1612 Rapitest pH Soil Tester

I bought this to test the pH of my blueberry soil that I have in half wine barrels. I used 1/3 pine bark mulch, 1/3 sphagnum peat moss, and 1/3 organic potting soil. I mixed it all up well and checked the pH a few weeks later. This quick little kit gave me indication I was at around a 6. I wanted to drop it a bit further so I added some organic acid fertilizer, waited close to 2 months and rechecked. My soil is now around 4.5 to 5. The blueberry bushes love it and they are green (not red and yellow now), growing fast, and have tons of flowers! + Water Dropper Included + Simple Instructions + No Mess + Consistent Results + Takes about 2-3 minutes to take a sample and get a reading + Small Booklet providing details of many different plants, vegetables, and flowers and the soil pH they grow best in _Bottom Line_ Yes, I would recommend this pH kit over other products, such as a soil probe. In my experience this is the fastest, most consistent, easiest way to get an accurate idea of what the pH is. This kit really helped me get my blueberry bushes up and going and I will continue to use the test kit to monitor my soil pH.

Kit includes10 separate PH test capsules; purchase this and can perform 10 separate tests. Easy to use nice little vial to place in sample soil, PH capsule contents, and water. shake around and wait a bit. Hold up to sunlight but not direct sun (important). PH tests are inherently somewhat difficult to interpret. Is it this shade or is it the next over shade. This kit cant fix that. But this kit is easy to use and reliable if instructions are properly followed, especially the light source.

The test worked fine and confirmed my fears that the native soil in my yard is generally alkaline which is not ideal for most plants. I also tested a store-bought potting soil which gave a more favorable pH reading. One caveat to consider is that people often say to "test your soil" as if all soil in your yard is the same. It's not that easy since many mulches, topsoils, composts, fertilizers, and decaying dead leaves could have been added over the years in different areas. If you want to test the "native soil" keep in mind that you might need to dig down a bit to get a proper sample. Good luck.

This test is quite easy to use if you prep the soil right (dry, filter, crush to fine powder). But I do not think it is as accurate as the Luster Leaf 1662/1663 Professional Soil Test kit (http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004W6JC2U/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_nS_ttl?_encoding=UTF8&colid=1M7T0SNW2H7UE&coliid=I19DMY22GYFP75). I compared side by side (see photo). The Pro kits have much more distinct color difference where it really matters ~ 6.0-7.0 pH. This kit is somewhat beige at 6.0 vs bright yellow on the pro kit. Even more pronounced, this kit is light green at 6.5 vs bright orange on the pro kit. I also found my acidic soil potted blueberries were closer to the acidic pH I would expect according to the pro kit than the reading on this kit (6.0 vs 7.0). But this kit settles out in 1 minute, vs 5-10 minutes for the pro.

I grew up on a farm and I've been gardening for over 50 years. When I was a child, we took soil samples to our county agent every few years and guessed during the years between samples. That was not often enough for NKP or PH. The County Agent's report covered 6 or 8 more things such as borax, aluminum, and calcium. Those things change very slowly and only need to be tested for only every 5 to 10 years. In the fifties and sixties, we just assumed the soil would need lime each year; it was acid. However, the amount we used was calculated by rule of thumb. Others used the taste test; tasting the soil to tell if it was sweet or sour; better than nothing but very distasteful when the fertilizer of choice is manure. If you do no other tests, do this one! PH controls whether or not a plant can take up nutrients. All the fertilizer in the world will not help, if the PH is wrong. I purchased the full test set as well as this one so that I could do more frequent PH tests and in more places such as around shrubs, bushes, and trees, especially fruiting trees and bushes. I have been using these products for at least 20 years. This purchase was just to renew my supply. I can usually go 2 or3 years with a full Luster Leaf set plus an extra PH test set. Buy and use it!. It will save you money on fertilizer and you can have the best garden in the neighborhood!

I purchased this to determine soil acidity for blueberry plants. It seems to get you in the ball park but is not perfectly precise. To use, you must gather some soil. Let it dry then remove any big pieces. Add soil to soil side of the container then open a small capsule of white powder and add it to the soil side of the container. Then you add water to the mix. Water should be distilled for best results (I did all of the above including using distilled water). Then you must compare the color of the water on the soil side to the color chart on the front of the small plastic container. At least for me, it was hard to determine if the color matched the 6.5 or 6, but this was good enough to tell me that I need to lower the PH for my blueberries which needed a 4.5 to 5.5 PH. I added soil acidifier to my blueberries and will test again soon. I would prefer to just stick a meter in the soil and read the PH but I bought this instead as it was much less expensive and once I get my blueberries going, I won't have much use for it again, so it has served my purpose.

I've used this product to test soil pH for years. The test, as noted in most other reviews, is quick and usually accurate if the directions are followed. But, here are two reminders. Be sure to use distiller water, nothing else will give you an accurate reading. The second thing to keep in mind is how to view the color change. You must have the correct light to make the best estimate of pH. It works best for me to take the test inside and judge the color by looking through the sample toward a window. If you are outside, or have the sunlight at your back, you'll get a result that will be inaccurate and too alkaline. It's a great product and I recommend it highly.

I had never tested my own soil before and had wanted to, but the tests seemed so complicated and hard to use. After looking through the soil testers on Amazon I thought I would take the plunge and do my own testing. Well, it was a lot easier than I thought and the results are easy to read and are accurate. My neighbor has a larger, more expensive kit and he did a test right after I did mine and they were pretty close to each other with the results. I could not be happier with the kit and I found out exactly what I needed for my garden. The best part of the Luster Leaf kit is the price. So inexpensive and such a great result!

ممتاز

Great little product for the budding gardener to,start planning a new border. Very easy to use and great to make sure you are not wasting money planting the wrong type of expensive plant

Did what I wanted to do, gave me results of my soil ananysis and matched other results to verify the accuracy.

I purchased this with the hopes to find out what is going on in my multiple garden beds as a lot of my plants have slowed down this year, had stunted growth, limited flowers, etc. I was pleased with how quickly I received it however it does not mention on the product page that what you receive is a canister with a dozen capsules. It works and I realized some of my garden beds are quite acidic while others alkaline or neutral, but I'm bummed that for 16$ that I essentially get 12 tests, I thought I was buying something that I could use a bit more than a dozen times. I've had to use 4 of those already and thats not taking to account all my garden beds, so for now I'll try to make some changes and hope that my garden will improve.

pH tester, does what it says on the tin.