Just thought i would throw this one around and see what people actually use to test there soil
I use the colour chart which i hate doing, you know the one …. add power and solution.
Does anyone use a meter and if so are they worth the money?
Rook
I use the prong one or get BG to test when she pops over occasionally LOL
I use the powder and solution with the chart. I believe it is more accurate than the probe type and seems to be what most other gardeners recommend.
Rook said:
Just thought i would throw this one around and see what people actually use to test there soil
I use the colour chart which i hate doing, you know the one …. add power and solution.
Does anyone use a meter and if so are they worth the money?Rook
Yes worth the $$$$ as I like to know what my vegie patch is doing.
Still climbing posts so I don’t know what other people have said.
I can’t speak from personal experience but the Ag Dept guy at the gardening workshop I went to said – don’t bother. The meter ones have to be calibrated each time you use them, and are really designed to be put in one place and then left alone.
He reckone you’re much better off with the colour chart, powder and liquid ones.
I used to use an Awesome pH tester probe which I would often double check with the powder gear and also a Lab test and teh probe was always good….
It wasn’t one of those skinny long prong chopstick kinda jobbies… it looked like a Big fat pencil.
pain master said:
I used to use an Awesome pH tester probe which I would often double check with the powder gear and also a Lab test and teh probe was always good….It wasn’t one of those skinny long prong chopstick kinda jobbies… it looked like a Big fat pencil.
Cost much, PM?
The guy I mentioned before said the really exxy ones can be really good, but the cheap ones no way (and I should mention, the whole rest of the workshop was the presenters saying don’t buy this expensive stuff, buy this cheaper stuff, so they weren’t generally pushing expensive stuff)
bon008 said:
pain master said:
I used to use an Awesome pH tester probe which I would often double check with the powder gear and also a Lab test and teh probe was always good….It wasn’t one of those skinny long prong chopstick kinda jobbies… it looked like a Big fat pencil.
Cost much, PM?
The guy I mentioned before said the really exxy ones can be really good, but the cheap ones no way (and I should mention, the whole rest of the workshop was the presenters saying don’t buy this expensive stuff, buy this cheaper stuff, so they weren’t generally pushing expensive stuff)
sorry bon, can’t recall, me thinks the pH tester was in me top drawer when I started in the Job. It was cool to take to Sand N Metal joints :)
i had to buy a second meter, as a person i loaned the previous one to did a good job screwing the meter into the soil…which severed the wires connected to the probe. anyway, i recently also bought a powder/reagent test kit, which is a bit more expensive, to check whether this (cheap) electronic meter was any good. most of the time, wherever i probe in my garden i get 7. it does check out. only recently saw a different reading to the usual 7…when i put too much sulphur in potting mix for my lemon tree.
the probe is quite handy/quick, as you stick it into the (moist) soil, take a reading in 60 seconds, wipe the probe, and go take another reading.