On 1/7/2013 3:54 PM, David Hare-Scott wrote:
Frank wrote:
On 1/6/2013 5:34 PM, David Hare-Scott wrote:
Nathan Heafner wrote:
Hello,
I have a large pile of ash from burning leaves, wood, limbs, pine
straw etc, and I've read that ash can be helpful to plants if my
soil ph is not over 7.5.

My questions is, how do you test your soil and what tools are used.

Im looking to test my soil soon and see some cheap and expensive
testing kits on amazon.

thanks

The best method that will give a reliable result of sufficient
accuracy at a reasonable price is a dye indicator kit. You mix a
soil sample with some dye and observe the colour against a white
background, or with white powder puffed on to it. You compare the
colour to a chart and it will give the soil pH to withing half a
unit. It is easy to do even if you have somewhat impaired colour
vision (which is the case with about 8% of males). If you are
severely colour blind you are out of luck but that is rare and you
would already know that you have the condition. One kit that has all
you need will do several hundred tests and costs about $25 here, the
price may be different where you are. Cheap electronic probe systems
are inaccurate and expensive ones are
accurate but fiddly to use and fragile.

David

pH paper is about half this cost. I've got a couple of multi-range
papers left over from my lab days. They must be 30 years old and
still work.

On your old papers, the OP hasn't got them and no doubt they still
change colour but how would you know if they are still accurate?

On using papers in general, you would have to add water to your sample
of soil to get the paper to work. Is the system calibrated to take that
into account with your local water or are you assuming deionised water
is available? How much water per given soil sample do you add and how
does the OP measure that? What is this talk of relative cost when there
are no numbers to compare?

Your suggestion might be fine but we don't know that. I would stick to
the system that was designed and calibrated for the purpose.

D


Some of the papers I have are very narrow range and contain two separate
indicators so you can tell pH down to 0.1 unit, far more than needed.
Distilled water would be best but I think tap water is OK and I just
slightly dampen soil before testing.

My soil and well water here in Eastern US are acidic. Well has pH ~6.5
and soil is even more acidic. I've dumped wood ashes on back lawn with
no problem and ground is still acidic.

If op lives in East, his soil is most likely acidic. I believe Western
soils tend to be alkaline.