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Soil sampling requirements in Tennessee

Soil sampling requirements in Tennessee

State guidance: UT Extension, Soil Testing for Commercial Farmers.

Soil sampling in Tennessee: frequency, area, depth and cores

How often do you need to soil sample in Tennessee?

  • UT Extension, Soil Testing for Commercial Farmers Official guidance Continuous conventional row crops every 2 to 3 years. Double cropping, continuous no-till corn or cotton, and hay every 2 years. Continuous no-till soybeans only, and pasture, every 3 to 5 years. Tobacco and vegetables every year.

When in the year should soil be sampled in Tennessee?

How many acres can one soil sample cover in Tennessee?

How deep should soil samples be taken in Tennessee?

How many cores go into one soil sample in Tennessee?

How many soil samples does a 100-acre field need in Tennessee?

UT Extension, Soil Testing for Commercial Farmers: A uniform 100-acre field needs at least 10 composite samples of no more than 10 acres each, and at least 60 cores in all, 6 per sample.

Samples and cores for any field size

Soil sampling rules in Tennessee, with the exact wording of each source
Country / region Purpose / programme Time / frequency Area per sample Method Depth Cores Status and source
United States
TennesseeUnited StatesTennessee only. Other states set their own rules.Routine soil fertility samplingUT Extension, Soil Testing for Commercial Farmers
  • Repeat Continuous conventional row crops every 2 to 3 years. Double cropping, continuous no-till corn or cotton, and hay every 2 years. Continuous no-till soybeans only, and pasture, every 3 to 5 years. Tobacco and vegetables every year.
  • Season September to November, or March to April
A composite from an area of no more than 10 acres (4.05 ha). Grids of 2.5 or 5 acres are widely used.Whole field composite in a zigzag pattern, grid, or zones built from soil type, lime and fertilizer history and yield maps. Sample contrasting areas separately.6 inches (15.24 cm) for pH, P, K, Ca, Mg, micronutrients and organic matter. 12 inches (30.48 cm) for the corn pre-sidedress nitrate test.About 20 locations per composite. Six or eight cores per grid sample.Official guidanceUT Extension W 1194, Soil Testing for Commercial Farmers (PDF)
Who it applies to, the exact wording and every source
Who it applies to
Advice from the public land-grant university extension service for Tennessee. Not law.
In force from
Under review
Legal text
UT Extension W 1194, Soil Testing for Commercial Farmers (9/23)

The wording in the source

Timing

  • Soil samples can be collected at any time from September to November (fall) or March to April (spring).

    W 1194, When to sample?

  • Continuous Row Crops (conventional) … every two to three years.

    W 1194, How often should soils be tested?, item 1

  • Double-cropping Systems … every two years.

    item 2

  • Continuous No-till Soybeans (only) … every three to five years.

    item 3

  • Continuous No-till Corn or Cotton … every two years.

    item 4

  • Hay Systems … every two years.

    item 5

  • High-value Cash Crops (tobacco, vegetables) … annually.

    item 6

  • Pasture Crops … every three to five years.

    item 7

Area per sample

Method

  • The commonly used sampling methods include the composite/whole field, the grid, and the zone.

    W 1194, The Sampling Method

  • Areas of contrasting soils, problem spots, areas under different management within the same field, or portions of fields where crop response is significantly different should be sampled separately, provided the area can be fertilized separately.

    W 1194, Composite/Whole Field Method

  • Zones are developed based on knowledge about the field such as soil type, past lime and fertilization histories, yield maps

    W 1194, Zone method

Depth

Cores

Sources

Sources re-checked every two months, last update October 2026. Reviewed by GeoPard editorial team.

United States: federal rules and every other state

Soil sampling regulations in every country

Report an outdated requirement: info@geopard.tech

Plan the points to the rule that applies

Set the area per sample, the cores and the depth your rule asks for. GeoPard places the points on a grid or by zone, routes the walk, prints the labels and takes the plan to the field on a phone.

Create a sampling plan See the Soil Sampling Planner

A planning reference built from official sources, not legal advice. Rules apply by jurisdiction, nutrient, land use and programme: check the current official text and your laboratory’s instructions before fieldwork.

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