Soil Sampling Fields with Four Types of Probes

Soil testing is a vital component of a crop nutrient management program. Field experiments were conducted to compare the time required to collect samples for soil testing using four types of soil probes. Soil sampling time on sandy loam and clay soils was reduced significantly with a cone probe compared with the straight tube and foot-pedal probes. Composite samples were collected from a 20-acre field with clay soil in 22 minutes with a cone probe compared to 38 minutes with straight tube and foot-pedal probes. The cone design saves time by reducing probe clogging and allowing 8 to 10 cores to be collected before emptying soil from the probe.