# Waypoint Soil Test



## Tellycoleman

I was very impressed with the soil test from Waypoint Analytical. thanks to @thegrassfactor for mentioning them to me.
*Lets start with what I like*
1) Speed- I sent the soil sample by UPS ground last Tuesday Feb 27th I sent 2 samples in ziploc bags front and side yard cost to ship$7 I received an email the next day that my package was received and to create a login. (didnt hurt that the lab was in Memphis) The soil test was done Thursday and an email was sent to me. Better than any Co-op
2) Price = the test S3M is what i ordered. It is $16.50 It included everything I wanted but does not test for nitrogen which i wanted so I had to pay $3.50 for that. If you want a soil texture test done it will cost $25.( texture tells you what type of soil you have i.e. clay -loom-sand and the percentages of each.
3) Customer service. I called them and they walked me step by step on what I needed and asked me questions about what I was wanting. A++ customer service. No phone calls answered by someone from India.
4)Via our secure Web Portal, we offer free to existing clients the ability to find old reports and invoices, track existing samples still in process in the lab with partial data being available, and new features such as the Cart Manager which allows you to graph trends by analyte(s) over a specified timeframe.

*What I didnt like* is very simple and only one thing
The website is confusing very confusing. Their are 2 different Turf and Landscape soil sample forms online.
There is nothing to tell you what you need to order or what you need. There are so many test that can be done. Soil test , Disease test of plants, water test, chemical test that you can get overwhelmed. Filling out the form is confusing.
NO Price information is even online and you don't get an invoice. 
However, with all that said, their customer service is so absolutely wonderful and they will tell you all you need to know.

Oh yeah This is my soil test. I guess I dont need P and K. I am going to apply some RGS to aid in unlocking this from my soil.

I will include how to fill out the form shortly.
Just an excellent resource


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## Mightyquinn

I just saw this on TGF's live feed and saw that you mentioned them. Looks like a great soil test!

Looks like you don't have much to do for the soil, even your Iron is high!


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## Tellycoleman

Yeah that was a surprise to me.
My last fertilizer was put down in mid September.


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## Bunnysarefat

Pretty good looking little soil test results. And that is pretty good detail on the results form. So great to know where you're at so you don't have to guess.


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## Mightyquinn

Looks like they have a lab in Wilson, NC too!


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## Ware

Tellycoleman said:


> ...but does not test for nitrogen which i wanted so I had to pay $3.50 for that...


Is this because regular Nitrogen apps are more or less a given for turf grass?


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## Ridgerunner

Ware said:


> Tellycoleman said:
> 
> 
> 
> ...but does not test for nitrogen which i wanted so I had to pay $3.50 for that...
> 
> 
> 
> Is this because regular Nitrogen apps are more or less a given for turf grass?
Click to expand...

Pretty much, for the same reasons anyway. Nitrate is very transitory (not accounting for the variations in levels due to micro-life use) so it fairly quickly moves down and out of the root zone (4-6 weeks). It's the reason the effects of N apps seem to "ware" off in about a month. Consequently, a single tested value on a soil report isn't very useful for making an application plan. To be of any real value, you'd want to create a record of monthly tested values (with corresponding tissue testing), then you could adjust monthly applications to maintain "optimal" levels. Diagnostics is another possibility, but that should also include testing ammonium N levels as well as nitrate N levels. e.g. Per PACE, nitrate N levels for turf should be about 20 ppm and ammonium levels shouldn't exceed 7 ppm, but you'd only want to get in that deep if you had really significant performance issues and you're searching for an answer before you pulled your hair out.


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## Tellycoleman

Ware said:


> Tellycoleman said:
> 
> 
> 
> ...but does not test for nitrogen which i wanted so I had to pay $3.50 for that...
> 
> 
> 
> Is this because regular Nitrogen apps are more or less a given for turf grass?
Click to expand...

