John Breker

Winter Soil Sampling: You Need the Right Tools

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Snowfall in late October and November slowed harvest and soil sampling across the region. This means some fields will be soil sampled in December and maybe January as harvest for late-season crops continues in the snow.

The right equipment is the key to any project, and winter soil sampling is no different. AGVISE heavy-duty (HD) chromoly soil probes were designed for hard, frozen soil conditions. Chromoly steel is much tougher than stainless steel, and it handles the stress of sampling frozen soil. To punch through several inches of frost, you will also require additional weight. Most soil sampling trucks have the hydraulic cylinder mounted inside the truck cab, where you can take advantage of the entire truck weight to push through the frost. This enables you to take soil samples through 4 to 6 inches of frost on most medium- and fine-textured soils in winter. For receiver hitch-mounted hydraulic cylinders, you will need to add extra weight in the truck box, and it may limit you to pushing through only 1 to 3 inches of frost.

AGVISE offers wet and dry soil probe tips for the HD chromoly soil probe. The wet soil probe tip is best suited for frozen soils. The HD chromoly soil probe is available with or without a slot.

You can view examples of in-cab and receiver hitch-mounted hydraulic soil sampling systems on our website (https://www.agvise.com/installed-soil-sampling-kit-examples/). You can also find videos of soil sampling in frozen soils with the HD chromoly soil probe and wet soil probe tip.

John Lee

Probe stuck in the ground? Don’t let it wreck your day.

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If you have ever had a soil probe come off while in the ground, you have experienced a rare but stressful event!

A customer recently called with this situation and a success story about how he recovered the soil probe “MacGyver” style.  I think his solution involved barb wire, duct tape and some chewing gum.  While a soil probe with quicktatch collar can come off the roll pin on the cylinder shaft, it is very rare.  If you have had that happen to you, you may have used a shovel to dig the probe out or pulled it out with some other MacGyver device you created.  In the winter with frozen soil, your options are more limited.  We wanted to give others who may experience this rare event an idea to create your own “probe puller” if this happens to you.  The materials you need are an extra quicktatch collar, snap pin or small bolt, short chunk of light chain, and another bolt with two nuts.   Here are some pictures to show you the probe puller we “MacGyvered” with stuff laying around the shop (sorry no duct tape or chewing gum involved).  I am sure several of you may have come up with even simpler/better designs for this life-saving device.  We would love to see other designs to share with customers who need to create a device that will save the day for poor samplers who find themselves in this situation!

John Lee

Preparing for Spring Soil Sampling

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Even when fall soil sampling weather cooperates, there is always some soil sampling to do each spring. No matter the spring conditions, the soil sampling window is tight if you are planning to collect soil samples and get the soil test results back in time for spring fertilizer decisions. You will want to pull soil samples before the field will carry a pickup truck, without leaving deep ruts, to maximize the spring soil sampling window. Your soil sampling rig choices are usually walking the field with a hand soil probe or using an ATV/UTV.

Over the years, many creative clients have outfitted UTVs with hydraulic soil sampling equipment to collect 24-inch soil cores in the spring. This has allowed soil samplers to get into a field about one week before it could carry a pickup truck. It is a big deal if you can get soil test results back one week sooner in the spring!

It is fairly simple to rig a UTV with the receiver hitch-mounted hydraulic soil sampling system kit. All you need to build is a wooden box to hold the electric-hydraulic power unit and a large starter battery. The hydraulic cylinder is mounted on a channel iron, which simply attaches to the receiver hitch. A large starter battery has enough charge to complete a good day of soil sampling without a recharge. Just make sure you put the battery on the charger overnight.

Some clients have created hydraulic soil sampling systems that can be quickly added and removed from a pickup truck box or UTV. It is a quick and easy add-on for the couple weeks of spring soil sampling that you may do. If you want some simple designs for self-contained soil sampling systems that can be removed in 10 minutes or less, these are some examples to consider.

 

Once the soil sample is collected, the next step in successful spring soil testing is getting them analyzed ASAP. AGVISE Laboratories knows that every spring soil sample is a rush, and our normal turnaround time is next-day (24 hours after soil sample is received). If you need any soil sampling equipment or supplies, we have everything in stock to ensure you get spring soil testing completed on time. We know spring soil testing can be stressful, but we hope to make it easier with the right soil sampling equipment and the reliable soil testing services that AGVISE has provided since 1976.