National Landcare Program: Smart Farms Small Grant – Fruit Growers Victoria
Introduction to Soil Analysis, Interpretation and Recommendations for Fruit Production:
Fruit Growers Victoria (FGV) are pleased to support this grant undertaking a range of soil analysis and extension to assist in interpretation of soil analysis results. These will assist growers understand their soils and consider ways to improve efficiency in fruit yield and quality.
The goal of soil analysis is to inform nutrient resources to assist in determining soil and plant management for the environment and crops grown. Soil and plant analysis are accurate ways to determine nutrient needs and the characteristics of the soil that support crop growth.
It is important to recognize that the values obtained when a soil sample is analysed are of little use as raw analytical data. In order to make use of the values in predicting nutrient needs, the test must be calibrated by conducting nutrient response research under local conditions.
The purpose of this series of FACTSHEETS is to provide a basic explanation of each of the parameters provided on your soil analysis report to aid understanding of the influence of the parameter, and provide reminders to assist growers, based on the analysis conducted in the project, how to determine constraints and also where improvements can be made.
The aim of this series of FACTSHEETS is to provide a practical resource for local reference, rather than an all-inclusive report on each parameter in the analysis. They will focus generally on the soils analysed in the Grant Program for Goulburn Valley, Yarra Valley and Cobram regions.
Each line item on the soil analysis report has decades of extensive research to support the laboratory methods through to discussion on each line item and the interpretation and use of recommendations. An additional FACTSHEET of References and Bibliography will be provided as further resource for growers, along with a FACTSHEET of images and infographs that will support learning.
Fact Sheets are available for download below.
Fact Sheet 2 - Cation Exchange Capacity
Fact Sheet 3 - Soil Organic Matter and Fertility
Fact Sheet 4 - Soil Physics, Texture and Structure
Fact Sheet 5 - Subsoils and Nutrition Influence
Fact Sheet 6 - Sampling and Data Collection
Fact Sheet 7 - Your Target Numbers Your data
Fact Sheet 8 - Demonstration Plots
