Soil testing

Does anybody get their soil tested here? If so can you recommend me somewhere you use or have heard about pls.


I’ve been using synthetic fertilizers in 200 gallon pots the past 3 years and am wondering if I could amend this soil or do I need to start fresh. I’ve never grown organic but would love to make the switch. It always seems complicating to me when I read about it or hear people talk about it. That’s why I used salts cuz that’s all I knew coming from indoor growing.

Soil tests here cost $300+ and is probably not necessary.


I grow in the soil you walk around on, in large pots. My soil is well drained, which is number one in importance.

Number two is a pH test. Test kits are cheap. Less than $20. I add Dolomite to sweeten my soil (my freshly dug soil is about 6 so I don't have to add much Dolomite. Be careful, too much dolomite/lime is hard to fix).

Next I assume my soil has no nutrients whatsoever and I add lotsa chicken shit and compost (bought). I water on humic acid and fish/kelp. All my other nutrients are sprayed onto the leaves (foliar) throughout the grow as required.

If you've been using salts I think it's important to give your pots a BIG flush before doing anything else.

More detail of what I do is too big for a single post.

An ongoing conversation is needed now ...

I’ll look into dolomite lime measurements and ph soil test kits. I’m gonna buy a two strike tiller and mix up the soil before I measure it. It still needs a BIG flush. On my 2nd year using this soil I did 900ppm’s of age old grow then I would do two waterings after that then feed again at 900ppm’s. So feed, water, water, feed, water, water. My buds were pretty good that year. I’m thinking I used too much nutes in 2019 my buds weren’t that good at all.

Mate, without a soil test this is a suckitandsee situation. Add twice the recommended rate of chicken shit. Fork it in deep. (I 'm struggling with the picture of a tiller on top of a 200 gal pot!)
I 'm assuming yr in northern hemisphere. Traditionally gardens have lime/dolomite and manure dug into them in Fall ... then that winters over and starts to break down into useful stuff by spring. So yr a bit late.

You can plant Sativa a bit later in the season if you don't think yr soil is ready. However, I 'd foliar fert to give them a start if they're not growing well at first.

The two stroke tiller is like one of those handheld weed wackers on a pole but it has 4-6 blades at the end. Yea it’s a bit late to amend the soil I’m guessing. I’ll either add to the soil with other fresh unused soil or replace everything but I doubt that will happen that’s like $8000 in new dirt.

I need to get more on top of my game. If I don’t fix things this year next year I’ll get all new soil and go organic as much as I can.

My county does free soil tests, you might get lucky too. There was a lot of smelting and other pollution in the area, I think that's one of the reasons for it. I'm outside of the plume trail on the maps, I still need to get it checked out. The last couple years I keep meaning to.

At one point we had a lot of topsoil removed and the garden areas have been built up for a long time since the polluters left. I'd still like to get it tested to see what the composition is. I've learned by trial and error what my soil is lacking and where it's strong. One thing you can do, look at the plants that thrive in your soil. They'll tell you what the nutrients are, what the PH is. It helped me when I was starting out.

My tests cost about 40USD each.
There are many of us here testing. We have an agronomist that appears to make a living from doing them. It's never too late, when the option to use immediately available amendments exists. Some so immediate, that you may need to apply them in stages throughout the season.

I have never seen a farmer chuck his field away because it was exhausted, and most don't even do proper testing. I'm sure you can replace what they have taken.

I had “decent” bulk soil I got back in 2017 that I paid around $80 a yard for. It was the cheaper of the bulk soils and had amendments in it. So this will be my 4th year using synthetic ferts on the same soil. I used pretty much all clones the first 3 years and this year will be doing all fem seeds which from what I’ve seen they are much hardier than clones all around. I’m gonna come in light with the nutes this year and water more than feed as that worked out for me pretty good my 2nd year.

This page at hemp basics might interest you: https://www.hempbasics.com/hhusb/hh2cul.htm#HH28

In the ferts bit, a number of farmers have told us how they put npk in each year, and basically bugger all else. If I just jump to the conclusion you have been using a full spectrum feed, then the soil might be well loaded. Leaving you in a position to scatter 5kg of bloodmeal, 6kg of superphosphate, and 4kg of potassium sulfate. Which is something like 4-15-15

I did that math so many times, deleting it and trying again, but still it don't look right. I'm too stoned to get the same answer twice. 15kg is a lot

That's really rough though. Even if tests were hundreds each, with your space, you must get it tested. I mean not just that you will claw it back in green, but that it makes you a more whole person.

Enjoy yourself. Splash out on a reasonable test. P K Ca Mg is manageable. Sodium levels and pH. With an estimation of CEC if your concerned with how much you can load up. Sand won't hold a seasons food, while clay can hold the world together. You can see whats depleted and what's building up. Then decide if your feed is good, or if you should only put in certain things, to avoid making others a problem. Perhaps your feed is simply in need of it's own amendment to be ideal.

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I also use their calcium and magnesium

soil testing to me is for real dirt not potting mix amended with organic nutrients. using grow bags sorta means your a renter and cant dig holes on mound dirt. spectrum and logan are both in ohio and can do soil, water, and leaf tissue