pH testing
 

The instructions for the Tenax soil testing kit say that one should not
test soil pH in summer. We've been unable to think of a good reason for
this; can anyone suggest one, especially as regards compost straight out
of the bin, or should I disregard it?

regards
sarah





--
Waist deep, neck deep
We'll be drowning before too long
We're neck deep in the Big Muddy
And the damned fools keep yelling to push on

pH testing
 

"sw" wrote in message
...
The instructions for the Tenax soil testing kit say that one should not
test soil pH in summer. We've been unable to think of a good reason for
this; can anyone suggest one, especially as regards compost straight out
of the bin, or should I disregard it?

regards
sarah


I work for a laboratory that does soil pH!
We do them all year around so go a head!
Although we do them slightly different than just sticking a probe into the
wet soil!
We first dry the soil at 30deg C for 4 days; then grind it up into a powder;
then shake 20g of it in RO water for 20min. Then it gets tested against a
calibration curve with two points 4 pH and 9.2 pH!

Hope this helps.

Badger

pH testing
 

Little Badger wrote:

"sw" wrote in message
...
The instructions for the Tenax soil testing kit say that one should not
test soil pH in summer. We've been unable to think of a good reason for
this; can anyone suggest one, especially as regards compost straight out
of the bin, or should I disregard it?

I work for a laboratory that does soil pH!
We do them all year around so go a head!
Although we do them slightly different than just sticking a probe into the
wet soil!
We first dry the soil at 30deg C for 4 days; then grind it up into a powder;
then shake 20g of it in RO water for 20min. Then it gets tested against a
calibration curve with two points 4 pH and 9.2 pH!

Hope this helps.

Thanks, it does. I wonder why the manufacturer thinks summer is the
wrong time of year? FWIW the kit does require a dried soil sample
diluted with water, but they state that tap water is adequate. I've got
some distilled :-)

regards
sarah


--
Waist deep, neck deep
We'll be drowning before too long
We're neck deep in the Big Muddy
And the damned fools keep yelling to push on