That is the reason I was given for the Nitrogen
This is the correct form needed to fill out. The other form (turff landscape form) is NOT the correct form
Everything I have highlighted in yellow and red are required fields,
The red section is the test section. You have the choice of s1m or - s2m with individual test or - s3m that includes all of the s1m and s2m test. I used the s3m
The sample ID is what you name your sample,
The Intended crop code is the number under the section turf grass I picked #524.


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## Tellycoleman

To be of any real value, you'd want to create a record of monthly tested values (with corresponding tissue testing), then you could adjust monthly applications to maintain "optimal" levels. 
CRAP the quote thingy didnt work :lol: quote above from @Ridgerunner

Waypoint will do tissue testing. if you want to get that deep into the rabbit hole.
Wait i sound like a commercial.
I have no affiliation with them


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## Ridgerunner

@Tellycoleman 
Did you pay for a textural analysis or is the analysis on your report a calculation that they provide as part of the s3m package? Also, were the nutrient application recommendations part of the package or were they an additional fee?
There is a lot to like about Wayside. Price, the number of regional labs, the variety of tests available, the variety of test packages, and a great report format. I don't know a lot about Wayside's reputation as they are a pretty new entrant, but their labs were former A&L entities. The only thing I don't care for is it looks like they calculate buffer pH rather than one of the traditional extraction methods.
BTW, Thanks for the review and sharing. :thumbup:


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## Ridgerunner

Tellycoleman said:


> To be of any real value, you'd want to create a record of monthly tested values (with corresponding tissue testing), then you could adjust monthly applications to maintain "optimal" levels.
> CRAP the quote thingy didnt work :lol: quote above from @Ridgerunner
> 
> Waypoint will do tissue testing. *if you want to get that deep into the rabbit hole.*
> Wait i sound like a commercial.
> I have no affiliation with them


That would probably get your name on a "no fly" list and a stay in a padded room hotel. :lol:


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## Tellycoleman

Ridgerunner said:


> @Tellycoleman
> Did you pay for a textural analysis or is the analysis on your report a calculation that they provide as part of the s3m package? Also, were the nutrient application recommendations part of the package or were they an additional fee?
> There is a lot to like about Wayside. Price, the number of regional labs, the variety of tests available, the variety of test packages, and a great report format. I don't know a lot about Wayside's reputation as they are a pretty new entrant, but their labs were former A&L entities. The only thing I don't care for is it looks like they calculate buffer pH rather than one of the traditional extraction methods.
> BTW, Thanks for the review and sharing. :thumbup:


LOL LOL
I fly helicopters. No fly list would be no good for me.
I did pay for the texture analysis separately. in the past I did a mason jar test and everyone I ever talked to said I had heavy clay soil. So being the "wanting to see it for myself" type of person I paid for it . Surprise!! Loom soil which matches with the online tennesse soil survey.
The soil recommendation part comes with the S3M test at no additional fee. I am not sure if it comes with the S1 or S2.

For those on well water it also gives a very impressive result. I have a saltwater tank that was experiencing problems and I sent in the water sample from my tank and the source water. Results= Increase copper levels in source water which is harmless until you have 2 years of evaporation and concentration of copper.


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## Ridgerunner

@Tellycoleman Thank you.


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## Ware

Thanks for sharing Telly - I'm sending off a sample to Waypoint tomorrow. :thumbsup:


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## Pete1313

@Tellycoleman thanks for Sharing and giving your review. I found a link to this thread when going thru Ridgerunner's soil test thread. I will be giving Waypoint a try this year. :thumbsup:

I wonder if this review should get moved to the equipment or general discussions forum in case it was missed by some cool season members.


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## GrassDaddy

You stated you don't need K, but it appears to me it says to apply 1lb/k of K at the bottom? Or am I misreading? Also that's over the full season right?


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## Tellycoleman

Yes you are correct, @GrassDaddy about the K. It will get done with my first of the year starter fertilizer application.
Im trying to research alot right now about the Cation exchange capacity of the soil. But right now im still confused. I believe it has something to do with the ability of the soil to hold nutrients.
I am wondering if this is what RGS products try to improve. @thegrassfactor

If moderators feel the need to move this thread for the benefit of all grass types feel free.

