Soil testing
Hello, Can anyone recommend a good place for testing our garden soil in brooklyn. we are going to plant vegetables. Thank you
Hello,
Can anyone recommend a good place for testing our garden soil in brooklyn.
we are going to plant vegetables.
Thank you
You can do the testing on your own. Goggle Ward’s science testing and you will find the various tests. I did it in my own yard and it showed high levels of lead in the soil all around. However, do some internet research on Lead and vegetables and you will find that the scientific consensus is that lead can not absorb into vegetables with any significance. The danger of the lead is from children ingesting the soil. However there are other city pollutants like arsenic, etc. that make back yard gardening prohibitive so you should test for those as well.
I tested for lead in 5 areas and it took me 1 hour to collect samples, prepare, and get the results. Don’t pay a lot of money for a testing company when there is a very good chance you will have high levels of pollutants. Good luck.
You can go through the time and money to get it tested, but don’t be shocked when you find high lead content, along with a multitude of other heavy metals. You can plant certain vegetables in the ground, but you’re probably better off planting in above ground planters with “clean” soil.
We had our soil tested by the UMass Amherst soil lab, which you should be able to find pretty easily online. We had the results in a couple weeks. (Bottom line: High lead content, so we had to build raised beds.)
if you are interested in testing for heavy metals (e.g., lead), you probably need to send it in to a lab site. the educational ones are the cheapest although apparently there are commercial labs that will do it too.
somebody below posted that they used brooklyn college. i found this online with instructions, but haven’t done it yet. http://nycgarden.blogspot.com/2009/03/garden-soil-testing.html.
another source that is frequently recommended is the cornell college extension. you can google them – there is a form online and you can call them for more help. you have to send your sample in.