Collectable samples

SoilCares aims to fully cover the variety within your Lab-in-a-Box working area. However, it can happen that you receive a special type of sample that still needs to be included in the database. If this happens then no credits will be charged for the analysis of the sample. The sample will be shown in the list of “Collectable samples”. This is our tool to register which samples can be send to our own Golden Standard lab in order to improve the database. 

Shipment of soil samples is something that requires special care and certain licences. If your lab receives soil samples that should be shipped to the Netherlands, then please contact SoilCares via support@soilcares.com. We will check with you the origin of the sample and the need to include it in our spectral database. If we proceed to shipment then we will arrange the necessary documents for you. 

A main requirement is that there is still enough soil left of your outlier sample. Check if the original fresh sample is still present in your lab, and if the remaining fresh material is more than 600g. If this is not the case then you can click 'not collected' right away.

If you still have enough material left after your first analysis then please follow the steps below in order to prepare and preserve the sample for shipment.

1. Check the original fresh sample. There should be at least 600g soil left.
2. Fully dry the whole sample. use multiple compartment in the dryer and dry longer than an hour if the soil is still wet.
3. Sieve the sample with the 2 mm sieve.
4. The weight of the dried sample should be between 500g and 1000g.
5. If the remaining sample is less than 500g then we don't have enough material left to analyse the soil in our own lab. Click 'not collected'.
6. If the dried sample is more than 1000g, then use the riffler to create a sample that is between 500g and 1000g.
7. Put the collected sample in a clean sample bag.
8. Print two extra barcodes for the sample.
9. Stick one barcode on the outside of the bag.
10. Laminate the other barcode and put it inside the sample bag.
11. Send the sample to the local SoilCares office and click 'collected' in the Portal.