The prices that I mentioned are from the Memphis lab. Some labs may have slight variations in prices (I was told)


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## thegrassfactor

+1 for memphis - 901 for life

CECs are the soils ability to retain nutrients

the N-Ext line of products are humic based. humic has a CEC of like 700. It's bananas.

What it comes down to - the more surface area a soil has, the more it self functions.


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## g-man

Potassium (K) is water soluble and will leach into the groundwater. As you add nitrogen to make the lawn grow and the weather is good, it will also draw more from the available potassium. PACE has a nice excel file that helps estimate how much your lawn could consume per month/year. For my area, I should use around 90ppm of K per year. Therefore I need to at least replace that amount if I bag my clippings. Therefore we should always need to replenish K.

Cation exchange capacity is a function of your soil structure and its ability keep nutrients with the soil. The larger the soil structure (sand), the more air between the particles and less surface area and less available cations. This means that for a lower CEC, the "faster" it will travel thru and go into the groundwater. There is not a lot you could do to change it. You could replace your soil, but that's expensive. Adding organic matter helps to increase your CEC overtime. Aerating to incorporate OM would be a good idea.

If you have a low CEC, you will benefit of more frequent applications (half rate twice a month instead of full rate ever month).

If you want to get your own excel table, https://www.paceturf.org/journal


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## Ware

Tellycoleman said:


> ...If moderators feel the need to move this thread for the benefit of all grass types feel free...


I moved it to General Discussion, but left a "shadow topic" in place in Warm Season.


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## kds

They'll do this for cool season/TTTF right?

Looks like if any values are out of range they will provide application recommendations below?


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## Ridgerunner

Tellycoleman said:


> Yes you are correct, @GrassDaddy about the K. It will get done with my first of the year starter fertilizer application.
> Im trying to research alot right now about the Cation exchange capacity of the soil. But right now im still confused. I believe it has something to do with the ability of the soil to hold nutrients.
> I am wondering if this is what RGS products try to improve. @thegrassfactor
> 
> If moderators feel the need to move this thread for the benefit of all grass types feel free.
> 
> The prices that I mentioned are from the Memphis lab. Some labs may have slight variations in prices (I was told)


Telly,
If you are still interested in CEC, I've added a much more long winded explanation on page four of this tread: https://thelawnforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=22&t=1088&start=60 than the concise but accurate explanations already given. 
Be forewarned that I haven't proofed or edited it yet, but once done I will fold it in at the very beginning of the thread.


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## Tellycoleman

@Ridgerunner awesome +1 on you explanation


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## Ridgerunner

@Tellycoleman Thank you. Hopefully the articles linked at the end will save you some search time and help explain CEC to your satisfaction.


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## Pete1313

Tellycoleman said:


> The prices that I mentioned are from the Memphis lab. Some labs may have slight variations in prices (I was told)


I am preparing to send out my soil sample in the next week so I decided to call a few labs to check the pricing on the S3M test (same test that @Tellycoleman did with recommendations).

Champaign, Illinois - $40.00
Atlantic, Iowa - $16.50
Memphis, Tennessee - $16.50

Crazy that the Illinois lab is charging over double for the same test + recommendations. If you are planning to use a different lab, call first to check pricing. For me, I plan on sending my samples to the Iowa lab.


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## g-man

@Pete1313 
I'm also going to try Waypoint. Thanks for the info in their different prices.

I'm going to try this one. https://algreatlakes.com/pages/lawn-garden-analysis It is $20 in Fort Wayne, IN.

Penn State also has a lab testing for $9 http://agsci.psu.edu/aasl/soil-testing/soil-fertility-testing

As I continue to research soil testing, it seems to make sense to go with a local good lab (See Ridgerunner thread on finding good ones). Why? They know the local soils and are using the testing methods more appropriate for that soil. In example: We (Indy/IL) tend to have high pH soils, so the test method for phosphorous is different. It *might *explain the cost difference. I keep reading and learning more and more about all these soil test. Some of labs discuss why they are or are not using the M3 vs modified morgan.

