Air dry soil samples for more accurate results

When you collect a soil sample, do you dry it before sending it to the lab? If you do, that's the recommended method, because drying the sample (or keeping the sample at a temperature below 40 °F or 4 °C) reduces microbial activity in the soil. If the sample is not kept refrigerated until it is dried at the lab, or if it is not dried prior to shipment to the lab, microbial activity continues.

Bryan Rutter and Dorivar Ruiz…