Lawn and Garden Soil Sampling

Published on by KASEY BURG

Can I do my own soil sampling from home?

Yes, you can! With our office and main Soil Sampling Lab being closed to the public temporarily in accordance with Safer At Home orders, we cannot receive your sample in the office and send it to our regular lab – instead you can mail it directly to one of the Wisconsin Certified Soil & Manure Testing Laboratories yourself. Below you will find the laboratories who are still accepting soil samples (as of 10:30am on 4/17/2020). Once you go to their website linked below, you can follow their specific guidelines on soil submissions through their laboratory.

Wisconsin Certified Soil & Manure Testing Laboratories:

A&L Great Lakes Laboraties, Inc.

AgSource Laboratories

Diaryland Laboratories

Rock River Laboratory

Minnesota Valley Testing Laboratories, Inc.

Midwest Laboratories Inc.

General Instructions:

  1. From each area to be sampled – remove any overlying mulch, compost or sod. Soil samples should be collected from the top 5-7 inches of soil. Collect approximately one cup of soil (total) with a clean trowel or shovel from four random locations (all in the area you want sampled), or ten random locations if you are using a soil probe. (example in Sampling Lawns and Gardens (PDF).
  2. Place these four or ten soil samples collected from your area you want tested into a clean plastic container and mix them together thoroughly. Samples from different areas should not be mixed together. Remember, the sample should only contain soil and no organic matter (you want to test the soil, not the mulch or sod).
  3. Soil from each area you want analyzed should be placed in a heavy-duty plastic or soil sample bag for analysis.
  4. Label the sample bag(s) with your name, sample number, and contact information (however instructed by the laboratory of your choosing).
  5. Pack your sample bag(s) and with your Submission Form(s), then send to the laboratory of your choice.
  6. Once you get your results, if you would like more information you can forward them to us at uwexmail@lacrossecounty.org and our Agriculture Educator, Kaitlyn Davis, will go over them with you.

Information sourced from https://uwlab.soils.wisc.edu/soil-samples/ and DATCP (https://datcp.wi.gov/Documents/NMSoilManureLabs.pdf)