I collected my samples last weekend, I need to split it and send it to all of these. Hopefully before spring break vacation.

Edit:

I want to further clarify this. I think it is not easy to compare apples to apples between labs when our soils are different, thus the test methods are different. I think it is best to find a reputable lab that provides clear results and it is able to at least state their test method. I think this website explains it very good. http://www.spectrumanalytic.com/support/library/ff/Why_Labs_Have_Different_Soil_Test_Results.htm


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## Pete1313

@g-man, good thought on suggesting a closer lab that would know your soil better. In my case, the Iowa lab is almost the same distance away as the Illinois lab. No expert, but I also feel that my soil is similar to some of the soils in Iowa. Higher percentage of clay and quite different from the high silt soil when I lived closer to Chicago.

I have a theory about the price difference between the labs. If you look on Waypoint's About Link, Waypoint is a parent corporation of many different labs. Both IA and TN(as well as VA and NC) are all A&L labs and could explain the same cheaper price. IL is not listed, but other non A&L ones are and may be a different price.


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## Ridgerunner

When selecting a lab, accuracy and repeatability of test results is necessary to make soil testing useful.
With the vast majority of labs, that's just going to come down to a matter of reputation (although there is some expected assurance if a lab is listed as a successful participant in the NAPT/*PAP* program). That's just the situation we have and we make the call on our judgement.
As g-man mentioned, proximity to a local lab should result in that lab's familiarity with the characteristics of local soils (your soil) and which tests would be most appropriate for extraction of nutrients.
That being said, of all soil characteristics considered in determining the best tests to be employed, pH is the most important. If pH is below 7.2, Mehlich III (M3) is likely to be the test extraction method of choice these days for all of the soil nutrients. If soil pH is over 7.2 then M# will result in skewed results for some reported values. For soil's with pH above 7.2, separate tests are used to extract the base cations (K, Ca, Mg and sodium) another for the micro-nutrients and another for P so more accurate results can be obtained. If your soil test comes back and the pH is below 7, and they used M3 to extract your nutrients, you should be good to go. If it comes back with a pH above 7 and they used Ammonium Acetate to extract base cations, you should be good to go. Otherwise...
Other than that the most important thing is to find a lab and report you like and stick with them.


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## Ware

https://youtu.be/rNu42gFFazI


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## Ridgerunner

@Ware Nice video. I think you have a future in educational films. Do schools still have shop classes?  
Seriously, nice vid, I enjoy watching them. :thumbup:


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## Ware

Ridgerunner said:


> Ware Nice video. I think you have a future in educational films. Do schools still have shop classes?
> Seriously, nice vid, I enjoy watching them. :thumbup:


Thanks!

So I dropped that sample off at the post office on Saturday afternoon and Waypoint emailed me my results this morning (Tuesday). :thumbsup:

I posted them in my lawn thread.


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## Ridgerunner

That's Fast, I thought 4 days (over a weekend) was fast with Midwest and Brookside. I do like Waypoint. A lotta bang for the $.


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## Ware

Just an FYI, I received this letter from Waypoint via email today...

*Dear Loyal Client,

First, I would like to thank you for your confidence and trust in Waypoint Analytical, LLC. (WPA) all these
years. We take our role seriously as your data and solutions provider and we look forward to many
more prosperous years working for you!

I am very happy to announce that Nutrien, Ltd has acquired a significant ownership position in WPA. My
two partners, Chris Langford, Nathan Pera and I will retain a minority stake in WPA and we will remain in
our current positions as employees of WPA. WPA will continue to operate independently in its normal
course of business.

As you may be aware, WPA has been growing rapidly over the past decade through a series of
acquisitions, greenfields and organic growth. Now, with Nutrien's resources and support, WPA is
positioned to grow even more rapidly and we are now able to fully implement our strategy of building
an integrated laboratory network capable of providing truly big data to the Agricultural industry. Since
each WPA laboratory is using the same QA/QC programs, instrumentation, training, software, chemicals
and reagents, WPA is unique in its ability to provide homogeneous data that will provide the most
meaningful correlations in your Precision Ag programs.

