Solvita Blog
Pilgrimage for Soil Quality on Spain’s El Camino Trail
The "El Camino de Santiago" trail is known to adventurers and Christian pilgrims who traverse this path from France into north-western Spain. Along the way, one experiences the striking, semi-arid Castile y León region farmed to wheat & barley for the last 500...
Farmers “Growing Soil” with Cover Crops and Reduced Tillage.
“They are actually growing soil here”, John Chibirka (USDA-NRCS PA) told the 19th annual Cover Crop and Soil Health gathering of 300 farmers on Steve Groff’s no-till-cover crop farm in Holtwood PA. He was referring to when the 2006 World Soil Congress visited Steve’s...
Solvita Performance: Promising Progress with Commercial Soil Labs
Solvita is used by many commercial soil labs and several labs are now being tracked by independent test proficiency programs. Results so far are promising: a comparison of Woods End's control results and those reported by other labs shows a high degree of correlation...
Solvita SLAN Test Shows Secrets of the Soil
A new soil test from Solvita called SLAN reveals a hidden pool of organic nitrogen that is “just beneath the surface, and seems indicative of soil improvement”, says developer Will Brinton. The SLAN test like the Solvita CO2-test takes only minutes to set up and is...
Careless soil testing, excessive fertilization, paving way for regulations on nutrients
A NOAA Captured image of Lake Erie in 2011 shows the massive algal blooms from nutrient loads - the worst in 10-years The practice of fertilizing soils based on hoped-for crop yields while ignoring nutrients already present in the soil or about to be...
From “Tillage Alcoholism” to Soil Health – Workshop Draws Hundreds
Soil Health is a new paradigm in no-till farming, and very evidently a fast-growing grassroots movement that "threatens" to unite all farmers. Attendees at a farm workshop in Carrol, Ohio said they wished the movement will be recognized not only by no-tillers but...
Compost Maturing: Solvita gives same information as Infrared Equipment
A recent research project conducted at Woods End shows that the simple-to-perform Solvita test for compost gives essentially identical information about compost aging as does more expensive IR (infrared) analysis. The funded research project compares two types of...
New Solvita Model 700 DCR improves soil CO2-respiration monitoring
Woods End announced the release of its new Model 700 Solvita DCR which incorporates upgrades for new soil test capabilities and improved performance with electronic integration. The upgrade is being timed with NAPT's 2013 acceptance of the Solvita CO2-burst test as...
Horse farms are scenic, but not reusing their own manure (chemical residues).
An informal study conducted by Woods End during the past 3 years examining quality of Maine manures used for compost, may have mushroomed into a focus on herbicide carryover specific to horse manures. When Vermont reported a case of compost chemical contamination,...
Solvita helping spread word of soil biology to labs, farmers.
Farmers across America have increasing access to soil biology testing thanks in part to Solvita. Presently more than 40 soil labs* now offer Solvita CO2 Respiration as part of their services. Many of these lab are also reporting Solvita data in the ALP program. "The...
Soil Health: Amendments affect Whole Plant Morphology, Not just Yield
Studies of plant root growth in soils treated with amendments of varying chemical and biological stability reveal that plants respond in a more complex and holistic fashion than customarily believed. Brinton’s team at Woods End has been using root (rhizotron)...
Compost industry stability tests lack relevancy for soil building projects.
The compost industry may be promoting stability and maturity tests for compost that are neither current with published science nor consistent with emerging soil markets,- this in a new report by Woods End Labs presented to Sustainable Sites Initiative. The report...