Soil testing can help you learn more about your soil, including levels of lead and other metals. Testing is especially helpful if the results can help answer a question that will inform your next steps. Sometimes it makes sense to skip the testing step and focus on healthy gardening practices instead.
Our FAQs can help you decide if testing your soils is likely to be helpful.
If you decide to test your soils, think about the questions that the results can help answer. You can then use that idea to help guide your sampling plan — there is no one sampling strategy that is best for every situation.
A few things to remember:
- Keep your questions, goals, and budget in mind.
- It’s best to have more than 1 soil sample. Levels of lead and other soil properties can be very different across a site, or even in a small area.
- Composite (or combined) samples are often a useful way to sample a larger area.
- Check with the lab where you’ll be sending the samples to find out if they have any specific instructions.
Key resources and services for soil testing:
- The NY State Department of Health Environmental Laboratory Approval Program provides a searchable database of certified labs. Using a certified lab is important when testing has implications for public health or may be used in legal proceedings. Commercial labs may also offer additional tests or services not available through college or university labs or soil screening events.
- The Urban Soils Lab at Brooklyn College offers lead screenings and tests for other soil properties (pH, salt content, organic matter content, nutrients, texture).
- The Cornell Soil Health Laboratory offers several soil health analysis packages. The properties measured vary with each package, but include parameters like pH, organic matter, nutrients, wet aggregate stability, carbon, nitrogen, hardness, and more. Please note: Cornell is not currently offering heavy metals testing.
- The Cornell pH test kits are no longer available. As an alternative we recommend commercially-available test kits such as this Soil pH Test Kit from Lamotte (also available from Grainger and other sources).
- University labs in other states offer a variety of testing packages as well.
- New for 2024 – New York State Community Gardens Soil Testing Program: The NYS Department of Agriculture and Markets invites eligible organizations to apply for community garden soil testing. A total funding amount of $40,000 is available to process up to 800 soil tests.
- The DairyOne Soil Laboratory offers a variety of testing packages for nutrients, pH, and other soil properties.
- For more general information on testing and understanding results, please also see our “Guide to Soil Testing and Interpreting Results.” Cornell Waste Management Institute fact sheet. 6 pg (PDF), April 2009.