Frequently Asked Questions
Straight answers about the test, the lab, and how the prescription works.
- Five to seven business days from when the lab receives your sample. You'll get an email the moment your results are ready.
- The full Brookside lab panel: pH, organic matter, CEC (how well your soil holds onto what you put down), and fifteen plus nutrients including nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, calcium, magnesium, sulfur, boron, iron, manganese, copper, and zinc. We translate all of it into a plain-English prescription that tells you what your soil already has too much of, what it's short on, and exactly what to put down.
- The lab runs the actual chemistry on your sample. From there, our analysis engine (yes, AI) reads your numbers against established agronomic ranges, your soil's holding capacity, and what you're trying to grow, then builds a prescription tailored to your yard. The AI handles the math. Every recommendation traces back to a real data point in your test, not a guess.
Most soil testing companies exist to sell you fertilizer. Their reports conveniently keep recommending more of whatever they're already shipping. We're built the opposite way. We make money on the test, which means our prescriptions can be honest. Sometimes the answer is to put less down, not more. Sometimes it's to unlock the nutrients already sitting in your soil. Our lab partner, Brookside Laboratories, is the top soil testing lab in the country, so every prescription is based on certified, accurate results.
This isn't theoretical. Before SoilRx, we used a general lawn fertilizer four times a year out of habit. After running a real test on our own yard, we stopped. Now we focus on unlocking nutrients already locked up in the soil and using mechanical interventions like aerification to help the roots breathe and grow. Same yard, fewer products, better lawn.
- Your first kit includes a soil probe, an instruction card, sample bags, and a prepaid mailer to send your sample to the lab. Reorders are smaller since you already have the probe.
- Order your kit. Pull a soil sample with the probe. Drop it in any USPS mailbox. The lab runs the test in five to seven business days. You log into your dashboard for the full report and your prescription.
- At minimum once a year. If you're working on a big change like drawing pH down, every six months is better. pH shifts slowly, and regular testing keeps you on track.
Up to you. If your property has separate areas (front yard, back yard, vegetable garden) or you're growing things with conflicting needs (blueberries want acidic, most vegetables want closer to neutral), test those zones separately so you can treat them right.
Some people also like testing sections individually for tracking and for math. It's easier to calculate exactly how much product to put down when you know the square footage of one section instead of guessing across the whole yard.