how to read soil test!

OK im about to order my first soil test for my recycled living organic soil! thing is, I looked at a sample test, from Logan labs!

but this doesn't make a ton of sense to me, I know all the micro and macro nutrients, but how do you tell what's high and what's low?

is there other very good reliable places to get your soil tested that may be a lilittle bit more noob friendly? I'm not a complete noob been growing for a few years, but never had a reason to have to test my soil until now! (it's gotten a tad out of wack) but at the same time, I don't know enough to read this and automatically know what I need to add, and what I need to skip!

here's the test sample from Logan labs...

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?

Can somone correct me please .. When i say that i think that only tells you the immediately available nutrients.

Not the slow release or microbe diversity , or pesticide/herbicide/dewormers/glyphosphate, honestly id be happier with a microscope inspection of whats living in the soil.

These tests are pretty lame compared to what we really need to know .

Greenthumbs256 said:

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?

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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.

ShLUbY said:

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Kis organics/Tad Hussey is where I learned about the Soil Savvy test. It's the easiest test to read.
https://www.kisorganics.com/pages/cannabis-cultivation-and-science-podcast-episode-17

Here is my last soil savvy test. I always have a trace mineral that is low.

Anyways, even with a soil test, I am still having problems. It could be that I didn't fix the original problem, like low Mn, or there is something else that I am missing??? I'm hoping that my soil will do better in a SIP than in my square 8gal pots.

I had a great harvest about 2yrs ago and I've been chasing my tail every since. I had dumb luck on my first batch of compost and I've spent the last 2yrs trying to figure out what I did right and wrong. Don't get me wrong, I still grow good weed but I have seen what 1gram/watt looks like and I'm desperate to get there again.

You guys might like these videos

Joshua steensland is doing a indoor polyculture/cold compost bed with a bare minimum approach to inputs and is doing amazing check it out if your bored

Stang have you great advice all around there. I only have experience with the soil savvy rest personally but have now tested my container mix 3 times with them and I will say all three times they helped me diagnose and stave off issues so I can attest to the accuracy of their test. Sorry I don’t have experience with the Logan labs test but the podcast shluby linked to are really helpful.

Growitpondifarm said:

Stang have you great advice all around there. I only have experience with the soil savvy rest personally but have now tested my container mix 3 times with them and I will say all three times they helped me diagnose and stave off issues so I can attest to the accuracy of their test. Sorry I don’t have experience with the Logan labs test but the podcast shluby linked to are really helpful.

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I got very discouraged trying to work with Logan Labs and Spectrum analytic! I didn't realize that I was constantly dealing with micronutrient deficiency until I got the soil savvy test. It was a breath of fresh air. Amazon "prime" started carrying the Soil Savvy test. It really helps because I was having to wait a full week to recieve the test, then wait another 5 days for the results. Now, I only have to wait one week instead of two. It really helps when you are trying to get your clones transplanted in new soil.

Growitpondifarm said:

podcast shluby linked to are really helpful.

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If you are not familiar with Tad Hussey and Kis Organics, your missing out on a good podcast series. He interviewed Jeff Lowenfel, Clackamas Coots, Steve Solomon, and the creator of the Soil Savvy test. There are a few more, but these where really helpful to me. Shaping Fire podcast had the Alan Adkisson, founder of GroKashi, and that was an eye opening exp. I'm going to run a couple of "earth boxes" the way that Alan Adkisson suggested.