Leaf testing for horticultural crops at key growth stages through summer is a useful tool for optimising crop yield and quality. This becomes even more important as growers face a lot more variability with unusual weather patterns and a changing climate. Maintaining optimal plant nutrition is one tool to help remove uncertainty in production of these high value crops.
Hill Labs has interpretive ranges for most of the typical hort crops grown in New Zealand, with tentative “medium ranges” for the newer kiwifruit varieties available as well. Taking the appropriate leaf sample and plant part is critical, and this information can be found in the Crop Guides published on our website.
When submitting the leaf or petiole sample, please make sure the variety is written on the request form so that the nearest interpretive ranges can be provided for the sample type.
An acid-detergent wash may be requsted if there is any spray residue showing on the leaf tissue, noting that some sprays adhere particularly well and this wash may not fully eliminate trace element contamination.
Combined Leaf & Petiole tests for Grape and Potato Growers
A reminder to all users of our seasonal Combined Leaf & Petiole test profiles for grape and potato tissue samples, to request small ziplock bags to contain the petiole fraction at sample collection. These are not openly available on our online order platform, so please get in touch if you need some of these. It is advised that before sampling, label both the large plant bag and the small ziplock bag , then just place the petiole fraction inside the ziplock bag and put this into the larger plant bag along with the leaf blade sample - and scan that sample-bag barcode through your sample submission app. Alternatively, if you are not an approved app user, then submit the samples via your usual analysis request form, noting there is a grape tissue specific form available on our website.
The Combined Leaf & Petiole profiles (CGP,CPotP) allow for analysis of the mobile nutients (NO3-N, P,K,Mg) in the conductive tissue of the petiole as well as the full range of the nutrient sink in the leaf blade. View the Grape or Potato Crop Guides in the client resources section of our website for further information.
Use of plastic sample bags is preferred so that sample integrity is maintained and barcode fraction labels can be easily attached on receipt at the lab. Hill Labs recycles these plastic sample bags through an agreement with Future Post, who turn suitable plastics into fence posts and other useful long-life products.
