Testing your soil

What is a soil test and why should you get one?

Plant health experts and seasoned gardeners are big proponents of soil testing. After all, how can you really know what your plants need if your soil characteristics are a mystery? Soil tests reveal critical information about soil health and can even help identify nutrient deficiencies (like nitrogen, potassium, and more) before they create issues with your landscape.

Promoting healthy soil

Healthy soil isn't just dirt – it's also a complex living ecosystem of microbes, bacteria, fungi, and other organisms. Fertile soil is the foundation of healthy plants and requires good texture and structure, adequate soil organic matter, and a balance of the right macronutrients (nitrogen, potassium, and phosphorus) for plants to thrive. Healthy soil also contains trace amounts of micronutrients like iron, calcium, and magnesium to support critical plant functions like root growth and fruit production.

Spotting soil & plant issues

Without the right balance of nutrients, your plants can suffer common issues like withering flowers, spotty leaves, blossom end rot, and more. Soil testing provides a window into soil health by assessing the nutrients and characteristics of your soil. The resulting soil report should give you insight into how to improve specific soil health components to set up your plants for success.

How do you complete a soil test?

Most soil tests will require taking a physical sample from your soil and submitting it for expert analysis. But don't worry; soil testing doesn’t need to be expensive or complicated. And pulling a soil sample from your yard can be done in about ten minutes, with no special tools needed.

You can think of a soil test as a regular health check for your plants and their environment. If there's something amiss in your soil composition (like a deficiency in nitrogen, which is essential for photosynthesis) a soil test can reveal what's missing and give you healthy soil thresholds for comparison.

Choosing your soil test

When you’re evaluating soil tests, make sure to pick one that provides your soil's results as well as an optimal range for each soil component; this will help you compare how your soil measures up, and where you can make improvements. Rachio recommends MySoil Test Kits for easy sampling and results that are delivered directly to your Rachio app!

What do soil tests measure?

Thorough home soil tests will provide information on the following elements, compounds, and other soil health components (like pH). They’ll also compare your soil’s results to the optimum range for each:

• pH (how acidic or alkaline your soil is)
• Primary macronutrients – the primary, essential nutrients for plant growth and overall health:
  • Nitrogen
  • Phosphorus
  • Potassium
• Secondary macronutrients – essential nutrients for plants which are used in smaller quantities, but are still vital to plant health:
  • Calcium
  • Magnesium
  • Sulfur
• Micronutrients
  • Boron
  • Zinc
  • Manganese
  • Iron
  • Copper

How do you improve your soil after a test?

While most soil tests will offer some amount of guidance on what your soil test means, many will expect you to interpret the results and do your own research to decide on how to improve your soil with fertilizer or soil amendments (if needed).

Our recommended soil test

We like to recommend MySoil Test Kits for easy, actionable fertilizer recommendations that don’t require extra legwork. When you purchase MySoil from Rachio.com, you can get your results automatically in the Rachio app, along with customized fertilizer recommendations based on your soil report. These recommendations may include fertilizers to balance soil chemistry and/or amendments to neutralize soil acidity.

How does MySoil work with the Rachio app?

MySoil and the Rachio work together to remove the extra steps involved in fertilizer shopping. Here’s how it works:

1. Purchase a MySoil Test Kit from Rachio.com.
2. When the test kit arrives in the mail, register it at https://mysoiltesting.com.
3. Next, sync your test kit with Rachio using the fold-out paper instructions inside the box. Open your Rachio app and tap the Soil Health button at the top of your device list. Tap “+ Add Soil Test” to sync your test with Rachio. You can use the app to scan the barcode on the paper instructions, or enter the serial number starting with “RA”.
4. Follow the instructions in the box to take a soil sample. Seal the sample in the bag and mail it in. You can drop it at a post office or leave it for your USPS carrier to pick up.
5. Rachio will notify you when your soil test is received and when your results are ready! You'll be able to view the test results directly in your Rachio app. Get your soil's characteristics, detailed explanations of all its chemicals and nutrients, and custom recommendations for fertilizers and amendments to improve your specific soil.