Peak Soil Season 2024
Dates: November 27, 2024- March 31, 2025
- $4.00/ sample
- In order to not be charged for samples, they must arrive at the lab no later than 5 pm on November 26th.
- Fees are assessed based on the receive date of when samples physically arrive at the lab.
- Online submission form creation, postmark dates and date of drop off at a third party location such as NC Cooperative Extension offices are NOT considered when determining the receive date.
- During peak season, sample drop-off is limited to normal business hours, Monday- Friday, 8 am to 5 pm. Our building and gates are closed outside of these hours, on weekends and holidays. A closed gate prohibits access to our building.
For further information : https://www.ncagr.gov/divisions/agronomic-services/soil-testing/peak-soil-season
FAQ's
USPS: Address shipments to our mailing address at 1040 Mail Service Center, Raleigh, NC 27699. Since all USPS mail goes to a sorting center before being distributed to our facility, expect USPS shipments to take 1-2 additional days to arrive at Agronomic Services. Note that USPS does not deliver to our physical address.
UPS or FedEx: Address shipments to our physical location at 4300 Reedy Creek Rd, Raleigh, NC 27607.
In person: Samples can be delivered on the loading dock at 4300 Reedy Creek Rd, Raleigh, NC 27607 from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m.; Monday-Friday except for state holidays.
By Courier: Many NCSU County Extension offices offer a courier service to deliver samples to the Agronomic Division. Contact your County Extension office to inquire if this service is available in your county. Please note that NCSU Extension is a third party organization and is not affiliated with NCDA&CS. The date that you drop off samples at these locations is not the date that they are received by the Agronomic Services labs.
- Check: Include a check with your samples and submission form(s). Checks should be made payable to NCDA&CS.
- Credit card (Visa or Mastercard):
- For online sample submissions (soil and nematode only), online payment by credit card is required to complete the submission process.
- Once your report is complete, create or log in to your PALS account and pay online by credit card.
- To pay by credit card over the phone, contact the accounting dept at (919) 664-1600, option 3.
- Escrow: If you submit samples multiple times per year or submit in large quantities, you may want to speak with someone in the accounting department to set up an escrow account.
Note: Reports are not released until paid in full.
When your results are complete, you will be sent a notification via email. Keep an eye on your inbox as well as your spam box (just in case). The sender name will be Agronomic LIMS and the subject line will say "Agronomic Test Results". The email will contain a link to our PALS website where you can view and download your report as a PDF or CSV file.
Your PALS # is your unique client account number. You will be assigned a PALS # when you first submit samples to one of the Agronomic Services' labs. If you want to know what your PALS account # is, you can find it by doing a quick search for your name on PALS. Your PALS # is displayed in parentheses following your name and address.
This date refers to when samples are received at the Agronomic Services lab at 4300 Reedy Creek Rd. Raleigh, NC 27607.
You can know this date in a couple of different ways:
- The date samples are physically dropped off on the loading dock of the Agronomic Services Lab.
- When being shipped by UPS or Fed Ex, put tracking on the package. Samples are delivered directly to the loading dock.
- When being shipped by USPS, put tracking on the package. Please also allow a couple of extra days as mail is taken to a NC Mail Service Center for sorting before being distributed to each division.
- Print out an Agronomic Services' tracking bar code to go on the outside of your shipping container. When you package arrives on our loading dock, it will be scanned, and you will receive notification of receipt via email.
*Please note: Ace Hardware stores, Cooperative Extension Offices, etc. are third party locations. Your received date is NOT based on when you drop them off at these locations. The received date is when their courier delivers them to the Agronomic Services Lab.
Go to the PALS customer portal. Search your name or customer number in the search bar. Reports submitted under this account will be displayed. The column titled Received lists the date your sample(s) were received at the Agronomic Services location. You can then use the Estimate Turnaround Time tool to see when you should receive your report based on the received date listed. If the time frame that the turnaround estimator has given you is past and your report is still not listed, please call the office or contact the Section Chief or Agronomist for further assistance.
The column titled Status lists the status of the report. The statuses in order are: Logged In, Analyzed, Under Review, Recheck (sometimes), Released (or Pay Now).
- Logged in: Samples have been received by the lab and customer information has been completed by data entry.
- Analyzed: Samples have been analyzed by the lab but not yet released by the Section Chief or Agronomist.
- Under Review: Reports have been released by the Section Chief or Agronomist but are not yet available for download. This delay is for quality control purposes to allow time to detect any potential errors in the data and is usually 24 business hours. For reports that are needed urgently, please contact the Section Chief or Agronomist.
- Recheck: Some samples are re-analyzed for quality control purposes, either routinely or because a suspected error is identified by the lab, Section Chiefs or Agronomists. Rechecked samples are typically analyzed within 24-48 hours of the original analysis.
- Pay Now: The report has been completed and will be released upon payment. Customers can pay for the report online. If the samples were pre-paid and you suspect an error in payment application, please contact the accounting department at (919) 664-1600, option 3
- Released: The report is available to the customer by download as PDF or CSV.
NOTE: If your sample has not completed the check-in process, it will not show up in PALS. This does NOT necessarily mean it is not at the lab. During peak soil and nematode sampling season (Dec. 1 - March 31), samples may wait in line for several weeks before being checked in. Plant, waste, solution and soilless media samples are checked in within 24 hours of receipt at the Agronomic Division--if they are not listed in PALS within that time period, please contact the PWSM Section Chief or Agronomist.
If you are in Raleigh:
Come to the loading dock at 4300 Reedy Creek Road (Eaddy Building). There is a black cabinet on the dock that holds all submission forms as well as soil and nematode sample boxes.
*If you need a large amount of soil/nematode sample boxes, plant envelopes or forms, please contact the Division first and schedule a pickup.
Outside of Raleigh:
Contact your county North Carolina Cooperative Extension Office. They keep some supplies on hand for distribution to clients.
Please visit the following page for guidelines about tours.
