I don't think California has any academic ag extension outfits that do testing. But UC Davis Small Farm Program puts out a good summary of what to look for.

http://sfp.ucdavis.edu/pubs/Family_Farm_Series/Veg/Fertilizing/soil/

"Before you go to a lab with your soil samples, be certain it's a lab
that uses University of California test methods -- test methods proven
on California farms by the University."

They include a list of cooperative extension contacts, by country. They might have a good list for you.

Even your local county extension doesn't do testing themselves surely they can direct you to some local sources? UCCE Sonoma County has this list of labs in their how-to instructions.

Dave

I am not familiar with CA Labs but I’d be surprised if UC Davis didn’t have one. Agree with Dave to contact a County Extension Agent. Although a few here in PA do a few simple tests, they all handle the test kits which are mailed to Penn State. I recall an argument I had with an idiot Associate Dean at PSU who thought that providing the soil testing kits posed a burden on the Extension Service. California May have gone that route.

Ag is such a huge business in California that the state decided years ago that having extension services do testing was competition for private services, and had significant economic impact on those private services. The cost for those private services may be surprisingly high. If so, I'd look into using out-of-state extension services. I've seen no evidence that they wouldn't do it.

I differ from most folks in doing soil tests. Yes, they do give you a definitive analysis of the soil and nutrients available. Now that you have it, what do you do with it? e.g. Let's say that results of your test indicate that for tomatoes you need to amend the soil with a 3-36-9 (NPK in Fert.). Guess what, not commercially available, so you do some research to determine what is available that will increase the "P" (Phosphorus) and find it's hard to find chemically and organically it'll take years to build up. This example was pulled out of the air, however does represent my 60 years of gardening and farming. I recomend that you evaluate your soil, add organic material if it's "tight." Plant your garden and watch what does well and what doesn't. "A garden is a work in progress," you'll be continually improving the soil for years.

Another "lesson learned" about soil tests. I keep honeybees and the USDA came out with a program to pay $700 an acre if the area was managed as "pollinator habitat." Signed up for the program with six acres. First step, get soil samples and drop off at local office, $21.00. Results came back, by their "ideal" guidelines in terms of lime and fertilize the cost would have been $2200 per acre, not including cost of diesel fuel and seeds. No thanks! Irony is, that area was producing "pretty good" crops when my Dad was farming it before I was born, still does in fact. "Pretty good," not ideal.

Guess all I'm saying is do the soil test if it makes you feel better, just be aware the results will probably tell you to add "X". OK, now you try to find "X" and it isn't available. Compost, if available, is always good. I'd guess the vast majority of home gardens get by very well with just a generic 10-10-10 or 12-12-12 fertilize, if you're willing to use chemicals.

Good luck,

Personally I have never found it at all difficult, or costly, to find the nutrient sources recommended by my soil tests. It is just a matter of interpretation of the results the test gives you. They are a guideline, not an absolute.

"3-36-9" does not mean you must find something with those exact components, merely that your soil is markedly low phos and could use a little potassium. Supplements for both are readily available.

Dave

My soil tests don't say I need 3-36-9. They say I'm deficient, say in P. There are many ways to increase P in soil, as there are many ways to increase individual nutrients. All too often, the strategy for fertilization is a shotgun approach, where one hits the soil with everything, in the hope that one fixes what needs fixing. That's the "generic" approach. Soil testing is a more intelligent way to approach fertilization, in that you know what your soil actually needs, and you don't pollute it with high concentrations of something else. Sure, if you don't want to test, go generic, and cross your fingers.

If all one wants is pH, one should just get some pH paper and do it yourself. A few bucks will give you several dozen tests. But sure, if your plants are doing fine, you don't need to add anything. Sometimes the difference between fine and very fine isn't that clear, however.

You sure don't need to get a soil test every year. In fact, just getting one to basically characterize a new bed is probably enough. You'll probably spend much more than $15 constructing and amending that new bed, to say nothing of jaw dropping shipping charges on seeds! Also, with a new bed, you aren't even going to be able to try to recognize nutrient deficiencies in your plants until the season is well underway. I guess I'd look at a $15 soil test as a smart investment in a new bed.

In recent years researchers are trying to fine tune fertilizer recommendations by the timing and method of applications. Almost all are also promoting the expensive plant tissue test as a guide to indicate if soil nutrients are actually moving into the plants.

I can’t say that I totally disagree with the opinions of smaller gardeners. But for large commercial growers the tests are a low percentage of overall operating expenses and if the operation is near a body of water or water basin then over fertility can be a problem.

rgreen48, I'm with you on testing. Yes, I have done self testing for ph, but have never sent in a sample. I bought a kit once, but didnt learn much from it.

I am pleased with my gardens health. I have good native soil and have amended, added a lot of organic matter, and have used both organic and non organic fertilizers.

