A soil test that costs nothing in November costs $5 a sample starting Dec. 1, up from $4 in the winter of 2025-26. The North Carolina Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (NCDA&CS) says its soil testing is free from April 1 through Nov. 30, 2026 and $5 per sample beginning Dec. 1. Wayne County’s Cooperative Extension office has urged gardeners to submit samples before Thanksgiving, and the state’s deadline leaves only a few extra days after the holiday.
The Fee Moves From Free to $5 on Dec. 1
The Goldsboro Daily News, in a Nov. 1 gardening column citing the N.C. Cooperative Extension Wayne County Center, said samples submitted from April through November are generally processed without a fee and that gardeners are encouraged to submit before Thanksgiving to use the free period. The column listed the seasonal fee as $4 per sample.
That figure is out of date. NCDA&CS announced in February that the lab would raise some testing fees beginning March 2, and its release says the peak-season rate will increase from $4 to $5 per sample. Agriculture Commissioner Steve Troxler said the higher fees will be invested back into laboratory operations, upgrading older equipment with newer technology. The department’s current soil-testing page and its peak soil season page both list $5.
The peak season runs from Dec. 1 through March 31, 2027, according to an NCDA&CS September news release. County Extension pages and newspaper columns written before the change, including a Sampson County Extension post from 2025, still carry the $4 figure.
Why Arrival Date, Not Mailing Date, Sets the Price
The deadline is tighter than Thanksgiving suggests. The September release says samples must physically arrive at the lab by 5 p.m. Monday, Nov. 30, to avoid the fee. The department’s peak soil season page says the fee depends only on when samples reach the lab at 4300 Reedy Creek Road in Raleigh. Postmarks, online submission dates and drop-offs at county Extension offices do not count…