North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[road's end farm <organic101@linkny.com>]

On May 13, 2006, at 1:01 PM, Charles Paradise wrote:

> Jim,
> You've written before how much soil testing has benefitted your growing
> efforts.  Getting levels of boron, zinc and copper are obviously more than
> the typical university N-P-K and Ph test...so where should I look to get
> these useful soil tests?
> Charlie Paradise  z6 Massachusetts

University tests vary, apparently. Cornell (NY state) automatically does, in addition to pH and PK, magnesium, calcium, aluminum, iron, manganese, zinc, organic matter, and nitrate. You can get boron for an extra $5, and "soluble salts" for an extra $2,

That said, if you want organic-form recommendations, you need to get their standard recommendations translated. Some county extension people are good at this; others aren't.

--Rivka
Finger Lakes NY; zone 5 mostly