My own burg has a nice deal where you can get one free soil test done each year. It's done by the state ag extension, and the report looks exactly like the one you'd otherwise pay them for. They do pH, N, P, K, Na, Ca, Mg, and S for hundreds of residents. Why do they do that? Aha, it's because they ALSO do Pb and As. It's done anonymously, but they want the nearest cross street. The idea is that if they find worrisome levels of lead and arsenic, they can get federal funding for remediation, and that funding will offset the cost of testing. Not that you want your neighborhood to get dug up and sent to an environmental dump, but of course you don't want to be living on or gardening in a superfund site either.

Same here rgreen and Wayne, I first tested our soil 15 years ago but not since. Multiple compost piles throughout the year adds organics and if I think a certain crop needs a boost I'll use a lowish 3-3-3 organic fert type amendment. Our well water is acidic but a friend saves his wood stove ash for me each winter for light supplements at times. It is good to rotate crops too. I probably should give our gardens a rest, sometimes there is 2-3 crops in the same plot within one year.

The organic 3-3-3 ferts I see around cost enough for two or three soil tests ... tests that might indicate that you don't need any 3-3-3. Just sayin ...

I pay to get a house inspected before I buy it, and the same with a used car. Why wouldn't I do that for starting a garden bed?

As mentioned, I did get the garden soil tested when we bought the house, but just like a house or car annual maintenance is required to keep it running properly. As for the cost, luckily there's a place here called "Restore" where other retailers donate their broken open products many of which are leaky bags of organic fertilizers for $1/bag. A typical $10 or $20 bag of espoma gardentone or planttone for a buck is hard to beat.

As I said, I think it is very important to get soil tested when you don't have a clue what is in the soil. As in, a new bed. There could be serious deficiencies that need remediation. Once you have a clue, go forth and prosper. To the extent it was really bad, maybe test again once you've tried to fix it. You can throw lots of dollars at the wrong fertilizers.

Annual maintenance on a bed is largely compost. But that won't fix serious nutrient deficiencies that are part of the soil chemistry.

Of course, if you're starting a new bed right next to another bed that you've already had tested, or been using successfully for years, testing is probably unnecessary. You already know the score.

That's cool about Restore. We have a Habitat for Humanity ReStore, but I've never noticed garden amendments there. Need to look more closely, maybe behind the old desks and refrigerators.

Our Restore has large containers out front where they pile the bags, not just fertz, but bird seed, rock salt, wood chips, etc, anything that comes in a bag that happens to be cut or split open, most of which are taped up. You do need to hit them at the right timing to find these bargains as they will go fast. No matter what the products are they are all just $1 each.

I really dislike it when a post gets telephoned telephoned!

I just asked where to send a soil sample since our county/state doesn't do tests and I'm planting in the ground in a new area for the first time!

I will go to the County extension office to find out! Nancy

Speaking of telephone...why not just call the extension office and save a trip/gas/time?

One of the attractions to me about an online forum is that the OP doesn't own the thread, and it can meander as it pleases! But Nancy, when you get an answer, you might post it in the California Gardening forum. There have been several similar requests there, over the years.

Well you're better than I am at searching my posts!

Huh?

I'll bite - I don't know what a "telephoned" post is but I can tell you how to easily search all your posts if you want to know.

Dave

PS: I did give you a direct link above to at least 3 labs you can call that your county ag ext recommends.

More to the point, what discussions in California gardening forum are there about soil testing? I did a search but, unfortunately, didn't come up with much. This is information that forum could probably use. A few clues in this ancient thread.

https://www.houzz.com/discussions/soil-testing-labs-dsvw-vd~1794468?n=11

Lol... I suppose the blame for 'telephoned' lies with me (if I'm thinking right, this refers to that old game where one person whispers a long sentence in someone's ear, and they whisper to another person, and so on until it 'returns to sender'. When it is finally repeated out loud, it can bear no resemblance to the original message.)

I really did not mean to cause trouble lol. I just wanted to make the case that if the test isn't readily available, or if - as one person posited - that California no longer offers tests through the University and County Extension Services, that a test is not ALWAYS necessary.

Like I mentioned above... there are some very good reasons, in some circumstances, where a test is of more value and importance than in other situations. However, it is sobering to realize that human civilization was built on agriculture. Total ignorance about how to manage land can lead to future problems, but if all you have is a small plot (some people only have a 4' X 4' bed, or even a few containers) then one should really take a sober, reasonable approach to a $100 commercial soil test!

And again, before someone challenges my opinion, I'm not saying that it's wrong to get a soil test - there are real benefits - but all one really has to do is drive around one's neighborhood if they want to see what grows well in their native soil, or get on Yelp! if they want to read reviews of locally available mediums. If you have the extra money, are having problems you can't solve, or are seeking to optimize your return, then by all means... get the test. However, if like my Great grandfather's lifetime of gardening... the soil test is not available, or is beyond your means, then just plant already lol (I'm not talking about Nancy, just in general.)

