DIY Soil Sample Probe???

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snkeyez95
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DIY Soil Sample Probe???

Post by snkeyez95 » October 7th, 2014, 4:47 pm

Have any of you made your own soil sample probe? If so, what'd you do? I used a 12" x 1" steel pipe and hammered in the ground and it was sort of a pain in the butt.

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ken-n-nancy
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Re: DIY Soil Sample Probe???

Post by ken-n-nancy » October 7th, 2014, 5:06 pm

I think a DIY soil sample probe shouldn't be too hard to make. Below is a picture of what I purchased, which works really well, but seems like more money than it should be to buy (it was $19.50).

It seems to me that for somebody handy with metalworking, it would be pretty quick and easy to make one like the below.

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The neat thing about this soil sampler (that I didn't realize was a feature when I ordered it, so I just lucked into this) is that the lowest inch of the sampler completely surrounds the soil core. So, when one inserts the sampler 4" into the ground and then pulls the sampler back out again, the soil that was at a depth of 0 inches to 3 inches can be easily removed from the tool out the side of the sampler. The deepest inch of extracted soil stays in the sampler but can be easily pushed out with a screwdriver and into one's sample-compilation container. This makes it real easy to get a regular 1-inch long core taken from a 3 to 4 inch depth for each soil sample. (I used a sharpie to mark the 4" depth on the soil sampler.)

It took me about 30 cores to get 1 cup of soil to send in for the sample, since each core is only a half inch in diameter. However, it didn't take long to get those 30 cores, and collecting so many cores will help give a good average sample for the area being sampled.

Seems to me that cutting the slot in the side of a pipe would go a long way to making a usable DIY soil sampler. It's not quite clear to me how one would do the narrowed tip for a DIY sampler, but I'm not a metalworker.

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andy10917
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Re: DIY Soil Sample Probe???

Post by andy10917 » October 7th, 2014, 6:08 pm

A $7 bulb planter marked for 4" depth works just fine. And you can bulbs with it, too.

snkeyez95
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Re: DIY Soil Sample Probe???

Post by snkeyez95 » October 7th, 2014, 6:19 pm

Thanks for the good suggestion and tip. I thought about using my bulb planter, just wasn't too excited about putting a 3" wide hole in yard.

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andy10917
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Re: DIY Soil Sample Probe???

Post by andy10917 » October 7th, 2014, 7:19 pm

You scrape a sample off of the bottom and replace the plug. What hole?


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laadams85
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Re: DIY Soil Sample Probe???

Post by laadams85 » October 16th, 2014, 11:31 am

andy10917 wrote:A $7 bulb planter marked for 4" depth works just fine. And you can bulbs with it, too.
I've used a bulb planter and I really like it. The only problem I have had is that it was rather flimsy. I'd recommend finding a good beefy one. My local feed store has a big pogo stick looking bulb planter. Kind looks like the pro plugger that others have gotten. If you had a welder you could easily make one yourself.

I have one like this.
Image

I'm considering for next year maybe getting something like this.
Image

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greenbum
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Re: DIY Soil Sample Probe???

Post by greenbum » October 16th, 2014, 12:01 pm

I bought a bulb planter for ~$5 at the forum's recommendation. I havent used it yet but it looks like it will work fine in the spring.

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andy10917
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Re: DIY Soil Sample Probe???

Post by andy10917 » October 16th, 2014, 12:22 pm

I'm a big proponent of the bulb planter, but the truth is that I actually use a Weed Hound. There are open-claw versions and full-cup versions - the full-cup version is great for this job. Take a sample, scrape some dirt and put the grass/dirt back into the hole. No damage.

The Weed Hound is also great for planting bulbs, taking grass plugs and even (gasp!) removing weeds.

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