The Example Soil Test Reports covered in this section are in the same format that you'll receive from the University of Minnesota Soil Testing Laboratory. One example contains recommendations for an established perennial fruit crop (grapes), and the other example contains recommendations for three annual vegetable crops: sweet corn, cabbage, and tomatoes. The reports cover two very different situations and our discussion of them should be helpful in understanding your own report, no matter what crops you are growing. You will probably find it helpful to open the Example Reports and print copies, so that you can refer to them as we go through the various sections. Example Soil Test Report – Grapes (PDF), Example Soil Test Report – Vegetables (PDF)
There are five sections in a University of Minnesota Soil Test Report. We will go through them in the order they appear on the report:
The Header, INTERPRETATION OF SOIL TEST RESULTS, SOIL TEST RESULTS, and RECOMMENDATIONS sections are on the first page of the Soil Test Report . The Comments and Notes section is included as page 2 of the Example Report for grapes. It lists 25 explanatory comments that may be noted by number in the RECOMMENDATIONS section. There is also a separate document, “Notes for Horticultural, Turf, and Wild Rice Crops”, that is sent to growers of these crops. Those additional 16 Comments may be referred to by number in the RECOMMENDATIONS section as well. For this exercise you can access the Comments and Notes pages and print copies at: Notes for Horticultural, Turf, and Wild Rice Crops (.doc)