# Information RE: Soil Savvy and MySoil



## Ridgerunner (May 16, 2017)

Soil Savvy https://www.unibestinc.com/lawn-garden is based in Walla Walla Wa. and registered as Unibest International LLC https://opengovwa.com/corporation/602987099 The Governing Officers are Mark Riess and Teresa Riess. Date of incorporation was 1/23/2010.

MySoil https://www.mysoiltesting.com/termsofservice is based in Walla Walla Wa. and registered as Predictive Nutrient Systems https://opengovwa.com/corporation/604481263 The Governing Officers are Brennan Ingram and Kristopher Borgman. Date of incorporation was 7/18/2019.

Interestingly, the Governing Officers of both companies are listed as the co-inventors of a resin based nutrient testing process in patent numbers: 10408810 and 20170045488 https://patents.google.com/patent/US20170045488A1/en and https://patents.justia.com/inventor/kristopher-james-borgman

Draw your own conclusions as to what their current relationship is.

Unfortunately, these patented processes seem to have little, if anything, to do with the process either company is selling to the public as soil tests.

All soil tests measure the amount of nutrients available in the soil. This is done by subjecting a sample of the soil to an extractant that removes nutrients from the soil. Extractants can be Water, a variety of acids, or other chemicals. The established extractants (with one exception) are intended to extract the amount of nutrients needed to supply a crop (e.g. turf grass) for an entire growing season (Spring until Fall) by using strong acid extractants.
There are strict protocols for the length of time that the extractan and soil sample are to be in contact and length and rate of agitation. Once extracted, and in the extractant solution, the amount of nutrient extracted is measured using either a Color or ICP spectrometer and the results are reported in ppm. These values are meaningless unless calibrated. That is, what amount of each nutrient is needed to meet the needs of a crop for a growing season or other time period. It is also important that the amounts of nutrient fertilizer calculated as necessary for remediation of deficiencies per the test be large enough quantities for realistic application. Established testing methods (Ammonium Acetate, Mehlich I and III, Morgan, Modified Morgan, Bray I and II, and Olsen) have been subjected to thousands of studies over the last 30-70 years and the data collected has been used to develop pretty reliable target ranges for desired nutrient levels needed for a growing season that can be calculated in pounds per M for Primary and Secondary nutrients and grams per M for micro-nutrients.

The "exception" mentioned above is water as an extractant. It is used in the Saturated Paste test. Water is a very weak extractant and the result are intended to reflect the amount of nutrient available the day that the soil was removed from the field. There are protocols, with the length of time being 4 hours. Once again, thousands of studies have been conducted and the data collected has been used to develop the following sufficiency levels necessary to supply a crop with daily needs:

In ppm
P: 1-3
Ca: 40-60 (55-60%)
Mg: 8-12 (12-20%)
K: 15-20 (9-10%)
Na: <20 (8-2%)
S: 5-10
Fe: 0.3 (+ or - 0.02)
Cu: 0.08 (+ or - 0.02)
Zn: 0.08 (+ or - 0.02)
Mn: 0.1 (+ or - 0.02)
B: 0.1 (+ or - 0.02)
Soluble Salt: <960
Bicarbonates: <50

Due to changes in moisture, microbe activity, temperature and plant demand, saturated paste test levels can change dramatically, even day to day. This makes saturated paste test results less than useful for determining fertilizer application. in addition, besides the need to test daily, other than daily spray application, it would be impractical to apply the small amounts of nutrients needed to make up a "daily" nutrient indicated deficit.

Although MySoil is more open about their procedures, neither is fully transparent. Like the saturated paste test, Mysoil uses de-ionized water as an extractant. Soil Savvy implies that they use some type of very weak organic based acid (similar to the one used in the Haney test?-see @g-man 's post below) Hence, their advisory that pH results may be 0.5 lower than actual pH. MySoil states that they use a 5 day "soak" time (including the mailing period). Soil savvy, other than the period in the mail, doesn't specify the period of time the soil is in the extractant. Both use a resin capsule in the solution to collect (soak up from the extractant) the nutrients extacted. Both companies use an additional extractant to remove the nutrients from the resin capsules. The nutrients extracted from the capsules are then measured and reported in ppm. Both company's tests are most akin to a saturated paste short term test than an established crop growing season test. However, MySoil's 5 day soak period vs a saturated paste test's 4 hour soak, does report higher nutrient levels that can be used to calculated nutrient fertilizer applications in realistic application quantities.
Although both companies provide nutrient target ranges, neither company identifies studies/research that support that their recommended target values/ranges are actually calibrated to result in satisfactory crop response/growth. Importantly, how often do you need to test during a growing season and how do you calculate the amount of fertilizer to apply based on their results? Are their recommended ranges for the entire growing season or for a shorter period of time? Soil Savvy has said that you need to test prior to each fertilizer application. I've seen nothing from MySoil regarding how often testing needs to be done during the season or if their tests can be used to calculated fertilizer applications for an entire growing season. With established tests, you can test once a year and calculate the amount of nutrients needed for the entire crop growing season and there are studies supporting the efficacy of these amounts.


