Soil Testing Kits Available in the Demonstration Garden

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Do you need soil testing kits? Currently, community members can pick up a soil testing kit outside our office in the Demonstration Gardens. After you pick up a kit, take it home, collect your soil, and mail it to Raleigh for analysis! Read on for details.

We have set up a station for picking up soil testing kits in our Demonstration Garden. The kits include 3 items:

To pick up your kit, visit our office at 1450 Fairchild Rd, Winston-Salem, NC 27105. Drive to the east end of our parking lot. Kits are available in the brochure holder below our Demonstration Garden sign. Please close the lid to protect the papers from the weather!

After you collect your soil samples, you will need to mail them to the N.C. Department of Agriculture and Consumer Service’s soil testing lab in Raleigh – see your form for the address. Please note that from April through November, there is no fee for soil samples collected in North Carolina. From December through March, the fee is $4 per box.

The NCDA will email you the soil test results. If you can’t find that email, use this website to search for your soil test. If you need help interpreting a soil test report, contact your local Extension agent.

***If you do not use the paper form, you can also enter your soil testing data online and then print the form to include with your boxes instead of hand-writing the form. See the instructions on the NCDA&CS website or continue reading. Visit the NCDA&CS Public Access Laboratory Systems or PALS website. Either create a new account or log into an existing one. Then you can enter your information.

  • For soil samples, leave the defaults set to soil and predictive.
  • You can Click “Add Consultant to Report”, type the last name of the Appropriate Agent, a comma and their first name, then click on their name in the menu.
  • In the sampled in Box:
    • Select the county the samples are from
    • List the sample date
    • Put in the total number of samples that you are submitting for this round of testing.
    • Check the attestation.
  • If you are sampling a lawn, landscape, or home garden, check that box.
  • Click the Process button.
  • In the new screen, list your sample id (whatever you call the field or area that you sampled)
  • Click the drop-down box next to crop code and select the best code for what you want to raise. (E = establishment or planting new   M = maintenance)
  • Enter a second crop code if you may plant an alternative crop
  • List any lime that has been applied to this area in the previous 12 months in order to receive credits.
  • Click the submit samples button.
  • Print the form and include it with your samples.
Demo Garden sign with soil test kits