Soil testing - what is it? How is it done?

Jun 14 12:21 UTC 2006

Does any one have any reading material/book-suggestion on how soil testing
is done, as in, what do they do? What chemicals are added to what etc ..
I have access to all sorts of chemicals HCl, H2So4, etc though i don't have
access to a spectrometer..

response 2 of 2:

Jun 14 14:26 UTC 2006

Soil is usually tested for pH (if it is too acid you would add lime or
something else alkaline, which we had to do in New England where the
underlying rocks were alkaline) and for whether it has enough nitrogen,
phosphorous and potassium.  Instead of testing your soil, you could look for
a local state agricultural organization and ask them what sort of soil you
have and what to add to it.  We just add composted vegetable matter to ours.