How to PH Test Soil?

S

Soul Synergy

Member
Greetings, I've been working on an ideal, soul synergy soil mix for a while now. Recently, I happened upon the michigan mix (m^3 formally known as the medical marijuana mix). This is the best soil ive found to date. It's loamy, fluffy, nutrient rich, organic, light, airy, and fertile. Now that's soul synergy soil. Only problem is that it costs 40$ a bag. Fortunately, the mix seems easily replicable and the ingredients are readily obtainable. My only question is how can I accurately test the PH of my soul synergy soil mix so as to maintain a prime PH for plant growth around 6.4?

Thanks for your time.

With lovelight and holy harmony,

Soul Synergy
 
bamacheese

bamacheese

Well-Known Member
What I have found works best is....Get around a 16-22 oz glass....Get a really good sample of your soil, mixed well obviously, and moisten it with ph neutral water. It is extremely important that this water is 7.0. Let this solution soak for about 2 hours so the water evenly spreads. After the two hours, scoop out about 1/3 of the soil out of the cup, and add more ph neutral water until you have what i call a "soil slush". It should be almost a muddy, milkshake consistency. After this has settled for 2 hours, the reading you get out of the "sludge" will be an accurate reading +.3/-.3 on the ph scale. The most important part of this process is getting a good ph meter, crap meters are pointless. In my opinion, if you spent under $150 on your meter, it is a complete waste of time and you should simply send a soil sample to a lab to be tested. Hope this helps!!! If you need a recommendation for a nice ph meter, i would recommend the Hanna HI9813-6N Waterproof meter. It automatically adjusts to temperature, and is very accurate!
 
S

Soul Synergy

Member
bamacheese said:
What I have found works best is....Get around a 16-22 oz glass....Get a really good sample of your soil, mixed well obviously, and moisten it with ph neutral water. It is extremely important that this water is 7.0. Let this solution soak for about 2 hours so the water evenly spreads. After the two hours, scoop out about 1/3 of the soil out of the cup, and add more ph neutral water until you have what i call a "soil slush". It should be almost a muddy, milkshake consistency. After this has settled for 2 hours, the reading you get out of the "sludge" will be an accurate reading +.3/-.3 on the ph scale. The most important part of this process is getting a good ph meter, crap meters are pointless. In my opinion, if you spent under $150 on your meter, it is a complete waste of time and you should simply send a soil sample to a lab to be tested. Hope this helps!!! If you need a recommendation for a nice ph meter, i would recommend the Hanna HI9813-6N Waterproof meter. It automatically adjusts to temperature, and is very accurate!
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Perfect. I have the Hanna reader. Does the 7.0 PHed water affect the reading of soil PH? Do you have to account for the waters PH when measuring soil PH with this method? For instance, if you have water with a PH of 7.0 and soil with a PH of 5.0 won't your reading of soil PH using the aforementioned tactic be some kind of a median between water ph and soil ph?
 
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