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is self administered soil test reliable?
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10-09-2006, 12:31 PM posted to alt.home.lawn.garden
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First recorded activity by GardenBanter: Jul 2006
Posts: 431
is self administered soil test reliable?
wrote:
i bought a soil test kit at Lowe's. It tests for pH, nitrogen, and 2
others. It has 4 small bottles and what looks like a pill inside the
bottle. Are those reliable or should i take the
soil to my local extension?
Also, i just fertilized my lawn last week. Should I wait a couple more
weeks before doing the
soil test? I don't want to skew the results, because the fertilizer I
applied was nitrogen heavy.
IMO, these kits are OK for testing PH, but that's about it. I have one
of the Rapitest capsule based kits. The PH readings have been
consistent with what I've seen from agri ext tests, so I have some
faith in them. I've never seen it show any indication of nitrogen,
even a couple weeks after applying high nitrogen fertilizer.
However, it;s not all that bad, as PH is what I really use it for
anyway. I put down fertilizer by amount and schedule, spring/fall, so
I'm not that concerned with NPK.
Suggest you get a real test done too and let us know how it compares.
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