also is where it says soluble salts, is that meaning I have nutrients that haven't been used or something? I could really use some help here! but I appreciate it, and thank you!
is there any other labs that are trusted and will maybe spell it out for me?
It's very hard to get good answers about soil tests and it's not just here but other forums also. I'm not trying to say that I am an expert in the matter, but I have had a LOT of soil tests done in the last 2yrs. I've had soil tests from my local extension office, Logan Labs, Spectrum Analytic, and Unibest(soil savvy). Logan Labs is the most popular but the Soil Savvy test is still new and people are starting to catch on to them.
I should try to explain the differences between the soil tests. Logan and Spectrum will offer a Mehlich 3($25) and saturated past test($30). The Mehlich 3 is seeing what is present in the soil and the saturated paste will tell you what is available and locked out. It's usually a good idea to get them together.
What the "Soil Savvy" test is, is basically an updated saturated paste test. Instead of using chemical extraction, they use a gel(similar to root tissue) and it will absorb nutrients from the soil over a 5 day period. It's a kit that you buy($30) and it comes with a container for the lab with prepaid postage and lab fees. It's easy to use. The container in the kit has the water and gel, so you use the provided scoop to measure the amount of soil to use. The downfall to using the soil savvy test is that it will only show what is available, so it's not accurate if you make changes to the soil before testing. Like adding OSF a week or two before testing will skew the test results.
To answer your question, Spectrum analytic is more user friendly than Logan Labs.
If you do decide to go with Logan or Spectrum, it's a good idea to call and talk to them so that they will give you the right test. Logan Labs uses what they call a "Weighted Scoop". It's a standard scoop and most ground soil will weigh 2grams from that scoop, but our indoor soil will weigh less. So, you have to tell to not be lazy and weigh the scoop otherwise the test results will be skewed.
If you have an aged soil that you have not adjusted in the last couple of weeks, I would just get the soil savvy test. However, if you make adjustments and send in the "corrected" soil, then you will have problems. I had a test that shown low boron, so I treated it and had it retested. The retest results were very bad, it said that I had 4x too much boron and my Ph was 4.5. I sent it to Logan Labs for a Mehlich 3 test and everything was fine. I actually nailed the Boron levels at 2ppm. Boron gets toxic at 4-5ppm, so it was very important to me.
