Sampling Services to fit all cropping and budgets.
Using one of our automated sampling machines the W pattern sampling technique involves taking a sample of soil constituting 16 cores of soil from a field or from a "part field". This can help give the grower a soil analysis to help make fertiliser decisions from. The track and sample points are created using GPS which can be loaded for re-sampling purposes in future years. This technique of sampling has its limitations as it will never identify high or low areas of nutrients within a field, however by splitting the field into zones it can be useful. Useful for permanent pasture, smaller fields or for sampling for organic matter, carbon or free living nematode as examples.
The GPS spot sampling on a 100 meter grid essentially means that there is a sample taken constituting 16 cores of a soil taken within a 5 meter radius of the Quad parked in the center of a 1 ha grid.
The advantage to this over the W pattern technique of sampling is that there is a full soil analysis for each ha in the field. If therefore one has a 9.63 ha field, there would be ten sets of analysis. By plotting the analysis for each element graphically one is able to see how that particular nutrient varies across a field.
The sampling plan can be re-loaded in subsequent years when blocks of land need re-sampling, such that true comparisons can be made.
For this service the automated sampler mounted on to a UTV is used. The fields is split into 1 ha grids with the vehicle being driven across the whole 1 ha taking 16 to 20 cores to represent one soil sample. The track and sample point is stored for future reference. This has all the advantages of the GPS spot sampling with the added benefit that the soil being taken on each ha is more representative of that one hectare.
The track that the vehicle has taken can be re-loaded in subsequent years to ensure soil taken when re-sampled is taken from the same location within the field, essential for true comparisons.
Download pdf Gps Nutrient Management Soil Sampling Services
Agri-tech offers its clients a unique grid PCN sampling service with three differing intensities of sampling. Please refer to the GPS PCN Sampling page for more details.
