Here at Kiwi Fertiliser we work exclusively with Kinsey Agricultural Services of Missouri USA with soil audits conducted by Perry Agricultural Laboratory, also of Missouri. Kinsey Agricultural Services (KAS) specialises in building and maintaining soil fertility for optimum quality and yields. The soils’ needs are determined by a specific set of tests that may differ from other labs, but are based on mimicking the plants ability to extract nutrients from the soil. Any soil test result can be converted to a recommendation, but the most accurate recommendations, leading to highly repeatable and excellent results, come from manuals produced by KAS.
More About Perry Agricultural Laboratories And Kinsey Agricultural Services
To apply Albrecht’s principles of soil fertility, you must find a laboratory that will produce figures that replicate Albrecht’s figures. As most laboratories around the world have their own protocols, it is critical to get this right. Ford pistons will not fit into a Holden engine and vice versa. Without a solid foundation to work to, it is very easy to prove the Albrecht theory doesn’t work. Just send your soil samples to any lab and failure is guaranteed. Kiwi Fertiliser uses Perry Agricultural Laboratory (PAL). Manuals for interpretation and application to any circumstances are provided by Kinsey Agricultural Services (KAS).
Albrecht was involved with E. R. Kuck of Brookside Laboratory so his outstanding work would be properly replicated. This lasted from 1950 until Albrecht’s death in 1974. Both Neal Kinsey (consultant) and Bob Perry (technical) worked for Brookside. Brookside eventually changed their testing protocols away from the Albrecht principles, so Kinsey and Perry both left, with Perry founding PAL in 1982. Anyone can claim to be following Albrecht, and many do; this can be a big problem and the facts need to be verified. The way to check whether they are or not is to get them to show you PAL soil test results. Don’t be taken in by pretenders. If another lab is involved, get the consultant to show an endorsement for that lab from PAL. Neal Kinsey works exclusively with PAL.
The PAL Soil Professional Report shows the values (in lbs/ac or ppm) of 12 standard nutrients, as defined by Dr. Albrecht. Other nutrients are available but need to be requested separately. PAL results show the actual nutrient values of your soil; the values your soil should have, and the difference between them. In other words, your actual soil results are compared with your actual soil requirements. (It is not compared to other soils, as is usually the case.) The consultant must then work out using the manuals available, the best materials to use to achieve the required soil balance.
KAS also puts out a report doing just that. However, they operate in over 75 countries around the world, so the availability or cost of some products may mean changes are required to those recommendations. The KAS report is reported in kgs/ha. These reports increase two of the nutrients phosphate and potassium, from the PAL results. There are qualifications listed under (a), (b), etc. to make sure the correct procedure is followed.
If results come back and the cation results look a little odd, a Cation Displacement Test can be run. This problem can occur when some cations (most commonly calcium) are not attached to a corresponding anion. This inflates the values found. The solution is to run a Cation Displacement Test to determine the true TEC of the soil. There are rules your consultant can apply to determine whether one is required or not. These rules include the application of nitrogen within 30 days. This is recently developed technology and as far as we are aware, only PAL offers the test.
