Time for Testing

Date: 17 Nov 2020
Author: Hill Laboratories

Summer through autumn is the period when astute growers take control of their own destiny and carry out leaf testing to mitigate the potential risk of nutrient deficiency in their crops. If you ask Canterbury farmer Eric Watson (two-time Guinness World Record holder for wheat yield) the secret to his success, he will tell you that monitoring the crop is key.

Testing plant samples of your high-value crops ensures that your orchards or arable crops are yielding at the plant's full potential. Optimising plant nutrition has benefits not only in yield, but also in quality and disease resistance.

Plant analysis is a valuable diagnostic and monitoring tool that should be used to complement soil analysis. A soil test shows what soil nutrients are available to the crop, while a plant test shows what nutrients the crop has absorbed. A plant test will provide measurement of all the essential major and trace elements – and removes the guesswork.

Plant analysis can be used in two ways:

Routinely monitor nutrients to help sustain optimum levels and thus avoid nutritional disorders that may impact crop yield.
Identify nutrient deficiencies, toxicities or imbalances when crops appear to be under performing.

Whether it be for arable, fruit or vegetable crops Hill Laboratories has a range of Crop Guides available to show what part of the plant to sample and what tests are recommended. Along with this eligible customers who have been onboarded to the Hill Laboratories mobile sample submission app, can use the sample type wizard to select the correct sample type for a particular growth stage of their crop. This means the interpretive histogram range reported will be appropriate for the crop growth cycle.

The laboratory strongly recommends seeking the assistance of a trusted advisor to guide decisions around nutrient management and crop health.

Contact one of our customer service managers to find out more.