Hi Lyn: I'm glad to hear from you (I miss you, honestly). I posted it in Robert's English rose forum, see the link below. The advantage of red cabbage juice test, which toxcrusadr (a chemist) in the soil forum thinks its a good idea, is: It's more accurate since you can put a large amount of soil, rather than 1 teaspoon like those test-kit sold for $12 at the stores. As the soil soaks in the red cabbage juice for more than 20 minutes, it allows time for elements in the soil to be released. For $1.50 cents (99 cents of distilled water and 50 cents of red cabbage), I can test 10 different samples from various places in my garden, or different bagged soil products, to see which one most alkaline. I used those small plastic applesauce cups to hold samples. When I first tested coffee grounds from my Hubby in red cabbage juice, it was pinkish like acidic potting soil. After 1 hour, the solution was clear at the top, not a single pink trace left. Coffee is a buffer, it neutralizes the soil, as Michaelg informed. I topdressed roses with coffee ground with no problems. Espresso ground from Starbucks is different: it stayed pink and gave my rhododrendrons pink stripes. One pot has MiracleGro Organic potting soil, neutral pH. At first Sonia Rykiel was dark green, but after 3 months of akaline tap water at pH of 8, she became very yellow. I tested her soil again in red cabbage juice, same color as my soil (pH 7.7), bluish green. The fish-tank litmus strips sold at Walmart for $5 is a fast way to test one's water. It's more accurate in the alkaline range, and NOT so in the acidic rain. I would NOT use it to test the pH of rain water, reported at 5.7, which explains why the roses in my alkaline soil are dark green in the spring. Here is a link that might be useful: Test soil pH for $1.50 using red cabbage

Hi Prairie_north: Very pretty bloom on your mini-rose. Thank you for the l info. that cracked corn changed from pink (acidic) to purple (neutral) fast. I'm happy with cracked corn in the planting hole (did that last year), so is Momscottagegarden (clay soil). I like what you wrote: "The bed around it was originally amended with peat moss, and has cedar shavings on top. Today I pushed the shavings away, dug up the soil around it, put down some sheep manure, and red lava rock." Peat moss mixed with clay becomes hardened a year later. Cedar shavings is acidic (pH 4) that would leak acid down when it rains (pH of rain is 5.6). Since mini-rose is own-root, the roots are nearer the surface, and is sensitive to acid leaching down. Own-roots do best with organic fertilizer, since it's nearer the surface ... some are wimpy like alfalfa sprouts, versus big-woody-bush-trunk Dr. Huey. Red lava rock is a strong buffer at pH 8. I mulched roses with that during our wet months .. kept roses clean. Blooming takes up lots of potassium & calcium to make those firm petals. After blooming, potassium and calcium are both depleted, plus rain leaches out potassium & calcium & trace elements. Red-lava rock in the planting hole, plus on top provide a continuous supply of potassium to prevent diseases, plus more blooms. Calcium is a strong buffer: I use that in many ways: as granular gypsum (calcium sulfate) to break up clay. If it rains a lot, I put gypsum on top of red-lava-rock. But for Dr. Huey-rootstock, I put dolomitic lime on top, since Dr. Huey likes it alkaline. Best ratio in hydroponics setting is equal nitrogen to potassium, 1/2 phosphorus, and 1/2 calcium. I burnt a few own-roots with either salty manure in hot weather, or high-phosphorus fertilizer like bone meal. My best result in hot weather is alfalfa hay for nitrogen. Timothy hay is much softer, easier to mulch .. that's what I plan to test next. I got amazing result mulching with alfalfa hay in hot weather, best nitrogen-source ever, which beat anything I tested: blood meal, compost, Milorganite, alfalfa pellets, alfalfa meal, corn meal. The problem with alfalfa in smaller particles: they gunk up on top, either souring, or hardening clay further. Alfalfa hay is fluffy, which cools and shade the roots in hot sun, plus it's a strong buffer: neutralize both acidic rain, and alkaline tap water.

