The Key to Healthy Crop Growth: Chemical Soil Analysis unravelled
Soil chemical analysis is a tool to discover why a crop is not growing well. It is also a tool to analyse the effects of fertilisation and further refine fertilisation.
Acidity (pH) indicates whether liming is needed. Organic matter content is an indicator of soil quality and is also needed to calculate potassium fertilisation and liming. Nutrient availability reveals whether the plant has sufficient nutrients and whether the ratio of nutrients is good.
When is a soil analysis useful?
In:
- making a fertilisation plan
- disappointing soil fertility
- intensive cultivation and building plans
- unfamiliarity with a plot
- crops that need a lot of potassium and nitrogen
- calcareous soils
- re-seeding of grassland
Sandy soils should generally be sampled more often than clay soils because pH and nutrient availability change more rapidly in a sandy soil than in a clay soil.