In order to assure that you receive accurate recommendations from your soil test report, it is imperative that you submit your sample properly. Your results will only be as good as the samples that you turn in. Follow the instructions below and you should have accurate results. If you have any questions, please contact your county extension agent.

The North Carolina Department of Agriculture, who performs the soil testing, provides boxes and information forms for you to use to submit the samples. You can obtain these boxes and forms from any county extension center in North Carolina. Sometimes you can get them from your local garden center or agricultural supply store. Be sure that you use these forms and boxes for submitting your samples. They are designed so that the NCDA soil testing lab will have all of the information they need to analyze your soil and return to you accurate results and recommendations.

Follow These Steps to Submit Your Soil Samples:

1) Decide the number of areas that you want to have tested. (ex. the flower bed, vegetable garden, front yard etc.)

2) Obtain the boxes and forms for submitting the samples.(one box for each area to be sampled and one sheet for every 12 samples)

3) Write your name, address and a sample number in the spaces provided on each box. (use a sample number that will help you remember where the sample came from)

4) Collect your samples by following the information from the article Importance and Step By Step Instructions for Taking a Soil Test for Homeowners.

5) Fill each box with soil from the area that corresponds with the sample number that you wrote on the box.(The boxes are broken down, flat, for the purposes of storage. You need to close the bottoms before filling with soil)

6) Close the boxes.

7) Fill in the information on the form.(see "Instructions for Filling Out the Form", below)

8) Return the samples to your county extension center or mail directly to the NCDA lab.

Instructions for Filling Out the Form

The form provides a place for writing your name and address. It also provides a place for the name and address of someone to whom you want a copy of your results to be sent. Please do not put the name and address of you county extension agent because your extension agent can access the report from the world wide web.

The form is divided into columns and rows. Each row is to be used for one sample. There are twelve rows on the form so that you can use the sheet for reporting twelve samples. There are six columns for six pieces of information on each sample.

Column 1 should be left blank. This column is for information that the lab will need to write in. Column 2 is for you write in the sample number for each sample that you submit. Write the same number on the form as you wrote on the box.

Column 3 is for writing information about the last crop that was grown. If you know this information fill it in, otherwise, leave it blank. Column 4 is for information about the last lime application. Again, if you don't know this information, leave it blank. The homeowner should only fill in the year(yr) and the month(mo) information under column 4. Column 5 is for indicating the specific crop that you want to grow next and this is the crop that you will receive recommendations for. Do not leave column 5 blank because the agronomist will not know what to recommend. Column 6 can be left blank by most homeowners because this column is for commercial farmers who plan to grow a another crop after the first crop.

Columns 3, 5 and 6 ask for a crop name and a crop code. Look on the back of your form and find the crop names that you are interested in and beside the names will be a number. Write the name of your crop in the space provided and beside it, write the number under "Crop Code". For example: if your are growing a centipede lawn, look for centipede on the back of the form. Beside centipede you see the number "022". Under column's 3 and 5, you need to write "Centipede" and under the crop code "022".

Homeowners should only use the crop names and codes from the "Lawn, Garden, Ornamentals" area found on the back of the form. If any other crop name or code is used, you will receive a commercial agriculture recommendation. (See the article Understanding Your Soil Test Report.) In other words, you will receive a lime recommendation in "tons per acre" and a fertilizer recommendation in "pounds per acre" instead of "pounds per thousand square feet". For example: if you grow tomatoes in your vegetable garden, don't put down "tomatoes" with a crop code of "111" use "garden, vegetable" with a crop code of "024" instead.

Also, please do not write more than one crop for an individual sample. For example: if you are growing centipede and bermuda in the same area, don't write in centipede/bermuda for your crop. Centipede and bermuda are two differents grasses with two different fertilizer and pH requirements. You can't treat the land for centipede without harming the bermuda and viceversa. If you have this situation, you need to choose one of these grasses and get recommendations for that one grass because you can't grow both in the same area for long. Please just put one crop per sample.

Some Do's and Don'ts of Soil Sampling

Do:

1) Fill out forms and boxes completely.

2) Print information legibly.

3) Put address on boxes and forms.

4) Put sample ID number on both boxes and forms.

5) Submit samples in time to receive results before growing season. (Fall is best for spring growing season)

Don't

1) Collect soil samples when the ground is soaking wet.

2) Put soil samples into plastic bags and seal the bag after the soil is in the boxes.

(Wet soil samples result in wet boxes which cause the writing to be unreadable. Also, putting the samples in plastic bags after boxing them, causes them to sweat which results in unreadable writing.)

You certainly don't want to apply the wrong treatments to your lawn and garden. Therefore, accurate soil test results are a must. The quality of results are only as high as the quality of the samples submitted. Please follow the instructions above as closely as you possibly can. If you have any questions, email me atKenneth_Bailey@ncsu.edu or contact your local cooperative extension agent.

Commercial farmers should read Careful Soil Sampling: The Key to Reliable Soil Test Information for more information about submitting their soil samples.

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Date Created 2/24/98.
Last revised on 2/26/02.