Soil
VESS Assessment
Visual assessment of soil structure where you dig a 25x25x25cm soil spit and lay it out on a plastic bag. There may be layers in the soil so you can do the assessment on separate layers if necessary. You give the soil a structure score from 1 (good) to 5 (heavily compacted) based and record this.
Cost
When to use
Time Requirement
What will it tell me?
Farmer Pros
Farmer Cons
How to access
Download instructions and a VESS score chart from AHDB and see the resources below.
Resources
Earthworm Count
Earthworms are an indicator of soil health, being impacted by pH, waterlogging, compaction, tillage, rotation, and organic matter management. By counting the number of adult earthworms in 10 soil spits of 25x25x25cm in a field you can assess whether or not your earth worm numbers are good, moderate or poor. Based on work done by the AHDB Soil Health Partnership.
Cost
When to use
Time Requirement
What will it tell me?
Farmer Pros
Farmer Cons
How to access
Download instructions from AHDB
Nematode analysis
Nematode populations in soil can be used as indicators of healthy soil. There is 5 different tropic levels of nematode (herbivore, fungivore, bactiverous, omniverous & predatory) and if the population is balanced with similar numbers of each then the soil is likely to be healthy and functioning properly. When an imbalance occurs the soil is not functioning properly.
Cost
When to use
Time Requirement
What will it tell me?
Farmer Pros
Farmer Cons
How to access
Contact: nematology@fera.co.uk
Microresp
Microresp is for testing soil to determine microbial diversity in the soil. The test uses 25 different substrates which are included in test tubes with small amounts of soil. If there are microbes present that break down the specific substrate then CO2 is released and the amount is recorded through the colouration of agar jelly. The result quantifies microbial activity and diversity.
Cost
When to use
Time Requirement
What will it tell me?
Farmer Pros
The results are presented as the amount of CO2 released by the microbial activity in that soil. It is very interesting to compare soils with different management regimes i.e. cover crop/no cover crop or zero tilled/ploughed & power harrowed. 36 samples can be done in one analysis run so really useful if you want to compare lots of different fields, perhaps in a farmer cluster group.
Farmer Cons
How to access
Contact: sharvey@gwct.org.uk