available.
Starting December 1, 2026, a soil-testing fee will be in effect through March 31, 2027. The peak-season soil-testing fee will be $5.00 per sample.
Where to Take Samples:
Every soil sample you submit for testing should consist of about 10-15 cores taken at random locations throughout one area. Keep in mind that each sample should represent one general location or soil type. For example, a front lawn should be one and the backyard lawn should be another sample. You can also collect a sample for individual planting beds or from the dripline of a tree.
How to Collect a Good Sample:
Collect your samples with stainless steel or chrome-plated sampling tools and plastic buckets. Avoid contaminating the samples with traces of chemical elements (micronutrients) from the sampling tools. Avoid brass, bronze, or galvanized tools. Make sure that the buckets and sampling tools are clean and free of lime and fertilizer residues. Even a small amount of lime or fertilizer transferred from the sampling tools to the soil can contaminate the sample and produce inaccurate results. Before filling the soil box pulverize the cores and mix them thoroughly in the bucket. The Agronomic Division recommends putting about 0.5 pounds of soil in the box in order to have enough soil, and a good representation of the area that is being tested.
Sampling Depth:
For fields with perennial crops such as fescue, alfalfa, and turf are being maintained, samples taken to a depth of 4-6 inches will best represent the crop’s lime and fertilizer needs. When these perennial crops are established, however, sample to the regular plow depth. For areas in which field crops are grown, collect samples to the same depth that the field is plowed. If you are growing vegetables then sample at least 6 to 8 inches or to the depth the soil was plowed.
Source : ncsu.edu