Billy wrote:
In article ,
"David Hare-Scott" 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

David, what is the name of the $25 pH kit?

The one I have is Manutec, it's locally made, I don't know if they export or
if there are others in the US. It's about $22-$25 AU online. I have done
dozens of tests and the bottle is still 2/3 full. I cannot be more precise
about cost than that.

Burke's Backyard (a marketing organisation based on Don Burke's TV show)
sell one for $9-90, I don't know who makes it and I haven't tried it.

I am guessing it is basically the same technology as in universal indicator
paper but the liquid dye system is specifically set up for soil testing,
where the paper is aimed at water solutions.

D