“We have explored the sun, deserts and fields; we now invite you to a vision of a darker world, that of the soil, of shade. Let us enjoy, all is not lost, all is not destroyed, all is not known. A future takes form in the dark world of the soil, in the liquid world of water, in the shaded world of woods.”
Biological Testing & Analysis
Let us help you understand your soil.
Not sure what your soil needs? Start with the biology.
Understanding the microbial community in your soil is one of the best ways to assess soil quality and make informed management decisions so you can make targeted improvements instead of guessing. Over time, this supports healthier plants and helps reduce susceptibility to disease and pest pressure.
Choose a test package, and we’ll help you interpret the results and explain what they mean for your soil, plants, and potential next steps.
Why a functioning soil food web is essential
A functioning soil food web is essential because soil isn’t just a growing medium. It’s a living ecosystem.
When we care for the soil community, we support the countless organisms that drive decomposition, nutrient cycling, soil aggregation, and the natural checks and balances that keep landscapes resilient. By managing soil as a complex habitat for roots and microorganisms, we create conditions for healthy soil across all landscapes, ranging from small gardens to farms to vast forests.
Strengthening the soil’s living community helps restore the ecosystem processes and services that sustain life aboveground.
A moulting nematode found in our compost. Family: Rhabditidae
A mass of fungal threads and a bacterial-feeding nematode were found in Stonecroft Farm’s compost sample. Stonecroft uses their farm-made compost to remediate compacted soils from years of intensive disturbance.
Soil Testing Packages
Choose a test package, and we’ll help you interpret the results and explain what they mean for your soil, plants, and potential next steps.
Core
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This package provides a qualitative assessment of your soil or compost and quantifies the core biological organism groups necessary for maximizing crop nutrition.
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$100 + GST per sample.
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Choose this package if:
• You want to know if your soil or compost contains the core organism groups required to support the health of your crops.
• You are generally curious about who is in your soil or compost.
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• Total bacteria (μg/g)
• Total fungi (μg/g)
• Protozoa
‒ Flagellates (ind/g)
‒ Amoeba (ind/g)
‒ Ciliates (ind/g)
• General Nematode Count
‒ Bacterial-feeders (ind/g)
‒ Fungal-feeders (ind/g)
‒ Predatory (ind/g)
‒ Plant-feeders (ind/g)
• Brief recommendations, if necessary.
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• Soil
• Compost
• Compost extract **
• Compost tea **
** Store your liquid sample in a bottle leaving 1/3 empty, and ship overnight so it arrives before noon the following day.
Comprehensive Nematode
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This package provides a comprehensive quantitative assessment of the nematode community in your soil.
Nematodes are the most abundant metazoa and vary in their environmental disturbance sensitivity.
All nematodes engage in energy transfer within the soil food web, and assessing their community is an effective way of understanding soil health. They play a significant role in ecological processes such as nutrient cycling, biological control and food security.
Nematodes that feed on plant roots cause above-ground symptoms similar to those resulting from many root injuries. Prolonged root stress caused by plant-parasitic nematodes results in yellowing and eventual loss of foliage. Plants tend to wilt more readily during drought conditions than non-infested plants. Unfortunately, this biological imbalance can often deceive growers into adding unhelpful chemicals believing that doing so will improve the problem.
This testing method takes three days to complete. Our average turnaround time is 7 - 10 business days depending on the season.
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$150 + GST per sample
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Choose this package if:
• You are actively working towards improving your soil’s structure and overall soil health and want to know if your management practices are going in the right direction.
• You suspect your soil has an imbalance of free-living versus plant-parasitic nematodes (check out the About section of this package to know more).
• You want to know if you are improving the population of higher-trophic, predatory nematodes in your soil.
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• Comprehensive Nematode Count:
‒ Bacterial-feeders (ind/g)
‒ Fungal-feeders (ind/g)
‒ Omnivores (ind/g)
‒ Predatory (ind/g)
‒ Plant-feeders (ind/g)
• Identification to Family or Genus level may be included.
• Interpretation of the data
• Brief recommendations, if necessary
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• Soil
Fungi-To-Bacteria (F:B) Ratio
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This package measures the proportion of bacteria compared to fungi in soil or compost.
