Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
microorganisms into account. Likewise, the biological
activity of a soil can be used to determine how much compost
needs to be added.
There are two ways to measure the biological activity of soil:
respiration testing, and counting the number of earthworms.
Both methods are best used in mid-spring or mid-fall because
either extremely hot or extremely cold weather will falsely
suppress the results. The earthworm method is the easiest: a
couple of days after a good rain, using a flat spade, dig up a 1'
x 1' x 1' cube of soil from your garden, dump it into a
wheelbarrow or onto a flat piece of wood and count the
earthworms.
Counting earthworms is the easiest and least expensive
method of assessing your soil's biological activity.
Earthworm testing is the easiest (and least expensive) method
available, but there are some areas where the soil is perfectly
fine but earthworms have simply never been introduced
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or
don't thrive for some other reason. In those cases, soil
