Proper soil biology is an essential element in a thriving productive landscape. The microorganisms living in healthy soil willingly provide a host of services that humans have been trying to replicate with poor results during our modern farming era. Functions such as, building soil structure, water holding capacity, nutrient cycling, carbon sequestration, and pest and disease prevention.
Every plant or tree prefers a specific optimal ratio of bacteria, fungi, protozoa, and nematodes to produce at it’s best. In cases where these soil microbe ratios are not optimal, lacks appropriate diversity or is missing elements altogether, the plant cannot reach it’s genetic potential.
Dr, Elaine Ingham and the Soil Foodweb Institute have provided us with the methodology for identifying and quantifying soil microorganisms as well as optimal soil microbe ratios for trees, shrubs, crops, compost, compost tea and more. This info was born from over 30 years of improving soils and crop health research and our entire team has been trained by Elaine Ingham herself.
Testing soil biology provides us with a blueprint of where your soil is currently, the data allows Ecology Artisans to make recommendations in order to optimise your soil for your specific plants, trees or crops. We do this in 1 of 2 ways, our basic soil biology overview or our Complete in-depth analysis.
Basic $100 per sampleThis test allows us to determine the presence or absence of fungi, bacteria, amoebae, flagellates and ciliates. After prepping the soil sample we turn on the camera and record a short video explaining what we see happening in your soil. This test will give us a good overall grasp on what is happening with the basic biology.
Complete $200 per sampleThis test provides an in depth, detailed account of the entire foodweb in your soil or compost. This test is carefully counted and quantified then compared to optimal ratios. This test includes endo and ecto mycorrhizal colonization, nematode count and identification, amount of plant available nitrogen.