Intensively managed landscapes affect the structure of soil food webs. Poor grazing management, intensive fertilizer use and reduced soil organic matter content invariably are bacterial-dominated food webs. Fungi are essential litter decomposers as they regulate the balance of carbon and nutrients. Unfortunately, extreme bacterial dominance forces fungal energy channels and organisms that depend on them to be nonexistent.
Knowing the ratio of fungi to bacteria also helps determine plant communities that will thrive in your soil.
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$50 + GST per sample
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Choose this package if:
• You want to know the ratio of fungi to bacteria in your soil or compost.
• You want to know why weeds are dominating your soil.
• You are actively working towards improving soil health and want to know if your management practices are going in the right direction.
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• Total bacteria (μg/g)
• Total fungi (μg/g)
• Total fungi:bacteria ratio
• Plant community that will likely thrive in the system.
• Brief recommendations, if necessary.
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• Soil
• Compost
Forms and Downloads
Sample Submission Form (pdf)
Collecting and Sending Samples (pdf)
“RootShoot provided me with a very easy to understand soil biology test result as well as recommendations. Excellent service and follow-up, very reasonably priced. I would highly recommend them and give them 5 Stars.”
The role of soil organisms in ecosystem processes
Soil microbes and the soil fauna play a crucial role in many ecosystem processes and are indispensable to plant productivity. Some of their more important functions are listed below.
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Soil organisms macerate and decompose plant and animal residues. Since this process has flow-on effects that impinge on most aspects of soil fertility and plant productivity, it is probably the most important function of the soil biological community.
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Soil microorganisms influence soil structure by producing polysaccharide glues that are important in the initial stages of aggregate formation. Networks for fungal hyphae bind mineral and organic particles together and contribute to the formation of macro-aggregates. The larger soil fauna act as ecosystem engineers, impacting on soil physical properties by moving or ingesting soil, or creating mounds, casts and burrows.
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Many soil organisms impact directly on plant nutrition. For example, Nitrosomonas and Nitrobacter oxidize ammonium to nitrate; Rhizobium increases nitrogen supply in a symbiotic relationship with legume roots; free-living bacteria such as Azotobacter and Clostridium contribute to the nitrogen requirements of plants by fixing small amounts of nitrogen; arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi promote the uptake of phosphorus; siderophore-producing bacteria chelate iron, thereby increasing its availability.
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When organic matter is decomposed by soil organisms, complete organic molecules are converted into simpler compounds and eventually into mineralized nutrients. During this process, some of the inorganic nutrients are immobilized (i.e. incorporated into organic molecules within living cells). Since mineralization and immobilization processes occur simultaneously, the supply of nutrient to plants and nutrient equilibrium levels in soil are governed by soil biota.
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Many soil organisms obtain sustenance from living roots. Most cause little damage, but some are important pests and pathogens.
R. Brackin, S. Schmidt, D. Walter, S. Bhuiyan, S. Buckley, J. Anderson - Soil Biological Health—What is it and How can we improve it?
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Rhizosphere inhabitants produce plant growth-promoting substances and endophytic microorganisms induce resistance to pathogens. Interactions within the soil food web (e.g. competition, parasitism, predation and antibiosis) stabilize populations of all soil organisms, including those that attack plants.
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Soil organisms help maintain a healthy environment by producing enzymes that break down pesticides, pollutants and other contaminants.
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The soil's structure, built with biotic glues, regulates hydrological flows by influencing water infiltration, drainage and storage.
Soil organisms can also detoxify water as it passes through the soil’s pore spaces.
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Soil is a massive medicine cabinet. Actinobacteria are Gram-positive bacteria that constitute one of the largest bacterial phyla, and they are ubiquitously distributed in aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems. Many have a mycelial lifestyle. They also have an extensive secondary metabolism and produce about 2/3 of all naturally derived antibiotics in current clinical use, as well as, many anticancer, anthelminthic, and antifungal compounds. Consequently, these bacteria are of major importance for biotechnology, medicine and agriculture.
Text reference: The role of soil organisms in ecosystem services (modified text) from Stirling 2014.