If, despite careful care, nothing in your garden thrives, it may be due to the soil quality. Now a nutrient analysis is in order!
Even with a lot of experience, it is not always easy for a hobby gardener to correctly assess the realistic nutrient supply in the soil. Despite good light conditions and actually good type of soil, plants take care of themselves or even get diseases. A lack of nutrients is not the only possible reason.
Nutrients can also harm your plants
The most important nutrients your plants need to develop and grow are phosphorus, magnesium, potassium and nitrogen. You can add these to your plants by adding fertilizer.
Tip: So that your plants can absorb the nutrients, the soil must have a certain pH value. In most cases this is between 7 and 8.
But be careful not to give your plants too much fertilizer. This will damage your plants more than you might think. Phosphorus and potassium accumulate in the soil - more with each application of fertilizer. If the critical amount of phosphorus and potassium in the soil is exceeded, plant growth is inhibited.
And an oversupply of nitrogen also has a negative effect on the development of the plants. As a result, the plant produces too many amino acids and proteins and no longer has enough strength to form strengthening tissue. Consequences can be growth that is too fast, leaves and sprouts that are too soft and unstable, or the plant can become overgrown.
Soil analysis provides clarity
A soil analysis is a good way to find out why your plants are not wanting to thrive. The Agricultural Testing and Research Institutes, LUFA for short, carry out the analyses.
After the analysis, you will receive an evaluation with reliable information on the type of soil, the nutrient content and the pH value. Based on this, you will also receive specific fertilizer recommendations and possibly also a recommendation for treating the soil with lime. This is necessary when the soil is too acidic.
If you are doing a soil analysisIf you would like to have this carried out, you can contact the VDLUFA in Darmstadt. There you will receive all the important information about the process and the costs of a nutrient analysis. Soil analysis is always useful between autumn and the following spring.
Take soil sample
If you would like to have your soil analysed, it is necessary to take several soil samples in the area in question. The rule here is that
you should take 20 samples per 100 m². Make sure that you always take the sample from the entire root zone. For a lawn you would have to go about ten centimeters deep, in the vegetable or perennial bed around 30 centimeters and for fruit trees around 60 centimeters.
Once you have taken all the samples, mix them well and remove any plant remains. About 500 grams are sufficient for soil analysis
Tip: Since nitrogen is very mobile, the concentration in the soil varies enormously. If you want to have the nitrogen content in the soil analyzed, you must freeze the sample immediately and send it to the soil laboratory in this state.