{"id":24944,"date":"2024-09-25T14:18:18","date_gmt":"2024-09-25T14:18:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bandoncoop.ie\/agri\/?page_id=24944"},"modified":"2025-03-18T09:51:48","modified_gmt":"2025-03-18T09:51:48","slug":"soil-analysis","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.bandoncoop.ie\/agri\/soil-analysis\/","title":{"rendered":"Soil Analysis"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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Soil analysis<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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Soil Sampling: more important now than ever before?<\/h3>

Soil provides plants with essential minerals and nutrients and their presence at optimal levels is a critical part of successful agriculture. Knowing the quality of your soil, and understanding how to improve it, is the most important thing you can do to guarantee good growing conditions for crops.<\/p>

Soil sampling can provide useful information about the chemical, biological, and physical conditions of your soil. The main principle of soil analysis is to determine the nutrient status of a given area and measure the available nutrients in the soil. Soil testing can save on fertiliser costs by identifying the areas of land which have low soil fertility and are in the most need of extra fertiliser. Knowing this information allows you to tailor your rates of fertiliser application to the specific needs of the soil.<\/p>

Under the current Nitrates Action Plan, soil sampling is mandatory for all farms with a stocking rate over 130kgs N\/ha since January 2023. If no soil samples are taken then it is assumed a Phosphorous index 4 for any farmer over 130kgs N\/ha, which prohibits the use of any fertilizers containing P and the import of organic fertilizers. Soil sampling is also now mandatory for all tillage ground from 1st January 2023.<\/p>

If a farm is less than 130kgs N\/ha grassland stocking rate the previous year and no soil analysis has been completed, then you can use index 3 for Phosphorous. If you buy these products, without having soil samples in place, then you will face penalties and more inspections.<\/p>

The ideal time to soil sample is from October to February, and samples should be taken three months after the last application of slurry, chemical phosphorous or potassium.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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Soil Sampling 10 point plan<\/h2>
  1. Do not sample a field until at least 3 months after the last application of P and K and 2 years after the last application of lime.<\/li>
  2. Use a suitable soil corer and take cores to the correct sampling depth of 10cm (4\u201d), this is where your grass roots are getting their nutrients from.<\/li>
  3. Take a full core every time right down to the 10 cm, do not pick off the top or you will get an incorrect reading, particularly for Phosphorous as it is immobile and tends to stay in the top few centimeters of soil.<\/li>
  4. Take a sample from 2- 4ha at most. To ensure the sample is representative, sample by walking in a W shaped pattern across the sampling area.<\/li>
  5. Take a minimum of 20 soil cores, mix them together, and take a representative sub-sample for analysis, making sure the soil sample bag is full.<\/li>
  6. Avoid any unusual spots such as old fences, ditches, drinking troughs, gateways, dung or urine patches or where fertilizer\/manures or lime has been heaped or spilled in the past.<\/li>
  7. Take into account the previous cropping history. Sample grazing fields separate to silage fields as they are treated differently. Sample tillage fields separately and allow for soil type, slope, drainage, or persistent poor yields.<\/li>
  8. Sample fields at the same time of the year to aid comparisons of soil sample results. Avoid sampling under extremes of soil conditions e.g. waterlogged or very dry soils.<\/li>
  9. Place the soil sample in a sealed plastic sample bag to avoid contamination. Write the field name and number on the sample bag with permanent marker. The field name is important for you as when you get the results back the field name will be on it. When you pick up the result today or in three years\u2019 time you know exactly where it\u2019s from, you won\u2019t need a map which will undoubtedly get lost. Also when resampling in four years it\u2019s easier to compare samples. If you use an LPIS number this may change.<\/li>
  10. Repeat samples every 3-4 years to see if the actions you are taking to correct soil fertility are working. Derogation farmers must take a soil sample every 4 years from a maximum area of 5 ha.<\/li><\/ol>

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    Soil Fertility<\/h2>