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Measuring Soil PH

As the summer season winds down, it is time again to start planning for next year’s crop. One of the areas to do inventory is soil fertility. Soil pH is one factor that gauges your plant nutrition status. A single ...

Sam Angima | Jan 2011 | Article

Alfalfa soil fertility and fertilization requirements

A productive alfalfa crop removes significant quantities of macronutrients and small amounts of micronutrients from the soil. A complete fertilizer program is essential to ensure a highly productive, long-lived stand.

David Hannaway, Mylen Bohle, Daniel Miles, Yitian Lin, Brianna Randow | Sep 2019 | Article

How do I test my garden soil?

Learn why you should test your garden soil and the different kinds of tests to ask for. Resources include instructions for how to collect a soil sample for testing and a short video demonstration.

Brooke Edmunds | Apr 2021 | Article Peer reviewed (Gray level)

Methods for mitigating soil erosion after a wildfire

Soil erosion following a wildfire often needs to be addressed in areas of high-intensity fires. Which method is used to minimize erosion depends on soil type, slope steepness and subsequent rainfall.

Alicia Christiansen, Wildfire Recovery group | Nov 2020 | Article

Soil pH and pasture productivity on the Oregon Coast

Producers have questioned the conventional advice to apply lime to change the pH of coastal soils. We look at one set of data on ryegrass pastures that shows the return on investment may indeed be modest.

Troy Downing | May 2009 | Article

Guide to Oregon County Soil Survey Reports

An inventory of all the different kinds of soils in many Oregon counties is available. These inventories were made starting in the 1970’s by soil scientists of the U.S. Department of Agriculture Soil Conservation Service in ...

Brad Withrow-Robinson, Debra Zaveson | Dec 2007 | Article

Soil temperature conditions for vegetable seed germination

Results of an experiment to see correlations between various vegetable seeds number of days to sprout appearance and the temperature at which they are kept.

J. F. Harrington | Apr 2013 | Article

Analyze your garden soil at home with the jar test

Learn how to do a simple test with few materials to see how much of the soil is sand, silt or clay.

Jun 2018 | Article

Using soil type to estimate potential forage productivity

Information about a pasture's soil can help maximize its production. Here's a step-by-step guide to using the NRCS Web Soil Survey website to gather soil information for specific pastures.

Shelby Filley | Aug 2018 | Article