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3. Basic Soil Monitoring and Evaluation
Soil or Amendments
Best practices for collecting the samples:
•
Use clean equipment
•
No rusty or galvanized containers
•
No rusty shovels or probes
•
Use a clean tarp or bucket for
temporarily storing the collected soil
How to Sample for Lab Tests
If you are investigating biological properties,
such as the microbial community, you may
need to be much more careful with sterilizing
(10% bleach solution/bleach wipes) all
equipment between multiple samples. You will
also need to make sure the sample containers
are new and not contaminated with other
biological materials. The lab or researcher will
tell you what needs to be done to prevent
contamination between samples.
Note: consider if you would like to collect
extra soil and save it in case the soil is lost or
some other error occurs. You will not receive
the soils back from a lab because they are
used up in the testing.
Storing the samples once you have
collected them:
•
Keep samples out of direct sunlight,
particularly during hot conditions,
because heat can affect some nutrient
availability measurements.
•
When using plastic bags to contain
soil or compost, transport them in a
cooler with ice packs. Keep bags in
a cardboard box inside the cooler to
protect them from ripping, which leads
to contamination.
•
Generally, air drying soil samples
prior to shipping or storage at
low temperatures is a reasonable
procedure to limit change in your
samples. However, be sure to ask the
lab how to store a soil sample for the
longer term for a given desired test.
For example, freezing is a good way
to store soil for some tests, but storing
at room temperature after drying is a
good way to store soil for other tests.
Depending on how the lab would like you to
package and store your samples, you may
want bags or containers that are:
•
Breathable
•
Clean
•
Non-metal