Here at ICL, we’re proud of the legacy of the products we offer. Professional growers like you have trusted our Osmocote controlled release fertilizers and Peters water-soluble fertilizers for more than half a century. We’re equally proud of the services we offer in support of those products.
We checked in with Dr. Fred Hulme, our Technical Services Director (shown below), and he confirmed it: For as long as we’ve been selling fertilizers, we’ve been offering high-quality lab testing services to help you grow better plants.
For many growers, testing irrigation water or growing media is one of those things you know you need to do, but don’t always get done—despite your best intentions. But if you’ve been around a while, you also understand that testing irrigation water quality is the first and most important step to any fertilizer program’s success. Without knowing what’s in your water—the good and the bad—as Fred puts it, “You’re really starting off blind.”
You may feel you can make an educated guess based on years of experience, and you may come close. But a simple assessment eliminates the guesswork. That holds true whether it’s irrigation water, soilless media, mineral soil, or your treated water. So today, we’d like to underscore that we’re here for you and remind you how simple, fast, efficient, and economical ICL Lab Services testing assessments can be.
Knowing Your Starting Points
One thing that separates ICL Lab Services from other testing facilities is that our lab is specifically designed for greenhouse and nursery production. You don’t need to worry that your water test results are based on drinking water parameters instead of optimal plant growth.
Secondly, in case our low testing costs don’t make it clear, Lab Services isn’t a profit center for us. It’s actually a cost center. Unlike some labs that charge separately for every parameter of an assessment, we treat each assessment as a comprehensive package. Our goal is to get you all the information you need, so you know your starting points.
Each of the five lab assessments we offer provides a comprehensive screening of the key elements that impact crop nutrition, as well as numerous other parameters designed to help you make objective, informed decisions. Available assessments include:
- Irrigation Water Assessment
- Treated Water/Fertilizer Solution Assessment
- Soilless Growing Media Assessment
- Mineral Soil Assessment
- Plant Tissue Assessment
We also provide you with expert insights on the back end to help you interpret and understand the numbers. So you not only get all the nutrient parameters that apply, you get advice from our experts in the field on what to do with the numbers. That way, you can identify the best controlled release or water-soluble program based on your specific water chemistry or other conditions. These services are available to all professional growers, whether you’re a current ICL customer or not.
Getting Started with ICL Lab Services
If you’re wondering how to get started, we make it easy. As Fred says, the most important thing to us is that you get testing done so your plants and your business can thrive. “We have a great lab, but if you don’t want to use our lab, use someone else’s and stick with it,” he says. Avoid jumping back and forth between labs—that only adds variables that can muddy comparisons between data.
For more information about our services, you can contact the ICL territory manager for your area, email Fred or call the Lab directly at 877-467-8522. You can also hop online and request a sample kit, which is mailed out free with collection instructions and a mailer to return the sample.
We understand what testing means to your operation, so you get results when you need them—not weeks later, when you’ve already sold your crop. “The lab analyzes samples very quickly. The turnaround is a day or two from the time they get the sample,” Fred says. All results go through quality assurance to make sure everything’s correct—then we email you the report. Your only cost is $35 per comprehensive assessment. The sample kit, mailer and expert advice from our ICL territory managers are part of the service we provide.
Looking back over the years, Fred remembers many cases where testing changed a grower’s course. In one extreme, a grower sent in water samples after building a new greenhouse range. Had they known the water quality beforehand, they would have built elsewhere—or put in water treatment upfront. But more often, he runs into growers who still express gratitude for help with testing years ago, saying, “Thank you. Ever since I did that, I’m not having those chronic problems I used to have.”
From our perspective, our ICL Lab Services and the added support we provide are part of our “Thank You” to you. Whether you're a current ICL customer or just headed in our direction, we believe your success and our success go hand in hand. We want to be your partner in growth. Let us help you grow your your plants—and your business.