Soil Testing

Did You Test Your Soil?

If you didn’t get a soil test, your garden plan has omitted a vital step. It is best to test soils in the fall, but it is never too late. Your vegetable garden might produce higher yields if it were limed and fertilized properly. The only accurate way to determine how much lime and/or fertilizer to apply is to have your soil tested.

Vegetable plants require certain amounts of nitrogen, phosphorous, and potassium to produce high yields. Some of these nutrients occur naturally in the soil. But most gardens require organic matter and fertilizer to build soil fertility.

Acid soils may prevent vegetable plants from using soil nutrients, even when adequate nutrients are present. If so, you need to correct the problem by applying lime. Too much lime, however, often creates problems similar to having too little lime. Lime doesn’t become fully effective until several weeks or even months after application.

Getting soil for the sample is not complicated. You collect a thin slice of soil from the top 4 inches of several well-spaced, representative spots in the garden and mix them together in a plastic pail. Never dry the soil in an oven or microwave oven. Fill the test bag with soil from the pail and mail it.

Be sure to indicate on the information sheet that the crop is a vegetable garden. You will receive a recommendation sheet suggesting how much, if any, lime and/or fertilizer to apply, and other pertinent information about vegetable gardening. Spread the lime well ahead of planting time (preferably in the fall), and broadcast the fertilizer just before plowing the garden. The garden probably will not require lime again for three or four years. However, the soil should be tested annually to assume optimum soil fertility.

Many garden soil test analyses show a high pH (no lime needed) level and several nutrient salts in the “very high” category. These high levels are caused by the use of excessive lime, fertilizer, manure, or fireplace ashes. Many garden plants perform poorly under these conditions, especially peppers and the root and tuber crops.

Getting Your Soil Sample Step-by-Step

If you have any problems understanding the soil test results, contact your local county Extension office.

Soil Test Form & Instructions

Mail to:
WVU Soil Testing Laboratory Agricultural Sciences Building
PO Box 6108
Morgantown, WV 26506

Fillable WVU Soil Testing Form Printable WVU Soil Testing Form How to Complete the Form

Forms are available as PDFs. Download Adobe Acrobat Reader for free, if needed.

Soil testing is the easiest and most reliable method of assessing a soil’s nutrient status. It provides a basis for recommending the correct amount of lime and fertilizer to apply for crops and pastures. Soil testing also allows an expert to predict the probability of obtaining a yield or growth response to lime and fertilizer application.

How Often to Sample

• Row crops and hayfields: Every one or two years or when crops are rotated.
• Permanent pastures: Every 3 - 4 years.
• Vegetable gardens: Every 1 - 2 years.
• Lawns and turf: Every 3 - 5 years.

West Virginia University offers free soil analysis to residents. Your county Extension agent can assist you in your effort to collect good soil samples and also to understand the results of analysis.

When to Sample

Soil samples taken in late summer and fall are better than those taken in winter through early spring because they come closer to representing the soil’s nutrient status as it affects crops. Avoid taking samples when soil is wet or frozen because it will be difficult to handle and mix them. Do not take soil samples immediately after applying lime or fertilizer; wait several months or even longer if the weather is dry.

Send samples to a soil testing laboratory well before you need the recommendations. Allow about three weeks for the samples to be processed and the results to be sent to you. Samples sent to the laboratory between March and June may take longer to process. Avoid delays by sending samples between July and December.

Where to Sample

Adequately assess the nutrients that plant roots may encounter in soils, at least five to ten randomly selected soil borings should comprise the composite sample submitted to the laboratory. Five to eight borings will be enough for small areas such as lawns and gardens. If a field is large, subdivide it into 10-acre sections and take at least 20 borings from each 10 acres (or about two to three borings per acre). In West Virginia, it is helpful to divide the field into distinct slope/soil classes and take borings within each class to make a sample. Different slope classes generally have different parent materials and different soils.

Exclude or take separate samples from areas not characteristic of the field, lawn or garden such as wet spots, eroded areas, bare spots, back furrows, field edges. When the field has several soil types or crop conditions, take separate borings for each soil type or slope class and send a separate sample for each. No single sample submitted to the laboratory should represent an area larger than 10 acres.

How to Complete the WVU Soil Test Submission Form

Soil test submission forms are available at your local WVU Extension office or you can download a copy directly from this website. Two versions of the submission form are available — a print-only version that can be filled out with a pen or pencil OR a digital version that can be completed using a computer or tablet. If possible, it is recommended that you use the digital version of the form because the typed information is easier for our lab staff to read as they enter it into the database.

Using the digital version also allows you to save a copy to your computer or tablet so your customer information will be included for future use. The digital version has drop-down menus to assist the customer with entering their county location and planned crop code. If you are planning to grow an agronomic crop, which includes crop codes C01 through C021, you'll also need to enter the predominant soil series using that drop-down menu.

If you need help, you can learn more by reading our  instructions to determine your field's soil series. Determining your predominant soil series and then entering it in the submission form allows the recommendation system to incorporate the soil's productivity potential.

If your planned crop has a crop code starting with H, W or V, then leave the soil series box blank. Soil productivity potentials have not been developed for these crops. 

The WVU Soil Testing Lab provides a basic analysis, including soil pH, phosphorus, potassium, calcium, magnesium and degree of phosphorus saturation. Additional analysis is available. These include organic matter determination (OM), electrical conductivity (EC) and a micronutrient package (MN). Select the optional test you need by checking the box on the form, and then, go to the WVU Soil Test Store to make the purchase.

Visit WVU Extension's store online.  Once you have completed your purchase, record your transaction number on the submission form.

Each soil sample that you wish to have tested requires a separate submission form. This is another benefit to using the digital form. Your customer information will remain the same, so all you'll need to do is edit the sample data information section with sample ID, crop code and size of area, and then, print the form for each sample. Fold the form in half and wrap it around the soil sample in the plastic bag. Use a rubber band to keep the form and the sample bag together. Always identify the soil sample bag with the sample ID in case the form and sample become separated in transit.