Last year I had some problems due to ph inbalance in my soil(plant turned out fine on the end but it gave me much trouble) so this year Im gonna buy ph meter and do the thing right!Find a article about measuring PH levels in soil so Im wondering is this the right way to do it.Thanx... Heres the article: 1 Dig a small hole in the soil. Use a trowel or spade to dig a hole 2-4 inches deep. Break up the soil within the hole and remove any twigs or foreign debris. 2 Try to ensure that the water you use has a neutral pH. Fill the hole with water. Use distilled (not spring) water. You can find this in your local pharmacy. Rainwater is almost always slightly acidic! Bottled water may not have a neutral pH, either. Fill the hole until you have a muddy pool at the bottom. 3 Inserting the tester probe into the mud. Insert the test probe into the mud. Make sure your tester is clean and calibrated (for a more exact measurement). Wipe the probe with a tissue or clean cloth, and insert it into the mud. 4 The readout of a pH tester. Hold it there for 60 seconds and take a reading. pH is usually measured on a scale of 1-14, though the tester may not include this entire range. 5 Take several measurements in different spots in the garden. A single reading may be an anomaly, so it's good to get an idea of the average pH in a plot. If they're all around the same, take the average and amend the soil accordingly. If one spot is very different than the rest, however, you may need to "spot treat" it.
County extension agent will take several samples and mix them together. Then put a measure into distilled (pH 7.0) water and agitate. Then let stand until it settles and take the reading. That's for getting avg. pH, you could also dig a hole and take some soil from top, mid and bottom and mix it up to get pH for a smaller area. I forgot...if you're going to add peat or compost, mix it all up and sample that.
Im gonna make soil mix(and bring that to my spot,fill the holles with it and start seedlings in that)so I guess I'll take sample from that and then measure ph...Ok?Oh,what about water,should I just measure ph of water and add some ph up/down if needed and then water plants with it?Water should be 6,5 right,same like soil?Sorry for the stupid questions but Im new to all this ph thing...Thnx.
There are many different ways of measuring the pH of soil. Some use a saturated paste extract, others use a 1:5 dilution of soil: water, and then take a pH measurement on the resulting solution with a laboratory meter. Others use the 1:5 dilution, but instead of water they use a dilute Calcium Chloride (CaCl²) solution. As a rough guide, the pH in CaCl² is usually 0.8 pH lower than in water, but can be as much as 2.0 pH units lower on grey sands. Ensure that you check the method used to measure you soil pH so that you are comparing similar methods. USING A CALCIUM CHLORIDE SOLUTION FOR SOIL TEST: Using a dilute CaCl² solution will probably give more consistent results than using rainwater or diluted water. When the soil is diluted with water , most of the H+ ions tend to remain attracted to the soil particles and are not released into the soil solution. The addition of small amounts of calcium chloride provides Ca2+ ions to replace some of the H+ ions on the soil particles, forcing the hydrogen ions into the solution and making their concentration in the bulk solution closer to that found in the field. The pH measured in CaCl² is almost always lower than pH of the same soil measured in water due to the higher concentration of H+. The procedure gives a value similar to that for natural soil solution because the soil solution also contains dissolved Ca2+ and other ions. Make up a dilute CaCl² solution with distilled/deionised water to use as you need it. Ready made calcium chloride solutions often do not keep for very long, so buy CaCl² and make the solution yourself. The calcium chloride is usually the dehydrate form (water is attached to the crystals - it will have this written on the label of the container - CaCl².2H²O). Dissolve approximately 7.5g of the salt in 5 litres of distilled/deionised water. If you are using a form of calcium chloride crystals without any water attached (CaCl²), dissolve about 5.5g of the salt in 5 litres. There is no need to be very accurate in your weighing as small errors will not effect the results. Methods for Soil pH Use the spoon to weigh out about 10g (to the nearest half gram), of your soil into the container. Add 50ml of distilled water to the soil. Any rough measurement ensuring a 1:5 diluted will suffice. Shake the container for about 2-3 minutes then allow the soil to settle for 2 minutes. If your soil has a high clay content and you require a very accurate result, it may not be necessary to filter the suspension. If filtering is note required, measure the pH value on the water above the soil in the container. Ensure you get a steady reading on the digital readout. Always wash your containers out before testing your next sample.
Thanks man,I'll use the 'Methods for Soil pH' seems more easy then the other one.Beeing a noob to ph and stuff I gotta ask some more:When I determine ph of my soil whats next?Can I just do this-I plan to use water from nearby lake so can I just use that to water my spot with,stick the ph meter in the soil afther watering it and check the reading on ph meter,and if its 7(for example)just add some ph down to water next time to lower it to 6.5?