The order form is your order. There is one per laboratory – choose according to the package you want. Send in the English form and your report comes in English (the report language can also be chosen on the form).
For Soil Balancing Standard, Premium and the combination Soil Balancing + Haney. Tick Haney on the form as well – AGROLAB splits the sample.
Send to: AGROLAB Agrar GmbH · Breslauer Straße 60 · 31157 Sarstedt · Germany
For Haney alone and Haney + total digestion. Tick total digestion on the form.
Send to: Institut für Agrar- und Umweltanalytik · Querfurter Straße 9 · 06632 Freyburg/Unstrut · Germany
All three analyses in one order (Soil Balancing + Haney + total digestion) will be available from the launch of the Mineral Balancing Tool. There you will generate the order form straight from your entries – the sample is then matched to your data automatically. Sampling instructions as a PDF: download.
One composite sample represents a whole field. These six points decide whether the report is right.
Possible all year round. Best: spring before the first fertilisation or summer/autumn after harvest. At least 3 weeks after the last fertilisation, soil workably moist. For Haney also 2–3 weeks after tillage – and bear in mind that microbial activity is weather-related lower in dry spells and winter cold.
Stainless-steel auger or spade, clean bucket, 2–3 l zip bags, waterproof marker. No galvanised tools (zinc!) and no gloves that touched fertiliser.
Evenly across the field in a zigzag. Keep away from field edges, headlands, clamp and storage sites, tracks. Split fields over 5 ha or with visibly different soil.
Arable about 0–20 cm. Grassland and shallow soils 0–10 cm. Always the same depth for all cores – and note it on the order form.
Mix all cores well in the bucket, remove stones and plant residues. About 600 g per sample, about 1 kg for the combination Soil Balancing + Haney.
Bag with number, name and field name – exactly as on the order form. For Haney, prick a few needle holes into the top of the closed bag so the microbes can breathe. Ship immediately, do not leave in the sun. Enclose the signed order form.
Soil Balancing + Haney together (€291.50 net). That gives you nutrient ratios, lime requirement, soil biology and N supply in one report. If you want to know the reserves, add total digestion – for now that means a second sample to IAU. The package finder helps you choose.
One composite sample per uniform area. Split fields over 5 ha or with visible differences (texture, growth, yield) into sub-fields – each its own sample. Exactly these sub-fields are compared on the last page of the report.
Arable 0–20 cm, with permanently shallow tillage 0–10 cm, grassland 0–10 cm. What matters is the same depth for all cores and all years – and that the depth is on the order form, because the kg/ha values depend on it.
About 600 g per sample. About 1 kg for Soil Balancing + Haney, because the lab splits the sample. Close the bag tightly – for Haney then prick a few needle holes into the top.
Mineral fertiliser, slurry, manure, lime: at least 3 weeks. For the Haney test also 2–3 weeks after tillage – otherwise you measure the tillage effect. Please note liming of the last 3 years on the order form.
Usually 3–4 weeks after the sample arrives, occasionally longer. The report comes as a PDF by e-mail to the address on the order form – together with the invoice from BodenBalance. Questions about it are included in the price.
Yes. For Soil Balancing the season hardly matters. The Haney test measures living soil biology – in dry spells or cold winter temperatures activity is weather-related lower; for year-on-year comparison, always sample in the same season. Autumn is a good choice while the soil temperature is still above 6 °C: the report is then ready before the first fertiliser measures in spring. In high summer keep cool and ship quickly.
If the budget allows: Premium. Cobalt matters with legumes in the rotation (N fixation), selenium for livestock farms that want to prevent deficiencies, and molybdenum for nitrate reductase – a good Mo supply improves N efficiency and prevents nitrate accumulation in the leaf, a contributor to pest pressure.
The cation exchange capacity is measured, not calculated – potential according to DIN ISO 13536 (BaCl₂) and effective via Mehlich-3 and ammonium acetate. A wrongly determined or merely calculated CEC leads to wrong base saturations and thus wrong lime and fertiliser amounts. The LUFA standard analysis is also included (no second sample needed), and the report evaluates the balance of all nutrients, not just Ca : Mg. Interpretation, fertiliser recommendation and follow-up advice are included in the price.
To start with, the “problem fields” and one good field for comparison are enough. Once the measures are understood and the first results show, the other fields follow – the field comparison in the report works from two samples.
If the nutrient balance in the report is below 30 %, we recommend Soil Balancing again 2–3 years after the first measures – large corrections act less predictably because of many environmental factors. From 50 % balance a check 5–7 years after the measures is enough. Haney annually to fine-tune the main crop – see the timeline on the home page.
BodenBalance – Kohls GbR, by e-mail together with the report and fertiliser recommendation to the address on the order form. The laboratory does not invoice you separately.
Every sample numbered, name + field name waterproof on the bag
Bag closed tightly, about 600 g (combination 1 kg) – Haney: needle holes at the top
Order form complete: depth, region/country, crop, liming, e-mail
Desired analysis ticked for each sample and signed
Right lab address – green AGROLAB, purple IAU
