Testing soil pH

[Mearntain]

I've already sent out several soil samples from my property in all the areas that i plan on growing and recieved results back from those in the beginning of December. A few weeks later, I put out 1500 lbs of the 4000 lbs of lime that I needed. The next day or two had a constant light rain/drizzle which was perfect as it helped to let the lime start to soak in. But then on Days 3-5, we had torrential down pours all day, every day.

One part of my yard, I have a drain pipe buried that drains from a low part of the yard to a ditch. Due to the amount of flooding that occurred along with the amount of water that drained out through that pipe, I am concerned that a decent amount of my lime from that plot (which happens to be one of the vegetable gardens) washed away.

I could send out another soil sample to test that plot out and also be sure that I get accurate results, but I really don't want to have to do that because this is the time of year that has the longest waiting period for results and no clue when I would get them back. My question is if you know of any reliable kits out there that I can buy for home use to test my soil for pH? I don't want a really cheap one, but don't want to spend several hundred either. I've heard before that some out there are actually only testing the pH of the moisture in the soil, not actually testing the tru pH of the soil. Are there any that you've used that you know are accurate? Even better would be a kit you've used and bounced the results off of an actual lab soil test to see the accuracy of it.

 

[SPYDERLK]

Check out a hot tub store. They have a kit with strips to measure pH of a solution. Mix soil well with water and let it settle. Then measure the water on top.

 

[RalphVa]

I've bought kits at Lowes. They just have a test tube with a couple lines marked. Put mix a little bit of soil and put it in to the 1st line (not very much). Then you put distilled water to the next line. Put in an ampule of whatever you want to test for. Shake and let sit overnight. Read the comparison colors the next morning.

Should be accurate within +/- 0.5 pH. That's close enough.

I think 6 ish is close enough to 7. You do not want to be above 7.

Ralph

 

[Fossil Farm]

Lime typically binds better to soil particles than some fertilizers (like nitrogen after a big rain), but if you got some of those heavy rains shown on the news, you may have lost some. I would wait another month before testing. Depending on what type of lime you applied (pelletized, ag or pulverized) it may take a couple months for it to be accurate. One spot may show a high pH and another may show a low pH. Most of the test kits at the garden centers or box stores are accurate enough to give you a rough idea of the pH.

 

[EddieWalker]

From what I understand, Lime takes about six months to do anything in the soil.

 

[/pine]

Most garden centers should have inexpensive PH meters ($15-$30)...they are quite accurate and if you already know the PH in a particular area you can use it to calibrate the meter...

These are not test kits...they are digital meters with a probe...

Amazon.com: garden pH meter

 

[Mearntain]

Sounds good everyone, I'll check lowes out and see what they've got. Thanks for the replies.

It was crushed lime, all powder, that I put down. When we had the heavy rains come, I literally had 7-8 inches of water sitting in between rows.