I have been trawling the net for the past half hour, trying to find some info on soil testing, and to no avail. Was hoping a lovely permaculture enthusiast would be able to help out... I live in a rental house in Melbourne (northern suburbs) and we have a good veggie patch growing. I have recently become aware that our soil may contain heavy metals, and am a bit concerned because about a third of my veggie intake comes from the garden! Can anyone recommend a company/organisation that does garden soil testing in melbourne, specifically for heavy metals? Cheers
Re: Testing soil for heavy metals etc what your looking for is information on reagents or soil reagent test kits https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reagent https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&safe ... oq=&aqi=g4 https://www.springerlink.com/content/lq1q07070tj631x7/ different plants have different affinities for toxic metals / elements where those elements end up being concentrated depends (leaves, roots, fruit) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phytoremediation https://www.clu-in.org/download/citizens/citphyto.pdf https://books.google.com/books?id=mph14k ... t&resnum=2 knowing which metals are the most likely contaminate is the first step Good Luck
Re: Testing soil for heavy metals etc G'day carrot flower Welcome to the Forum. I use and recommend: Australain Perry Agricultural Laboratory (https://www.apal.com.au/) The above are fully independent professionals, and use the Albrecht model (https://www.ifoam.org/growing_organic/de ... brecht.php) of soil analysis and interpretation. Darren Doherty (https://www.permaculture.biz/) first recommended them to me. Cheerio, Mark.
Re: Testing soil for heavy metals etc You could try Amal Analytical in Glen Iris. Cost for chemical residue test last year was $70+gst. They were recommended to me by Amdel but be warned they are not easy to find; take High St exit off the Monash Freeway and it is just down the first street on the left. 18 Brixton Rse Glen Iris 3146 VIC Ph: (03) 9885 2855 https://www.amalanalytical.com.au