A standard soil test measures nutrients. It cannot tell you whether your soil can deliver them.
Quick Answer: A biological soil assessment tells you which organisms are living in your soil, compost, or compost tea, and in what numbers. It is different from a chemical soil test. A chemical test tells you which nutrients are present. A biological assessment tells you whether anything is alive to cycle those nutrients to your plants. You mail us a sample, we examine it through the microscope, and you get a full report with recommendations.
Closer Look: Nutrients in soil are mostly locked up until biology releases them. Bacteria and fungi mine nutrients out of organic matter and hold them in their bodies. Protozoa and nematodes eat those bacteria and fungi, and release the nutrients right at the root, in the form plants can take up. No biology, no delivery. You can have a soil test full of nutrients and still have hungry plants.
A biological assessment looks at that system directly:
Microbial health and diversity. Which organisms are present, in what numbers, and whether the groups are in balance with each other.
Weaknesses and imbalances. Missing predators, absent fungi, anaerobic conditions, or an overabundance of the organisms associated with disease.
Targeted amendments. Once you know what is actually missing, you can choose the right amendment instead of guessing. That means less wasted money on inputs that were never going to fix the problem.
Better resource management. Biology builds soil structure. That structure creates a soil sponge that holds water and nutrients right at the root zone, which reduces what you need to spend on fertilizer, water, and pesticides.
Plant resilience. A robust soil microbiome supports plant resistance to disease, pests, and drought stress. Building the biology is indirect plant protection.
A basis for decisions. You move from guesswork to data. You can also retest later and see whether what you did actually worked.
Every assessment includes a written report emailed to you, covering:
Bacteria. Whether bacterial populations are strong, adequate, or poor, and what shapes and forms are present.
Fungi. Whether beneficial fungal hyphae are present, and whether the strands are robust or thin and weak. Fungi are the most commonly missing group in cultivated soil, and their absence is usually the most important thing we find.
Fungal to bacterial balance. Where your sample falls on the range from bacterial to fungal, and how that compares to what you are actually growing.
Protozoa. Whether flagellates, amoebae, and ciliates are present and in what relative numbers. High ciliate numbers are a warning sign we will flag directly.
Nematodes. Whether beneficial bacterial-feeding and fungal-feeding nematodes are present, and whether root-feeding nematodes are showing up in your sample.
Aerobic or anaerobic status. Whether your soil or compost has oxygen and functioning aerobic biology, or whether anaerobic conditions have taken hold.
Microscope photographs. At least 4 labeled High-resolution images from your actual sample, showing the organisms we found, or documenting their absence. These give you a visual baseline you can compare against when you test again later.
Interpretation and recommendations. What the findings mean for what you are growing, and specific, practical steps for what to do next. This is the part that makes the rest of it useful.
Findings are reported as rankings rather than exact counts. In practice, knowing that fungi are poor and ciliates are high tells you what to do just as clearly as a decimal would, and it gets your report back to you faster.
1. Purchase your assessment. Click the Buy Now button below to begin.
2. Fill out the submission form. After purchase you will be sent to a page with the assessment form. Fill in as much detail as you can. More detail means a more useful report. Use the notes section for anything about your soil, your growing conditions, or your site history that would help us read your sample correctly.
3. Check your email. You will receive a confirmation email with full sampling instructions. The sampling guide is available in two places: on the form page and in your confirmation email.
4. Take your sample. Follow the instructions for your sample type. Label the bag on the outside with your name, the sample name, and the date.
5. Mail it to us. Send it so it reaches us quickly. Biology does not wait.
6. Get your report. We will email you a complete report with recommendations within 7 to 10 business days of receiving your sample.
Questions at any point? Call or email. We will walk you through it.
1. Purchase your assessment. Click the Buy Now button below to begin.
2. Fill out the submission form. After purchase you will be sent to a page with the assessment form. Fill in as much detail as you can. More detail means a more useful report. Use the notes section for anything about your soil, your growing conditions, or your site history that would help us read your sample correctly.
3. Check your email. You will receive a confirmation email with full sampling instructions. The sampling guide is available in two places: on the form page and in your confirmation email.
4. Take your sample. Follow the instructions for your sample type. Label the bag on the outside with your name, the sample name, and the date.
5. Mail it to us. Send it so it reaches us quickly. Biology does not wait.
6. Get your report. We will email you a complete report with recommendations within 7 to 10 business days of receiving your sample.
Questions at any point? Call or email. We will walk you through it.
Full instructions come with your confirmation email, but here is what to expect.
Lawns and row crops: take 5 representative cores about half an inch in diameter, within the root zone, usually 3 to 6 inches deep.
Shade trees and ornamentals: take 5 to 7 representative cores about 1 inch in diameter, 6 to 12 inches deep, within the root zone.
Combine and place approximately 2 cups in a sealable plastic bag, leaving room for air.
Record the depth of your cores and your site history on the intake form.
Take several samples from throughout the pile, at least 12 inches in, halfway between the ground and the top of the pile.
Place approximately 2 cups in a sealable plastic bag, leaving room for air.
Use a clean, dry 1 liter bottle.
Draw from the center of your brewer.
Fill the bottle half tea and half air.
Send by next day delivery.
Label the outside of the bag with a sharpie. Never put anything inside the bag with your sample.
Leave air in the bag. A sealed airless bag goes anaerobic, and the biology you are paying us to look at will die before it reaches us.
Collect your sample as close as possible to the time you are shipping it.
Where to send it:
MicrobeGrower
340 Pratt Rd.
Parsonsfield, ME 04047
MICROBEGROWER
MicrobeGrower uses the Soil Food Web biological analysis method developed by Dr. Elaine Ingham over more than thirty years of studying and improving soils. That work established the optimal microbial ratios for compost, compost teas, and specific crops, and it is the framework behind every assessment we run.
Samples are processed within the timeframe established by the Soil Food Web School, because biology changes fast once a sample leaves the ground. Delay is the single biggest threat to an accurate result, so timing is treated as part of the method, not an afterthought.
Wendy Mickle, founder of MicrobeGrower, is a Soil Food Web School Certified Consultant, trained under the late Dr. Elaine Ingham.