Testing Nutrient Content

Is there a way to test the macro and/or micro nutrients when trying to find ingredients for a soil mix?

For example, if I wanted to take things from my garden and process them, via drying, composting, etc., and wanted to know what nutrient they would provide for my plants.

I hope this makes sense, if not I'll try again.

You can have your soil tested and it is actually recommended. I have not done this yet my compost is still cooking and the stuff I use primarily I source from local vendors, I live in the sticks. (great advantage living in farm country)

i get the local college to test my soil. you take samples using a tool that is essentially just a tube and jab it into the ground. you can probably do this for your compost too but i just test my soil since it all cost money. anyway the local agricultural office around town actually sends them off to the college to be tested and i pay the office in person. its like 5$ a test. just remember to test many points in the garden. yee old beds will likely perform better than yee new beds

Ya so you're looking for tissue cultures from labs for a full analysis. And/or you could get use a refractometer to get a brix reading on the nutrient density. Books on permaculture will have some of the info you're looking for, but I can't remember the titles off-hand.

CoreyAcesome said:

Is there a way to test the macro and/or micro nutrients when trying to find ingredients for a soil mix?

For example, if I wanted to take things from my garden and process them, via drying, composting, etc., and wanted to know what nutrient they would provide for my plants.

I hope this makes sense, if not I'll try again.

Click to expand...

I just stumbled over an interesting source for nutrient content of diverse substances: http://www.feedipedia.org/
If that's what you meant