Soy, Milo, and grains aren't going to fix some of this, but fortunately the required stuff isn't a problem. Where I thought you might have an issue (starter fertilizer), I gave you an alternative. It's much more expensive per thousand square feet, but... CEC 9.6: For Delaware County, that's sand and silt with no equivocation. It's a nice CEC and holds enough resources that you don't have to constantly fiddle, but not so many that the soil is difficult to change. pH 6.1: Just barely out of range of optimal...and probably not an accurate answer given your CEC and calcium amounts. Or, one reason I don't like Penn State tests. In reality, I'm thinking you're closer to 5.8. It doesn't matter much, I don't adjust the pH, I adjust the soil ions and the pH naturally follows along to settle where it should. Organic Matter 4.5%: Firmly in the Good range. There's no reason to specifically raise this, although I always recommend mulch mowing and mowing all your fall leaves in. Combined with your CEC, your soil's in decent shape in terms of ability to bind resources. Phosphorus 21: Just a little low (the chart makes it look like this is a desperate problem. It's not). I would like to kick this a bit, but only a bit. Normally, we'd use starter fertilizer (the cheapest, they're all the same) to fix this, but you can substitute triple superphosphate at 2.2 pounds per thousand square feet instead if you like and feed with soy, Milo, or grains. If they try to sell you soft rock phosphate as a "more organic" alternative, skip it. Sure, it's more organic, and I also hope you have 25 years to wait for the phosphorus to release. :-) Calcium 41.6%: Or, why I think your pH is being read too high (probably getting the pH of the water used to test it). Optimal Ca saturation would be 60-70%, and for a CEC nearly perfectly in the middle, my target is 65%. That will generate a pH of around 6.5. We use calcitic lime to correct this because it's faster, doesn't add much in terms of elements I don't want to be adding, and it does tend to be cheaper per thousand square feet. I strongly recommend Encap, Mag-I-Cal, or Pennington Fast Lime. Recommendation below. Magnesium 13.7%: Technically a touch high for your CEC (I'd target around 11-12%), the difference is so minor it's not worth discussing and certainly won't cause any issues at all. No magnesium required or desired. Potassium 4.1%: This is a touch overinflated by your low calcium, but it's not as bad as the graph implies. For this year, let's ride it. No K required. Minor elements: Not tested. Recommendations: July 15 (give or take): Apply 5 pounds of Encap, Mag-I-Cal, or Pennington Fast Lime per thousand square feet. August 1: Feed with soy, Milorganite, or other grain to around 1 pound nitrogen per thousand square feet, give or take. September 1: Apply starter fertilizer at the bag rate, OR apply TSP (Triple Superphosphate) at 2.2 pounds per thousand square feet (if using TSP, feed the lawn with soy, Milo, or grains). October 1: Apply starter fertilizer at the bag rate, OR apply TSP (Triple Superphosphate) at 2.2 pounds per thousand square feet (optionally if using TSP, feed the lawn with soy, Milo, or grains). October 15: Apply 8 pounds of Encap, Mag-I-Cal, or Pennington Fast Lime per thousand square feet.

Well basically I wanted to let my 5 year old son get to learn a little bit about pH and thought he would enjoy the fun colors. Along the way I was hoping to at least verify that the soil is not alkaline. I'm considering Pin Oak, Tulip Poplar, and Blue Berries on the property. My understanding is that the Pin Oak and Tulip can suffer Iron chlorosis if planted in alkaline soil. My anticipation is that this is not a problem as there are already 4 pin oaks growing on the property and though the leaves look kinda droopy from the drought I don't see any yellowing of the leaves. Also, I noted the farmer across the road putting lime out last year which makes me think the soil is not alkaline. At any rate thanks all for your input. I may go ahead and go to the next step with an official test since this one was disappointingly inconclusive. Oh and on the coffee grounds thing. My research likewise affirms that coffee grounds don't really acidify the soil. Apparently most of the acid goes into the coffee.