whats a good cheap way to test ph?

I've been looking on amazon and all the ph meters are pretty pricey (at least the ones rated higher then 2 stars)

is there a better way to test my ph? what if i just use litmus strips and test my water? wouldn't an aquarium test work on my water? and then i can just mix some soil with the water, and get a general idea of my soil ph

i use this
https://www.amazon.com/General-Hydroponics-GH1515-Strips-1-Ounce/dp/B000BT32UA/ref=sr_1_1?s=lawn-garden&ie=UTF8&qid=1466351109&sr=1-1&keywords=ph+test

You can get aquarium PH drops at Wally World for like $5

Invest in an Oakton PH2 and calibration solution package that contains Potassium Chloride. Stored correctly I haven't had to recalibrate this thing ever. I do re-calibrate it but when I do it's always spot on still. I know it seems more expensive but if you take care of it you can test pH all you want and it will last for over a year at least and I am betting a lot longer. I have tried so many cheap meters and this one is a perfect balance between expensive versus garbage. If you want you can also skip Potassium Chloride and just get pH 4.0 and 7.0 calibration solutions. You can store the tip in either of those alternating to keep them even.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004G8PWAU


That's the thing about forums they make you think.

I buy the refill size of GH drops....the small bottle (1 fl oz / 30 ml) was $7, and the refill bottle (8 fl oz / 237 ml) was $15...so great value

The general hydroponics ph test kit is cheap and IMO the most reliable. I use one of these to test the soil. Don't eat the little pills that come with it. They even make npk testers.

you can't get an "accurate" reading of ph in soil . dont even try , its not worth the time an money. mixing your soil with water is as close as you can get but its not accurate by no means. you just have to know what your starting soil is an go from there. if its pure peat moss base then its too low an needs amended. (lime ect...)



soil

getogrow said:

you can't get an "accurate" reading of ph in soil . dont even try , its not worth the time an money. mixing your soil with water is as close as you can get but its not accurate by no means. you just have to know what your starting soil is an go from there. if its pure peat moss base then its too low an needs amended. (lime ect...)



soil

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How do you know what your starting soil is? Do you just guess?

Dr.Pecker said:

How do you know what your starting soil is? Do you just guess?

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im not talking the ph of the soil , im talking the soil in general ....read , read an read some more an you'll know your soil is good. like we know coco has a good ph to start ... we know soil has a good ph to start , we know peat moss has a very low ph to start .



soil

and yes you just guess. unless you can afford to send it to a lab. (the whole pot of soil not just a plug out of a plant.




soil

getogrow said:

and yes you just guess. unless you can afford to send it to a lab. (the whole pot of soil not just a plug out of a plant.




soil

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Whats the lab going to use? Do they just guess?

surely your soil is sorting out the ph? or is your soil too hot?

bologna an used chicken feet. call the lab an ask um.



soil

soil IS a buffer , so you cant change the ph of it anyways. Not without longterm amendments. ph up an ph down is useless in soil is all im saying.



soil

getogrow said:

soil IS a buffer , so you cant change the ph of it anyways. Not without longterm amendments. ph up an ph down is useless in soil is all im saying.



soil

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Ph up and down is useless for soil but not for the nutrient solution that you feed the plants. Soil can buffer if they have a buffer.

okay so, i used a rapidtest, and my soil ph was about 7. my water ph tested about 8. So now..based on those 2$ tests, wouldn't it make sense to just get my water down to say 6.2 and then water with that every time, eventually my soil should be like 6.3-6.8 right? makes sense to me. Even just testing the water, with my aquarium litmus papers, then watering my plants with around a 6.3 ph water should be fine i would thinkk

sunandsky said:

okay so, i used a rapidtest, and my soil ph was about 7. my water ph tested about 8. So now..based on those 2$ tests, wouldn't it make sense to just get my water down to say 6.2 and then water with that every time, eventually my soil should be like 6.3-6.8 right? makes sense to me. Even just testing the water, with my aquarium litmus papers, then watering my plants with around a 6.3 ph water should be fine i would thinkk

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One time pot growers think they can grow anything anywhere.

have you watched any of them video's? you can change the soil ph over a long period of time but you cannot change it with ph up or down.
does a plant eat the food you feed it right away? if so then yes you can change the ph of water/nutes to help. if not , then the soil is ALWAYS going to buffer the ph to what the soil is.

outdoors , its great to change your ph to desired lvl over some years with amendments but its not going to happen in a pot in 3 months.



soil

getogrow said:

have you watched any of them video's? you can change the soil ph over a long period of time but you cannot change it with ph up or down.
does a plant eat the food you feed it right away? if so then yes you can change the ph of water/nutes to help. if not , then the soil is ALWAYS going to buffer the ph to what the soil is.

outdoors , its great to change your ph to desired lvl over some years with amendments but its not going to happen in a pot in 3 months.



soil

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I never said anything about changing it with ph up or down.

i used to feed mine with a ph of 4.0 going in.....never had a prob with those nutes. (earth juice) The soil buffered it to an acceptable range an plants ate it.




soil