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## tommyboy (Aug 20, 2019)

Just curious how LCN's Yard mastery soil test ties into this. Looks exactly like Soil Savvy and is sent to Walla Walla WA.


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## Gilley11 (Nov 3, 2019)

Ridgerunner said:


> Unfortunately, these patented processes seem to have little, if anything, to do with the process either company is selling to the public as soil tests.
> 
> To be Continued....


What is your take on what they are selling to the public?


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## g-man (Jun 15, 2017)

tommyboy said:


> Just curious how LCN's Yard mastery soil test ties into this. Looks exactly like Soil Savvy and is sent to Walla Walla WA.


Yard Mastery is selling the MySoil but it is customized to provide recommendations from products sold by Yard Mastery.


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## g-man (Jun 15, 2017)

Gilley11 said:


> Ridgerunner said:
> 
> 
> > Unfortunately, these patented processes seem to have little, if anything, to do with the process either company is selling to the public as soil tests.
> ...


It looks to me that they developed the process together (patent). Likely they were working together until they split and created a new company.

More details into the tests.
https://thelawnforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=24&t=8530

And a great article ridgerunner found questioning the Haney test ( read the opinion from the USDA)
https://agronomypro.com/Haney-soil-test.pdf


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## Ridgerunner (May 16, 2017)

@Gilley11 Hope my finished post and g-man's answer your question
@tommyboy See g-man's post. Otherwise, I have no idea


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## Ridgerunner (May 16, 2017)

@Gilley11 I guess my post really didn't answer your inquiry. I wanted to keep the main body of my original post as factual and unbiased as possible. So I really tried to keep it opinion free. (meh)
My two biggest concerns with any soil test: 1. Are the results repeatable? Does repeated testing of the same sample material result in the same measurements (within the accepted standard deviation range of 5%) every time? 2. Are the target nutrient sufficiency ranges been calibrated to result in desired plant (turf) growth? Reliability and calibration require the collection of data from hundreds if not thousands of studies for the results to be valid. Neither test has provided this data or referenced said studies. There is therefor, no assurance that these tests perform as required. Show me the beef.

My opinion:

Are the pH values accurate? Soil Savvy admits (at one time anyway) that the actual soil pH can be 0.5 points higher than their reported results. Is this due to the acidity of the extraction solvent or is it due to something they use to "charge" the resin in the capsule and leaching into the liquid extractant? If it is innate to the capsule, then is the pH reported by MySoil subject to skewing too?

Soil Savvy's reported nutrient levels and target ranges are so low (hardly much higher than the results of a saturated paste test) that fertilizer applications cannot be reasonably calculated for a growing season. This requires multiple testing throughout a growing season before each fertilizer application. At $28 per test, that is a substantial cost.

The reported nutrient levels and target ranges from MySoil tests, appear great enough to indicate that they might be used to calculate fertilizer quantities for a whole growing season. That would depend on how well their target ranges correlate to plant response.

Even if these tests are repeatable and proper correlation is proven-not currently the case, I don't see any advantage to using these new and unique (given the use of the resin) over any of the long established testing methods currently available. Certainly, not from a price point perspective (e.g Waypoint testing plus mailing cost is about $26.50), and, until they provide the data and studies showing otherwise, not from an accuracy perspective.
For now, I'll dance with the one that brung me, but I'm willing to remain open minded.


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## mjh648 (Sep 1, 2020)

>over any of the long established testing methods currently available.

What are these methods you speak of?


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## g-man (Jun 15, 2017)

https://thelawnforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=24&t=1088


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## Ridgerunner (May 16, 2017)

mjh648 said:


> >over any of the long established testing methods currently available.
> 
> What are these methods you speak of?


From the first post in this thread:


> Established testing methods (Ammonium Acetate, Mehlich I and III, Morgan, Modified Morgan, Bray I and II, and Olsen)...


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## Bluegrass64 (Aug 16, 2017)

So what lab is recommend and considered appropriately accurate for reliable results for our soil?


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## Mightyquinn (Jan 31, 2017)

Bluegrass64 said:


> So what lab is recommend and considered appropriately accurate for reliable results for our soil?


Check this link out Popular Soil Fertility and Soil Testing Threads

Just FYI, this is the first post in the Soil Fertility thread and most of the other threads have something similar as they are all pinned as the 1st post. Lots of good information right there!!!


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## Ridgerunner (May 16, 2017)

Bump


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