I tested my soil pH, Home brew style
7 years ago
So I tested my soil pH this past weekend using the home brew methods (red cabbage, and vinegar/baking soda). Interesting I sort of got conflicting results. The cabbage juice seemed to suggest that the soil might be slightly alkaline, the baking soda seems to say acidic.
So here's the water with just the cabbage juice:
Next I did a control with vinegar only (far left) and a control with baking soda only (far right) in the cabbage juice. Then I added soil from the front yard (middle left) to the cabbage juice. As you can see the middle cups pretty much match the baking soda only:
Finally, I add vinegar to the front yard cup of soil and baking soda to the back yard cup of soil. Nice pink juice in the vinegar soil cup but no fizz. The baking soda soil cup turns almost black and starts fizzing:
.
Here's a good shot of the fizz.
Well that was fun!
But now I'm still not sure about my soil pH. I guess I'm going to have to get some sort of test kit. Since I want to grow a couple things that are very touchy about pH, such as blue berries.
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Comments (8)
7 years ago- 7 years ago
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How to naturally bring my soil pH down a smidgen?
Comments (22)Gypsums benefit with soils is where you have a sodic soil. That part is right. The Calcium Sulfate binds with the excess sodium in those soils so they are no longer a major problem. That part is.......less right. ;) Gypsum provides calcium, which helps in two ways. A bit of set up: Clay and organic matter carry a negative charge while both calcium and sodium carry a positive charge. The positive atoms (sodium and calcium) "stick" to the negative soil particles; kind of like magnets. Sodium has a positive charge of +1 and calcium has a positive charge of +2. First benefit: The calcium that is provided by gypsum will displace (aka: take the place of) sodium on the exchange (surface of negatively charged particles). When sodium is floating around in the soil solution rather than being stuck (aka: "adsorbed") to soil particles, it is free to be flushed out of the active root zone with water. Second benefit: Sodium, with its charge of +1 can only stick to one negatively charged soil particle (clay or o.m.) at a time. It will take up that little chunk of the soil surface and not bind to anything else. With enough sodium on their surfaces, the particles won't be able to stick together. [Clay Particle]+Naooocolor> Na+[Clay Particle]---Sproing!---> Calcium's +2 charge will allow it to stick to one particle and grab another at the same time. "Click"--->[Clay Particle]+Ca+[Clay Particle]This helps the particles stick to gether (aka: "floculate"). It is that sticking together that allows the soil to form structure. The structure facilitates good air and water movement. Since water can now move through the soil, it is possible to leach sodium....See MoreSoil pH Testing for Garden Fair
Comments (9)There are a number of these simple soil tests that people can use in addition to the nutrient and soil pH tests done by a soil lab and this list is one of them. Rather than using a pH meter that may not give accurate readings and would not tell people why their soil is at the pH is is at, perhaps a demonstration of these would be better adn would get people actually looking at the soil they have, hopffully. 1) Structure. From that soil sample put enough of the rest to make a 4 inch level in a clear 1 quart jar, with a tight fitting lid. Fill that jar with water and replace the lid, tightly. Shake the jar vigorously and then let it stand for 24 hours. Your soil will settle out according to soil particle size and weight. A good loam will have about 1-3/4 inch (about 45%) of sand on the bottom. about 1 inch (about 25%) of silt next, about 1 inch (25%) of clay above that, and about 1/4 inch (about 5%) of organic matter on the top. 2) Drainage. Dig a hole 1 foot square and 1 foot deep and fill that with water. After that water drains away refill the hole with more water and time how long it takes that to drain away. Anything less than 2 hours and your soil drains too quickly and needs more organic matter to slow that drainage down. Anything over 6 hours and the soil drains too slowly and needs lots of organic matter to speed it up. 3) Tilth. Take a handful of your slightly damp soil and squeeze it tightly. When the pressure is released the soil should hold together in that clump, but when poked with a finger that clump should fall apart. 4) Smell. What does your soil smell like? A pleasant, rich earthy odor? Putrid, offensive, repugnant odor? The more organic matter in your soil the more active the soil bacteria will be and the nicer you soil will smell. 5) Life. How many earthworms per shovel full were there? 5 or more indicates a pretty healthy soil. Fewer than 5, according to the Natural Resources Conservation Service, indicates a soil that is not healthy....See MoreTesting soil pH the Red Cabbage Style !!
Comments (8)Thank you, ceth, for those great pics. you took. Your soil looks slight blue, slightly alkaline, around 7.2 to 7.3 ... I wonder how that would compare to tea leaves, at 7.2. I'll boil some cabbage, and test tea leaves against other reported values for cooked oat meal, rice, potato, bread, frozen cooked green peas, tomatoes... I might take some pictures. I can't test my soil since it's covered in snow. I posted the info. to alert folks about the danger of over-fertilizing. If the pH is between 6 and very alkaline, and if the soil is clay rather than sandy, there is no need of dumping nitrogen ... nitrogen is plenty in my clay soil of pH 7.7, and air is made of 78.09% nitrogen. I never fertilize my decidous trees, yet they are taller than my house. Nitrogen is needed only in pots or sandy soil that leaks out. After using chemical fertilizer that leaks out from pots, I switched to blood meal (has iron) and dried chicken manure. Both are sticky, with slow-released nitrogen ... so plants in pots stay dark green. To fix my heavy clay at pH 7.7, these holes are from best to OK for my roses. 1) Hole mixed with pine fines (pH 4 to 5), lots of blooming from the humic acid released by decomposed pine, and its 21% water-retention ability. 2) Hole mixed with leaves - lots of bloomings. NPK of leaves is 0.8 / 0.35 / 0.2 Leaves retain water well, and phosphorus is released with decomposed organic matter. 3) Hole mixed with grass clippings - kind of stingy, it might be from the high value of nitrogen. NPK of grass is 4 / 0.5 / 0.2 ... my clay retains nutrients well so higher in nitrogen can make it stingy. Below is a picture of own-root Sonia Rykiel rose turning chlorotic from nitrogen and iron leaching out of a pot (I watered it with soluble NPK of 18-24-16, with 0.1 iron, plus a high nitrogen soluble NPK of 32-10-10, with 0.33% iron). Compare that to the dark green, own-root Golden Celebration rose to the right. It's planted in heavy clay mulched with horse manure and alfalfa meal. Both are slow-released nitrogen, and horse manure has iron to make it dark green....See MoreReasons for testing pH of bagged soils: lousy performance
Comments (18)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...See More- 7 years ago
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