[argonaut]

I had a 'Fothergills' soil test test, fiddly and you could test the same sample of soil and get widely different readings.
2 Questions ... anybody found a good soil test kit - in US they seem to rave about the 'Rapitest' the problem is the reviews in UK are all negative.
On several posts they say in US local university will carry out soil tests for free.
I'm sure nothing wil be free in UK ,..... but is anybody aware of reasonable solid test lab?
RHS does it at £33 per sample - but excl Nitrogen which is a key test I want.
As they say to take multiple samples .. this could easily be several hundred pounds.

Just after standard NPK values.

[Subversive_plot]

It would be worth asking at any of your universities that teach agriculture, soil science, or forestry to ask if they have a soil science lab, and do they test samples from the general public. Our local university doesn't test for free, but they can test at low cost. I hope some of your universities do the same.The £33 fee from RHS does seem high to me.

When RHS says multiple samples, they probably mean multiple SUB-samples (often from 8 or more locations in an area you want to test). The sub-samples are all placed in a single bucket, mixed thoroughly, big roots or rocks pulled out, then mixed again; this is a composite sample.  What you send to a lab is a portion of the composite sample, you pay only for that one sample. The lab usually only needs a cup or two of soil to do their testing. The reason for doing a composite is that soil is very heterogeneous, a composite sample can be more representative than a single sample taken from one location.

I've attached a photo of my soil sampling kit. You can buy a well-made stainless steel soil probe, but they are expensive; mine is made from a scrap of 1-1/4 in PVC pipe, plus a T-connector for the pipe. A plastic bowl or bucket and a plastic rod to push soil out of the probe (and a cheap stainless steel kitchen spoon, not shown) completes the kit.  Fine for collecting soil from ground that has been worked a few times recently. Inexpensive and easy to use. I may post information on making it and using it later on.

[Harry998]

£33 is cheap for anything!

Proper agricultural testing with a qualified agronomist will be 3 digits and they will expect you to know how to interpret the results.
For regular testing we use progreen ( they have a website ) and pay about £45 which I thought was incredibly cheap.

Definitely send the samples away, I work as a water chemist and the number of variables and possible interferences in soil testing is unbelievable the home test kits are bit like the under £100 pH meters they are only of any use if something is miles off.

As above the multiple samples are combined to form 1 sample for testing, you are just averaging the odds incase you hit a weird spot with one sample.

When you take the sample make sure they are from under any recent additions like manure ( i.e scrape it back first ) and try to take it from a depth that means something to you. There is no point taking a sample from 3 foot down if all you grow is lettuce and onions!