Ecc. 11: 6 - "In the morning sow your seed, and at evening withhold not your hand, for you do not know which will prosper, this or that, or whether both alike will be good."

It is well understood that the neighborhoods around me have vastly different soil than I do, and I'm unlikely to see the things I want to grow by driving around anyway. (Well, I could pay for gasoline instead of a soil test!) Great grandfathers did great without soil tests ... except when they didn't. Of course, great grandfathers also did great without motor vehicles, vaccines, and antibiotics ... except when they didn't. In fact, my neighbor's great grandfather moved out of the southeast because his cotton wouldn't grow there anymore. He called it "tired soil", and he didn't have a clue how to wake it up. If he'd had a soil test then, it would have been clear how to fix it.

As I said, my soil test is free. If it weren't, I'd be shelling out $10 for a test of a half dozen basic nutrients. I could shell out a bit more to look into trace nutrients. I'd like to believe that Californians can come up with an economical solution.

I'd like to believe that soil tests grow on trees... wait... They do! It may not be in the language that some can read, but for those of us who have learned to read the language, just passing by our neighbor's yards on our regular trips to the store can tell us a lot about the land on which we live.

Someone who gets free soil tests having the nerve to infer about those who don't have such opportunities, or who make a different choice, that they are somehow doing something wrong, or that they are in some way misdirecting their energies... oh my!

Worry about your own garden! Offer your advice if you think it's worthwhile, but please leave your arrogance out of it!

I've already stated that I, and others like me, have spent a lifetime learning about gardening, soils, supplements, etc... perhaps your neighbor's grandad could have learned from those trees about how to refresh a 'tired soil.' Wayne, above, already covered that! Did you just ignore his comment? My goodness... I hope I can be done with this exchange... sometimes it's just stupid!

Nancy, have you just tried Googling?? Typing in 'California soil testing labs' will turn up any number of local sources you can pick from. And while they are not free, they are well worth the investment to establish at least a base line from which to proceed. btw, NO west coast state's extension service offers soil testing any longer - it is all handled by independent professional labs. And they all cost :-))

I also admit to never having had a professional soil test done. I have done pH testing myself and we did some superficial soil testing in college for my soil sciences classes. But I had a smallish garden and in re-landscaping it, I brought in a lot of imported soil to even the grade and so knew I was dealing with pretty decent stuff. And I mulch everything with compost and have done for years!! I am also experienced enough to assess the growth and development of my plants - mostly garden ornamentals - and can determine myself if they need specific things. But if I had a large vegetable garden planned, a pro test would be something I'd consider.

As I said, I'd pay $10 for a soil test. I did that when I first set up these beds I have now, and I've only in the last two years had the opportunity for a free test. Nope, I haven't had my soil tested for more than a decade. But it was very useful to get that first test.

Of course, one is doing nothing wrong by not getting a soil test. Never made any such accusation. Of course, one is doing nothing wrong by gardening without a shovel or a rake, either. It's just a matter of making life easier. I'll be nervy and point out that lots of us have spent lifetimes learning about gardening, soils, supplements, etc., and I would be happy to continue this exchange.

I want to apologize to the forum members for using words that express my disdain for certain attitudes - especially using the exclamation points. While potting up a few seeds, I had a moment to reflect, and while I really do not regret reiterating my case, sometimes I find it tough to ignore when people belittle other people's choices for no good reason. I had already said that a test can be a worthwhile choice (I said it at least twice,) but that other people make different choices - specifically based on knowledge and experience, and not just ignoring the potential value of a test.

So, while I still feel 'backed up against a wall' for my choice, I suppose it wasn't intended as such. I'm not going to delete my comment, but I do offer this apology to those reading, and hope that we can all learn something.

I'm at fault too for bringing up my cheapo shopping habits ;-)

rgreen48, I see nothing in any of your comments to apologize for. Your points are apropos and well-taken :-)

rgreen48, I agree that you have nothing to apologize for. You are pointing out that soil testing may not be necessary. I was pointing out that it might be helpful. Both points of view are worth considering, especially if one is having a hard time locating a service to do it or if it is appallingly expensive. No question that if you never had a soil test, and your gardens grow fine, it makes little sense to go ahead and get one. You pretty much know what it's going to say. But when I see a new bed, where nothing has been grown before, I see a big question mark.

Can't we all just get along? ;) I've decided that since I've been composting to just add some compost to the area and give it a shot.

I'm doing a much smaller area than I had at my old place (maybe 8x8 as apposed to 7ish 4x8 raised beds)

If need be, I'm now a 25 min walk to the farmers market. 20 min walk to the Wednesday night market which also has a farmers market. Way expensive, but worth it.

Happy gardening! ;) Nancy