I did a search and could not find a thread on a recommendation for a good Soil PH Tester / Meter.

Does anybody have any knowledge or using the Luster Leaf Rapitest Soil pH Meter Model 1840 Garden pH Tester ?

I appreciate any help and suggestions.

Hi Thomas and welcome to NGA

I had one of those meters at one time but really didn’t trust the readings it gave me. The readings seemed to be a little erratic and I never knew which one to believe I do like their moister meter however. At preset, I have the Kelway Acidity Tester and I really like it. Of course, it cost about four times more than the Luster Leaf meter you mentioned. Regardless of what pH meter you end up buying, keep in mind that to get accurate readings it’s important to clean the probe very well before each sample.

Hope this helps,

Art

Thanks Art, I will read up on the Kelway.

Welcome, Thomas! As you've already seen, there are lots of people with lots of information here!

Hello again,

I have ordered some PH Test Strips and will make several test in the garden. I will also send in some of the soil to be tested at a Lab and will compare the results with my test. The PH of the garden should not change much over the next several years so I will only test again if any of my plants look suspicious.

Thanks,

Where did you find a lab to test it, Thomas? I bought a test kit that doesn't seem to be worth a penny, much less a dime!

Hi Barbalee,

I can pick up the sample bags at the Nacogdoches County Extension Office and take the soil sample to the Stephen F. Austin State College Agriculture Department. The testing will be done there at the College.

It is a short drive for me into Nacogdoches so it makes it very handy.

I'm near a university, too, Thomas. I'll call them to see if they'll run a test! Thanks!

Hey again Barbalee,

If your university cannot do the testing, you can get in touch with Texas A&M Ag Dept. and they can do the test for you.

Later

That's precisely who I was going to call! Canyon is not far from here :-)!

Most County extension offices do soil testing themselves, here. It costs $5 per sample for pH and soluble salts readings.

Or you can buy reasonable test kits at most garden centers, a 10-test kit is about $12 and then you can test the soil in different parts of your garden as well. They didn't used to be too accurate, but the new ones have the test agents pre-measured in little capsules for you, and we tested them against the fancy electronic meter at our Extension service with good results.

Thanks, Elaine! I'll check on that, too. It'd cost me $12 in mileage to go to the university... I'm gonna get this done you guys!

To all,

As a follow up, I talked to a friend of mine yesterday who uses these Test Strips and he told me to not touch the strips with my bare hands and to wear gloves. I have ordered some cheap disposable plastic gloves to use for my testing. I will let you'll know how this works out.

Pleae do let us know. Thomas!

OK Guys,

I know this is not the most scientific PH test every performed but I am very satisfied with the results that I have received with these “Test Strips”. I feel that the results from these strips are accurate enough for a home garden.

The attached photo does not depict the actual color that is on the strips, I guess because of the flash from the camera. I took several photos and they all looked the same. The color on the strips were very close to the “Color Chart” that is a part of the package

I did wear some disposable gloves so that my skin did not ever touch the strips. I first tested some distilled water and got a “neutral” reading. Next I tested some of my drinking water from the sink and it was between an eight (8) and nine (9).

Then I tested some vinegar and got the “reddish” color strip in the lower left on this photo. Vinegar has a PH of 2.2, which is the color on my test strip and is between the two (2) and the three (3), close enough for me!

Next I took a sample of dirt from the middle of one of my gardens and the test strip produced the “greenish” strip in the upper part of the photo. I made three other test in my gardens and every strip looked identical to each other. Again, I need to state that the color on the test strip is much closer to the color on the Chart than my photo shows. Based on the color on my test strip, I would say that the PH in my gardens are between 6.5 and 7.

Hope this is of some help to those of you that have not ever used these paper test strips.

click on photo to enlarge

Awesome, Thomas! Did you wet the dirt in some distilled water to get a reading? I just don't know exactly how even this would work!

Barbalee said:Awesome, Thomas! Did you wet the dirt in some distilled water to get a reading? I just don't know exactly how even this would work!

It was raining hard enough that I caught some water in a small plastic bowl and added the dirt to the rain water to make a "soup". Otherwise I would have used distilled water. It is really quite easy and the test strips are so cheap you can make as many test each year as you like. I plan to test my gardens at least once at the start of each year.

Thomas

Ah ha! Now I see! Thank you for your awesome experiment, Thomas!

@baralee Hey again,

Here is the link to ebay site where I bought the PH Test Strips

http://www.ebay.com/itm/361415...

Awesome again, Thomas! Just plain downright cheap, and I never mind that!