The Most Advanced
Biological Soil Test

Traditional soil analyses provide information about the physical properties (eg. texture) and the chemical properties of the soil, such as pH or the concentration of nutrients, but do not take soil microbiology into account.

Instead of measuring the amount of nutrients in the soil, BeCrop measures the microbial processes involved in nutrient cycling, such as those that fix carbon into the soil, or supply plants with available nutrient forms (eg. mineralization or solubilization), and those that immobilize nutrients back into forms not readily available for plants (immobilization, denitrification).

We provide sampling tubes and a sampling spoon to facilitate soil collection. The amount of soil needed is approximately ¼ of the tube. The amount we request you send is 5gr.  per sample.

No special equipment is needed but we recommend you use gloves and sanitize the trowel with ethanol, allowing it to dry before and between sample collections.

Our samples are composite, which means that each tube should contain subsamples from 3 to 12 locations in the same block in order to make the sample truly representative for our study.

Optimal resolution is derived from 1-2 acres, but in uniform soils the surface covered per sample can be increased without a significant loss of representativity.

It is important that each sampling area has uniform soil characteristics (pH, texture) and consistent management practices (fertilizer applications, irrigation, etc.).

The number of samples required depends on the specific questions you want answered. This will be assessed prior to the sampling to make sure you’re provided with the appropriate solutions.

Do I need to ship the samples overnight?

No, overnight shipping is not required. Ideally, samples should arrive at the lab within 72h from the time they are collected. However, we have not observed significant changes in the microbial communities for a period of up to 15 days after sampling (at room temperature).

Storage and shipping guidelines.

Given that soil microbiomes are sensitive, here are our recommended guidelines for proper storage and shipping:

– Soil samples can be stored long-term at -20 °C (-4 °F).

– Soil samples can be stored up to 3 days if refrigerated at 0-6 °C (32-48 °F).

– Ideally, soil samples should be shipped using 1-day shipping with total transit time not to exceed more than 5 days at room temperature.

We recommend sampling at a depth of 6 inches to provide proper representation from the microbes located in both the topsoil and lower layers. Most pathogens and microbes involved with nutrient cycling and the supply of plant growth promoters are found in the rhizosphere, near the topsoil.

The metadata is required to map the allocations of samples to their corresponding blocks, defining and drawing comparisons between various blocks as well as calculating weather and soil data.