Any recommendations on a good accurate PH-Tester?

nitro121 · Sep 30, 2008

First year using it. Maybe 25 bucks at the local nursery. My employee/partner wanted it since he does all the landscape stuff (I started out just mowing since I work somewhere else full time).

But maybe it is wrong or off after reading these posts. But it does read and comes up w/ different readings on yards. All I know is we offer free soil testing....do it right in front of the customer. They love it....he adjusts the lime based off it and we've had no problems what-so-ever. Takes 5 min and we've only received compliments on our work and repeat customers.

SO....just throwing it out there because I really don't know that much about it.

Peace

cpel2004 · Sep 30, 2008

This is a really good thread.

Runner · Sep 30, 2008

topsites said:
As far as accuracy goes...

Well...
I've been estimating soil ph based purely on looks for many years,
and I couldn't tell you exactly how accurate that is but I can tell you
the lawns I treat turn out far from the worst.

So that's exactly the one I'm going to get,
just to see what it tells me.

It's the same around here. All of our soil in this whole area is basically the same. Out of all the services in out area, VERY few soil samples are taken for tests. For me for instance, only if I see a problem, or if I see indicators that could lead to potential problems, do i question it. For instance, turf that is located under and around older pine trees - it is a given that that soil is PROBably going to be low. On the other hand, if I have shrubs growing between a structure and a walk, over time, it is likely that that soil is going to be high. Most (of my) evergreen shrubs are usually fed some acid, regardless.

Glwenzl · Nov 29, 2016

I just ran across this and made me think of this thread.

http://m.ebay.com/itm/232002352401?...d=100338&rk=1&rkt=28&sd=122125708172&_trksid=p2141725.c100338.m3726&_mwBanner=1

Looks like a very reasonable price... not sure how good it is though.

MowerGuy · Dec 1, 2016

See what your local extension office charges for University soil samples. They're only $7 a sample here and provide a lot of good info and are much more reliable than a tester. You also get a recommendation list from the report. Beyond that its good to have a relationship with your extension office.

Glwenzl · Dec 2, 2016

MowerGuy said:
See what your local extension office charges for University soil samples. They're only $7 a sample here and provide a lot of good info and are much more reliable than a tester. You also get a recommendation list from the report. Beyond that its good to have a relationship with your extension office.

They don't do it any longer. They gave me a number to call where I'd need to mail it into.

Any recommendations on a good accurate PH-Tester?

nitro121

cpel2004

Runner

Glwenzl

MowerGuy

Glwenzl

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