Hi C Robin! 👋 Thank you for watching. It was fun for us to finally find out what our soil pH was, at least in this area of our yard. Good with finding yours and, if you want, let us know what you find. 😄
I purchased pool test strips will that work the same? But I didn’t have a graph to lineup with all the colors like you did. Do you have a copy that you could post of the color chart? Thanks.
South Carolina here (midlands) A LOT of clay in our soil. I have had 4 tea olive bushes planted in a raised bed for at least 20 years and only one has grown but is not full and very leggy and sparse. The other three go in stairsteps down to the 4th which is still barely 2 ft tall. I read where clay soil is usually very alkaline and I'm thinking that possibly I need to adjust the PH. Problem is it's already May 2nd, so I can't really prune them so I want to add lime to the soil. You suggest adding it to the entire bed . Would it be best to mix the lime into water first and pour it around the bed or just sprinkle it around? I haven't tested the soil yet and wonder if I can test with my pool PH kit. I have a reverse osmosis water system which is likely more acidic so I think if I use a little of my pool water which is kept neutral, I could use that to test. Would a pool test kit work?
You're supposed to let the soil and water set for 30 minutes to let the soil settle out. Then you get relatively clear solution that won't obscure the findings. pH measures the hydrogen ion concentration in water, not mud. (Not a negative criticism, just trying to help).
You need to dig down 4-6" and take the pH measurement of that soil, not the soil on the surface. Make sure you use distilled water too.
Very informative & well presented. You two are pleasing to watch & listen to.
Thanks for the demonstration, about to do the same thing at our homestead.
Hi C Robin! 👋 Thank you for watching. It was fun for us to finally find out what our soil pH was, at least in this area of our yard. Good with finding yours and, if you want, let us know what you find. 😄
I purchased pool test strips will that work the same? But I didn’t have a graph to lineup with all the colors like you did. Do you have a copy that you could post of the color chart? Thanks.
South Carolina here (midlands) A LOT of clay in our soil. I have had 4 tea olive bushes planted in a raised bed for at least 20 years and only one has grown but is not full and very leggy and sparse. The other three go in stairsteps down to the 4th which is still barely 2 ft tall. I read where clay soil is usually very alkaline and I'm thinking that possibly I need to adjust the PH. Problem is it's already May 2nd, so I can't really prune them so I want to add lime to the soil. You suggest adding it to the entire bed . Would it be best to mix the lime into water first and pour it around the bed or just sprinkle it around? I haven't tested the soil yet and wonder if I can test with my pool PH kit. I have a reverse osmosis water system which is likely more acidic so I think if I use a little of my pool water which is kept neutral, I could use that to test. Would a pool test kit work?
You're supposed to let the soil and water set for 30 minutes to let the soil settle out. Then you get relatively clear solution that won't obscure the findings. pH measures the hydrogen ion concentration in water, not mud. (Not a negative criticism, just trying to help).
Are you using distilled water?
Good question.
is that a pine tree behind you?