Are those DIY kits for testing your soil PH any good?

Good question! I hope you get an answer.

Sorry, I have no experience with them. From what I read they do a decent job of testing the PH.

Those small kits with the matching colors are very gross measures at best. In other words you might be able to tell if your soil is 5 (acid) or 8 (alkaline), but you really don't get an accurate reading. I tried one of those meters where you put some soil in a cup and add rainwater and stick a probe in it. It read 7.1, twice. I didn't believe it so I sent a soil sample to the local University. It came back 7.1. Sometimes you can find a local extension service or master gardener information booth at a plant fair and they will conduct the pH test for you. But I think the meters work.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0000DI848/

Steve

According to this fee schedule from the University of Florida soils lab:
http://soilslab.ifas.ufl.edu/E...
it costs $3 for a pH test and recommendations, $7 for testing pH, lime requirement and the major nutrients phosphorous, potassium, magnesium and calcium. Presumably you can drop the sample off at your county extension office - I don't know the price of the home test kit you're thinking of but I imagine it would cost more than that?

I can pick up the soil sample bags at the local ag extension office, and mail the samples to Univ of Fla along with the $7.
Don't know about dropping the bags off locally.

I wasn't looking at a specific test kit, but an online search turned up kits good for XX tests that were a bit cheaper if you did that many tests.

I think everyone should be able to pick them up from the local Ag Agent. Ours costs $6. Well worth it.