Greenthumbskunk
PICK YOUR OWN
I use a npk and ph soil test kit from lowes. Garden centers carry them too. Won't tell you any other nute levels but it works great for cheap for what it's for. Helps alot if your trying to determine shit right now and not waiting for a lab report, only takes a few minutes. Smoke a bowl while you wait. Lol Like when I was having some micro defs awhile back, I verified it was an excess locking it out vs an actual def. It was caused by a botched experiment I did. Lol.
In farming you soil test fields in a grid pattern. That's because soil changes chemistry periodically throughout the field. When you send a soil test off (usually 6" deep and dozens of samples) and you get it back it shows you everything in that soil. From the CEC to the amount of trace minerals in the soil but also including the PH and recommendations of what your lacking and what you need.
Here is a sample of what one looks like when u get it back, different labs will have it differently and even have a print of the field and your soil types on display for ya.
This is what your layout looks like after you sent off dozens of samples and it's now mapped out.
In taking samples of a compost pile I'm not sure where you would send such a small amount of samples off too but their are a few things to keep in mind. That pile is going to be completely different from one part to the next. One section could be depleted of nitrogen or the pH could be 7 in the middle of the pile could be really hot with a lot of nitrogen and the pH 5.5. you would need to mix it all up really good if you're just going to send off one soil sample or you might need to take 10 or so samples all throughout the pile to give you a better look at what is in that soil.
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