Soil Testing Articles-by Allan Fulton

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Series of articles written to help understand results from a soil test.

Issue	Articles
General Overview of soil testing and the types of information provided from them.	A look at the basic principals of soil science that influence soil testing and the types of information contained in the reports.	7/26/11	Download (28KB PDF)
Interpreting Soil pH and Saturation Precentage Measurements	This article will focus on the role of soil testing in orchard management, describe steps to acquire informative soil testing information, and discuss two of the more familiar parameters in a soil test report: pH and saturation percentage (SP).	7/26/11	Download (36KB PDF)
Primary Plant Nutrients: Nitrogen, Phosphorus, and Potassium	This article will focus on the nutrients nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium in orchard management.	7/26/11	Download (34KB PDF)
Secondary Plant Nutrients: Calcium, Magnesium, and Sulfur.	This article discusses the use of soil tests to evaluate levels of the secondary nutrients calcium, magnesium, and sulfur in orchard soils. These nutrients are considered secondary because while they are essential to crop development, seasonal crop uptake is usally lower than for the primary nutrients N,P, and K but considerably higher than the micro-nutrients: zinc, iron, manganese, copper, boron and chloride.	7/26/11	Download (35KB PDF)
Plant Micronutrients: boron, chloride, copper, iron, manganese, molybdenum, nickel, and zinc.	This article discusses micronutrients and the use of soil tests to evaluate their levels in orchard soils. Micronutrients are essential to almonds and other nut crops, yet are required in much smaller amounts than macronutrients such as nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium or secondary nutrients such as calcium, magneium or sulfur. The eight micronutrients are boron (B), chloride (CI), copper (Cu), iron (Fe), manganese (Mn), molybdenum (Mo), nickel (Ni), and zinc (Zn). This article will help you understand the important roles these micronutrients play in the plant and in orchard management.	7/26/11	Download (29KB PDF)
Diagnosing Salinity Conditions	The focus of this article is soil testing to diagnose salinity conditions. Soil testing can help diagnose three different types of field conditions that adversely affect orchard performance: 1) osmotic effects caused by excessive root zone salinity; 2) specific ion toxicities resulting from the accumulation of too much boron, chloride, or sodium and 3) soil chemistry properties that can affect soil structure and reduce water infultration.	7/26/11	Download (24KB PDF)