Materials Needed

• Official NCDA&CS soil box (available at the Agronomic Services Division office in Raleigh or your local Cooperative Extension office)
• Clean, plastic bucket
• Soil probe, shovel, spade, or garden trowel

Important Note: Do not use brass, bronze or galvanized tools (including buckets).  This will contaminate samples. 

Sample Collection

1. 

   Collect a slice or core of soil (see table below for sampling depth) from 8 to 10 random locations across the lawn or garden. Note: If you are taking a sample to diagnose a suspected nutrient problem, take the sample within the plant root zone.

2. Mix and break up the cores together in a plastic bucket.
3. Fill a soil box with this mixture to the red line and label it so you know which area it came from.
4. For distinct areas, one sample/area should be adequate. However, certain areas may need to be sampled and labeled separately if plants with different requirements are being grown. In such cases, label samples from each unique area differently: e.g., FRONT, BACK, SIDE, BLUEB (blueberry), etc.

Sampling Tips

• Soil that is too wet to till or too wet to plant is too wet to sample.  Wet soil reduces the rigidity of the soil boxes and can lead to damage during transit.
• Soil goes directly into the box; no bags of soil in the boxes.  Pushing the bottom flaps flat to the bottom of the box prevents soil spillage.
• Please do not tape the sample box shut! Properly filled and packed soil boxes do not need tape.

Insufficient Sampling Example

This sample was not filled to the red line and there is excessive debris included.  This sample cannot be analyzed.