Instructions for Soil Sampling Home Lawns, Gardens, Fruits, and Ornamentals

Go to: ANRLIMS.COM

Set up your account using your email address.

On the left side of the screen, click “Start Here” for detailed instructions to create a profile and submit soil samples for testing.

Instructions for taking a soil sample: See back.

Payment options: Enclosed check, money order, cash, and any voucher you may have. Or pay by credit card @ ANRLIMS.com ($10.00 Routine, $4.00 Organic Matter, $2.00 Salts).

If no printer: Use this form.

Payment and Mailing Instructions:

Make check or money order payable to “Treasurer, Virginia Tech.” Do not send cash by mail.

Please send this form along with payment, together with the corresponding sample, in the same shipping container to:

Virginia Tech Soil Testing Lab

145 Smyth Hall (MC 0465)
185 Ag Quad Ln
Blacksburg, VA 24061

Important

For test results to be meaningful, use extreme care when taking soil samples. Each sample represents many tons of soil in your lawn or garden. Test results cannot be any more accurate than the sample submitted to the laboratory. Do not take samples when the soil is extremely wet.

Sampling Instructions:

Divide your lawn or garden into sampling areas. Each area should be uniform in soil type and in the past fertilizer and lime treatments it has received. For example, use separate samples (areas) for the front and back lawns. For shrubs and trees, select an area from the trunk to the outer edges of the branches. Take a separate sample from each area as shown in the diagram below. 

Use the following procedure for each sampling area:

A – Take samples with a trowel, shovel, spade, or auger. Make a vertical cut 4" deep for lawns, or to plowing depth for gardens, and push the soil aside. Then cut a thin slice from the side of the opening that is of uniform thickness, approximately 2" in width, and extending from the top of the ground to the depth of the cut. Scrape away or discard any surface mat of grass or litter and place the soil slice into a clean bucket or other container. Follow this sampling procedure in 10 or more different locations within each sampling area, placing the resulting soil in the same container each time to create a composite sample.

B – Thoroughly mix the soil from the composite sample, then fill the sample box to the top with the mixture. Fill in the information requested on the side of the sample box (including sample number), complete the other side of this sheet, and send the sample, sheet, and payment directly to the Soil Testing Laboratory.

For additional sampling instructions, go to www.soiltest.vt.edu. 

Reviewed by Courtney McCombs, laboratory manager, School of Plant and Environmental Sciences.

Reviewed by Ethan Frederick, ICP Spectroscopist, School of Plant and Environmental Sciences.