Tissue Sampling

Tissue sampling can let you know how well your soil program is working! A tissue sample will give you a quick picture into what your plants are feeding on.

Plant Analysis Guide

Things to Look Out For:

1. Do not pull leaves from:

• Dead or diseased plants
• Insect or mechanically damaged plants
• Stressed plants (extreme heat, drought etc.)
• Plants late in fruiting stages
• Leaves that have been covered with soil
• Plants that have residue on leaves (insecticides, nutrients etc.)
• Plants that have been showing symptoms of deficiency for a long time
• Early morning or extremely cloudy days

Handling Tips

Take the most recently developed leaf for sampling. If there are any questions on sampling or which part of plant to sample please contact your dealer. Pinch leaf off of stem for sampling. If sample is wet or very succulent let air dry for one day before sending to lab. Samples should be placed in Brookside Lab brown bag for shipping to lab. Do not use plastic or any other bag that will not allow leaves to “breath”. Sample should be sent by mail, preferably overnight or similar time frame.

If there is a large difference in plant health in a field, it may be useful to take a sample from both the healthy and sick parts of the field. This will allow us to compare both samples to see what the difference is. Be sure to avoid plants with any type of disease.

If your plan is to manage the crop (veggies, corn, beans etc.) intensively it is best to sample from the same plant, or at least take samples from plants in similar soil types, in a field. For large acreage operations, intensively managed fields should not exceed 20 acre plots.

Remember, a tissue analysis by itself can be very misleading. A soil analysis should always be used as a reference when pulling tissue analysis.

If there is any questions please contact your local Restora-Life Minerals Inc dealer.