On 28/06/2011 10:18, Kate Morgan wrote:

Can anyone one recommend where I can get a complete and thorough soil
analysis done, it is for use on a bit of land that was an orchard in the
past but is now needed for animals.

kate

A quick and dirty test is grow some mustard and cress in a soil sample
and look out for any abnormalities.

This only really works to detect residual weedkillers that stunt plant
growth. There are plenty of things poisonous to animals that can be in
the soil without bothering plants at all. Some of the rarest UK orchids
grow happily on the highly toxic spoil heaps of old lead smelting sites.
They don't get disturbed by rabbits...

Thank you all for your interest and comments.
Horses have been put into the paddock in question in the past and have
been unwell, removed and they recover. This has happened once more. The

Does the vet have any suggestions on what might be responsible?

The only thing I can think of might be copper or arsenic pesticides used
in old orchards but I would be surprised if either hung around in
sufficient quantity to harm animals. The apples were eaten or used for
cider in the past after all.

paddock is looked after, weeds removed droppings picked up etc, I know
because I do it.
I have never heard of the mustard and cress test, I will try it.

Afraid it may not help if the problem is either toxic plants in the
meadow or soil containing toxic compounds that the grass can pick up.

If you really need to do a full soil test then talking nicely to your
local university with a geochemistry department might be worth a try. A
commercial or semi-commercial lab will charge per species measured so be
careful what you ask for. RHS also worth a try.

Obvious suspects would be arsenic, lead, mercury, chromium, antimony,
copper but the list goes on and on if you include the more obscure
possibilities.

What you are asking for goes well beyond the capabilities of the soil
test kits sold to amateur gardeners. You want someone with a cheaper XRF
or expensive ultratrace ICP for elemental analysis and extortionate gas
chromatogrphy mass spec with a suitable library of compounds and a
resident expert for the organics. These services do not come cheap!

And then you will need an expert to help you interpret what the analysis
finds. For instance 2ppm of uranium is soil sounds bad but is actually
quite normal in many soils as it is a fairly common element.

Regards,
Martin Brown