Does anyone have any methods for doing soil tests on the farm without having to send it away for analysis? I am particularly curious for methods on general nutrient levels and pH. It is fine if it is a more general than precise measurement.
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@Ruben_Langston_Smith is the resource you created for simple, in-field measurements publicly available yet? Ruben highlighted in his guide, one method using red cabbage for pH approximation that was pretty cool! Here’s a different resource that highlights this concept: [Using red cabbage as a pH indicator]. (red cabbage for pH detection soils - Search Videos. I think you’d need to have a filtrate (soil water solution) to utilize this which you can do by shaking soil in DI water for 5 minutes then running it through coffee filter paper.
Quinn, I’ll add a couple of resources below that Robert, Ruben, and I have been synthesizing. No reason not to share them in their current form, though! You’ll notice that most nutrient and pH in-field discussion is about plant nutrient deficienty detection which is a really vital skill for farmers to develop! Patrick wrote an article about in-field detection you can find here: Diagnosing Crop Nutrient Deficiencies in the Field | ECHOcommunity.org
Soil Health Assessment Tool within TAPE: Tool for Agroecology Performance Evaluation (TAPE)
Soil Health Assessment Tool from Cornell: [Manual | Cornell Soil Health] (Manual | Cornell Soil Health)
Soil Health charts Andy developed: 3. Soil Health Assessment Charts.pdf (305.1 KB)