Soil Sample Results

The dept soil sample report used opposite colours, red for poor, and blue (or what looks like purple) as high. Easy enough to not understand it.

Got results back this morning and everything seems very high.

for example one field that required 8.75 tonnes of lime per ha 6 years ago and got none since the. Due to access now came up as needing none. P and K very high too considering I took a P and K holiday last year

Ideally 40P and 150K but probably best to just go with 100k for fear of luxury uptake by the plant.

Same lab.

i would be inclined to agree with the old results. I don’t remember it ever getting lime.

How would you go about lowering pH from 8?

Apply aluminium.

No. If you haven't applied sulphur before maybe a bit. Gypsum probably if you can get it.

Has that land been amended with beach sand at any time. Do you know?

Thanks. Don't know tbh it's my first year grazing it. Was tillage before this with someone else

Cheers I'll lace it with dung + slurry before the ploughing. Its low on P & K anyway

With regards to the high pH hat are the implications on the cattle grazing it? And how would it preserve if I was to bale it for silage?

2 fields I reclaimed last year and the year before after coming back with a really high pH too.

I had a field that has always been 5.5 ph go to a 6.8 and it is 5.5ish a bottomy moory field

No never got a bit, only thing I can think of is we blinded the most of the place with white sand which in fairness is probably largely made up from ground up limestone given that it's a glacial valley. A certain amount of it would have got mixed with the topsoil while we were doing it even though I'd try to avoid it. Its strange because the other fields in the same area that wouldn't have been reclaimed all have a lime requirement. We don't really have subsoil here, have maybe 5" to 8" of really nice crumbly topsoil and white sand and rock straight beneath that. I've an outfarm a few miles away and the structure of it is completely different.

I had the same happen. And it wasn’t a Dept. test. Either there has been so many tests going through the past few months that they haven’t time to calibrate equipment or they’ve been told to keep it high before the liming scheme comes out

Got bog here with white sand beneath

Either borrow a corer from the ag Advisor and do it yourself or get the ag advisor to do it. Seems to be the same cost so I get him out. Think was 22 a sample in 21. I do a sample to around 6 acres.

Not sure if used these or not never had cobalt on mine but do have magnesium. Loads of labs ask advisor who to use. I just use his. Dairy lads might get free or cheaper samples done via the Coop

We use FBA labs in Waterford for soil testing. Bought a corer on DoneDeal. Think they were €14 for PH, P & K testing

Yes, where there is sand, it's very dry.