Nutrient balance
The lab tells you what is in your soil. We tell you what your crop will be able to take up.
The first diagnosis is free.
The problem
They are two different numbers, and the second is the one that matters.
A very common case is phosphorus. With a high pH and free lime in the soil, phosphorus shows up in the soil test and the root cannot reach it. If nobody corrects that figure, the recommendation comes out too high. Or too low, which costs just as much.
And it works the other way round: some fields have been getting phosphorus for years on a soil that already has plenty.
Where the money usually is
You do not need to change how you work. Almost all of it sits in three things you can see as soon as someone puts the numbers on the table.
Almost everyone fertilises for what the field gives when the season goes well. In the other years you pay for fertiliser the crop never removes. Fertilising for what that field removes on average is the decision that moves the most money.
Manure and slurry carry phosphorus. If you then apply mineral fertiliser as if you had put nothing on, you pay twice for the same thing. How much of that phosphorus your crop can take up, and for how long, depends on your soil: with a lot of lime it gets locked up sooner. That is why a general table is not enough: you need to know what yours contained and what your soil does with it.
Many soils are well supplied with potassium, and yet it is still applied every year, out of habit. A trial of more than thirty years on a rich soil showed it: with no potassium applied, the yield did not fall. Some fields can go without it this year. Stopping feels risky, and that is normal. That is why you need a number in front of you, not a hunch.
And also
In England, the Farming Rules for Water ask every farm to plan its fertiliser use so that it does not go beyond what the soil and the crop need, with a soil analysis at least every five years. In a nitrate vulnerable zone (NVZ) you also need a nitrogen plan for each field before you spread, and you keep your records for five years.
A plan like that starts from a nutrient balance. What we give you is meant to help you spend less, and it is the groundwork for your own plan.
Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland have their own rules, and so does each US state. This is not an official NRCS 590 plan: if you need one for a programme, it must be signed by a certified local planner, and our analysis can be the groundwork.
A zoned soil analysis and a variable rate map are what schemes that fund variable rate application ask for. Schemes open and close: check the current one.
The rules, explained ·How to read your soil test
Not sure how to read your soil test? Send it to us, the diagnosis is free.
The method
Some of them are already in your soil test. What the lab does not calculate is how each one changes what the plant will be able to take up. And that decides how much fertiliser you need. They come in three groups.
Texture, temperature, redox potential and irrigation water. They govern what the soil holds, aerates and moves.
pH, free lime, cation exchange capacity, electrical conductivity and two matrices of nutrient antagonisms. They decide what stays stuck to the soil and what reaches the root.
Organic matter and the microbiome (what lives in your soil). It unlocks the rest: it goes into the calculation, it is not an appendix to the report.
Click to enlarge.
What you receive
How much fertiliser you waste
In kilograms (pounds) and in euros, field by field.
The nutrient plan
A fertiliser plan for each field, the groundwork for your own nutrient management plan and your records.
The zone map
For a tractor that changes the rate by itself (variable rate). If you do not have one, most of the saving is still there with a single rate for the whole field.
The report
A practical one, with what to do. With Premium, also a full one, with the why.
Nothing to install. Nothing to learn. And no subscription: you pay for each analysis, that is all.
We work remotely. You send us your soil test, and we send back the interpretation, the balance, the plan and the variable rate map for your tractor. Tell us which method your lab uses: we work with Mehlich-3, Olsen and Bray-1 results; if your lab uses another, we tell you before you pay. Results in ppm or lb/acre are fine (lb/acre is about ppm × 2 for the top 15 cm / 6 in). In the UK, we work from the mg/l your lab reports and give you the index (0 to 6).
The sample report
A complete report, from start to finish, with its maps. Yours will look like this.
The analysis comes from a real farm. The farm and the client are not identified.
Two levels
The difference is not the amount of paper. It is the question each one answers.
When the field is even
How much fertiliser you are putting on that you do not need, and in which zones.
When the field is uneven
Why one part of your field yields less than another, and what to do in each zone.
Not sure whether your field is even? Start with Essential: the satellite will show you.
Two add-ons
They can be added to either level. They go into the calculation, they are not an appendix.
Your soil microbiome
It is what lives in the soil. Part of your fertiliser is not something you apply: the microbiome releases it. If it is switched off, you pay for all of it.
Irrigation water quality
If you irrigate, the water brings things in and also takes them away. Hard water changes the fertiliser plan; saline water changes it completely.
How often
Every three seasons
The soil test. There is no need to repeat it every year: the soil moves slowly.
Every year
The fertiliser plan. The target yield and the price of fertiliser do change every season.
That is why in the first year we analyse, and in the following years we only recalculate.
Start without paying
Send it to us. We tell you what you have too much of and what is missing, with numbers and without charging you anything. Then you decide.
Prefer to ask for a quote straight away? Write to us or see the prices.
