When you go to a new doctor, typically, they conduct tests to establish a baseline before they start prescribing you any type of medicine. Similarly, as a lawn care company, you should conduct soil tests with new clients so you can better prescribe a program that best fits their soil conditions and desired results.
“How could you know to put down the right amount of product at the right time?” says Brad Leahy, vice president of Blades of Green, based in Edgewater, Maryland. “I think soil tests are just essential for that, and also they elevate the experience for the client. I think soil tests make us all look more professional. It’s where the science really meets our service.”
The Value of Soil Tests
Aside from serving as a differentiator from other competitors in your market, soil tests can help give you insights into the variances between properties.
“Traditionally, native soils are inherently similar by region,” says Brad DeBels, director of operations with Weed Man, based in Iowa City, Iowa. “However, all of that can change with residential construction and how soils are moved or altered during that process.”
Leahy says in some cases they’ve found a property may have a different soil profile in the front yard versus the back yard. This typically happens when basement communities are being constructed and the builder takes the clay soil and spreads it around the property. In some cases, builders sell off the topsoil and leave behind poor soil with no micronutrients in it.
“We have all these different variations, so it definitely leads us to regional, very specific little areas,” Leahy says. “A town will have really good soil and the next town right next to it, might be five miles away and closer to the water, has terrible soil.”
When they test, Leahy says they take at least six samples from around the yard. They will do a separate soil test if one area looks like there is something particularly wrong with it.
“Soil tests are just one of the many tools in an LCOs toolbelt,” DeBels says. “Combine this with visual observations, like color and growth rate, and you can provide homeowners with the best product possible.”
Leahy adds that soil tests help you be more environmentally conscious and put down the exact right amount of product.
“I think we owe it to our customers to show them the science behind what we do and elevate our service to be as professional as possible,” Leahy says. “From a business standpoint, you’re missing out on opportunities to improve that lawn as well as grow your business at the same time and differentiate yourself from the competition that isn’t using science to make sure they’re making good decisions.”
Timing of Soil Tests
DeBels says that soil tests only need to be conducted every couple of years, but Leahy opts to do soil tests annually as they collect the data and can provide tangible evidence of how their company has slowly been improving a client’s soil.
Leahy says it can be a great advertising opportunity where you provide a soil test for free the first year.
“I know a lot of people are afraid to do it because they don’t want to charge for it and increase the overall yearly cost to the customer,” Leahy says.
Blades of Green shares the results of the soil test with their customers with a color-coded bar chart so they can easily see if they are in the optimal range or if they have any deficiencies.
“We’re not putting down products that don’t need to be put down,” Leahy says. “If I were putting down potassium, then I’d be raising the level too high and hurting the grass without even knowing it. That’s why I think everybody should be doing it because you need that baseline once a year.”
As for when in the year to conduct soil tests, DeBels says that spring and fall are ideal because you can create a plan for the growing season. Soil tests can be collected any time of the year as long as the ground isn’t frozen.
Leahy says they like to do theirs in late winter or early spring. He says this time is ideal for his company because it keeps their crews busy when there’s not as much to do.
“That gives us time to get the test done, get the results and get a hold of the customer if there’s an adjustment that needs to be done before we get too far into the season,” Leahy says.
He advises giving yourself time as it does take time to do the tests, get the results, analyze them and then provide a recommendation to the customer. He says it takes them about two weeks to get the results back, and they send hundreds of samples a week to Spectrum Analytic.
“If you go down this road, make sure your communication is really good with the customers because they can overwhelm your staff if you’re not prepared to do this,” Leahy says. “If you try to do it in the middle of the spring when you’re super busy, the technicians don’t want to do it, and you get bad tests because they’re doing them fast.”
Common Soil Test Results and Response
Common soil test results will cover the soil pH, cation exchange capacity, potassium and phosphorus. Leahy says the most often issue they encounter are soils that are too acidic or soil with low amounts of organic matter.
Leahy says once they have the soil test results, it’s always an option for the client whether they want to pay for the additional services to have their lawn at its optimal condition.
“The way we explain it is you need a little boost,” Leah says. “You need something and it’s pretty rare that somebody doesn’t do it. It’s pretty high that they do it because it’s right there; it’s done by a scientific lab, showing you’re low in this and this.”
DeBels says that soil testing labs often provide interpretations of the results along with other resources. He says that lime can be applied to acidic soils, while basic soils can be treated with ammonium sulfate, sulfur or other acidifying products. Typically, it takes a significant amount of time for changes in the soil to take place.
Leahy says the only time a soil test will be inaccurate is if you do the test wrong and don’t follow the instructions for collecting the samples.
“If you’re not using science to run your business, then what are you doing?” Leahy says.