As the Ag industry continues to integrate and implement Precision Agriculture, the demand for soil,
water and plant tissue data will increase at a very rapid pace. WPA will continue to increase its
capacities and capabilities at each of its current locations and continue to acquire quality laboratories or
build new locations as the market demands.

These are exciting times in Agriculture as new technologies are being developed to increase profitability,
sustainability, environmental stewardship and ensure food safety.

Kindest Regards,

Scott McKee
President/CEO
Waypoint Analytical, LLC.*​


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## Ridgerunner

There have been a lot of changes over the last few years. Started out as A&L (there were a number of A&L labs grouped together and a number of independent/franchise? labs (A&L Great Lakes and A&L Western, etc) too. Then a couple of years ago there seemed to be a re-grouping of A&L labs under one umbrella that about two years ago changed their name to Waypoint. Now this buy out.
https://www.thestreet.com/press-releases/nutrien-announces-agreement-to-purchase-waypoint-analytical-a-leading-u-s-agricultural-lab-and-soil-science-company-14644526
Not sure how I feel about a test lab coming under ownership by a fertilizer company, especially one from CANADA during a trade war!!!


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## Ware




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## Pete1313

Ware said:


>


I used the mobile app to submit my soil sample this year. Really easy. It generates the sample label and submittal sheet that you can email to yourself and print to throw in with the sample.


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## kds

Pete1313 said:


> Ware said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I used the mobile app to submit my soil sample this year. Really easy. It generates the sample label and submittal sheet that you can email to yourself and print to throw in with the sample.
Click to expand...

Nice. I'm going to have to do that. Should do that soon. I love that I have a WPA lab nearby.


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## bullet

Wow I actually used to live a few miles from Waypoint, and surprisingly enough, I currently work at a Environmental Laboratory! We test for Nitrogen, pH, Phosphorus, Potassium, Iron, and pretty much all other metals on ICP using method EPA 6010D. However, I don't think we participate in the NAPT program, and our reports are definitely not as pretty as Waypoint.

I'm gonna see if I can test my own lawn here at work...


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## ctrav

I have used WayPoint twice now and they will be my go to. The mobile app is very cool. I like the fact I can call with questions but g-man and Mighty Quinn have been super helpful...


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## bullet

Waypoint has a guide on their website describing the process of gathering soil samples.

http://www.waypointanalytical.com/Docs/technicalarticles/Waypoint-AF1SoilSamplingforHomeLawnsGardens.pdf

Although not as pretty as @Ware's video.


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## bullet

I just dropped off three samples yesterday to the VA location. I chose the s3m package with the additional Nitrogen test. The lady said it was going to be over $80.

I've contacted them for pricing evaluations.


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## DiabeticKripple

I sent 2 samples in. $25 for the texture test (one time thing) and $16.50 for the S3M. Came out to just over $80.

Tennessee location.


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## bullet

Okay so I got a response from Customer Support and they said...



> We have difference pricing from lab to lab. I apologize about any confusion this may have caused. Our pricing here in Richmond is $16.50 for S3M and $10.00 for Nitrates.


According to OP the Memphis pricing is $3.50 for Nitrates.


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## g-man

Testing for nitrates is kinda of pointless for most of us. Save the $30.


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## AZChemist

For those of us on the west coast the options from Waypoint are a little more expensive than those on the east coast.
From their 2 packages offered they start at $55 and $155, but goes as high as $115 and $203 depending on what you are wanting.

Everyone seems to be having good luck with them so a quart of my lawn is on its way to their Anaheim location.


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## g-man

@AZChemist just mail it to the TN location for the TN price. USPS charges the same to ship it there.


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## iowa jim

You can ship to the Iowa waypoint and get the S3M test for less than $20.00.


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## Suburban Jungle Life

$16.50 in VA.


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## AZChemist

Seems to be there better option :thumbup:


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