# PH tester



## endrow (Dec 15, 2011)

Anyone ever use a pH tester and the type I'm thinking of is some type of a meter with two probes that you would stick in the ground and read the pH. I have never used one and was wondering if anyone else on here ever did.? I'd like to know the pH in between soil test on a couple of these small out of the way out of the shape fields we Farm ,without doing a full soil test.


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## Hayjosh (Mar 24, 2016)

Since nobody's answered this...I use pH meters every day in my lab. I'm not sure what the two probes are you're talking about though, pH meters just have a single probe unless it has a separate temperature probe. pH needs to be determined in a solution of something so it's not going to work properly to just stick the probe in the ground and see what you get. You'd need to make a slurry of your soil.

You'd also need a probe with a non-clogging junction. The sample has to interface with the reference liquid (usually KCl) inside the probe, and it'll clog up the junction pretty quickly with dirt. I use flushable probes for pHing proteinaceous solutions since they clog junctions too, but probes like you'd need for this are expensive...a few hundred dollars, and the meter itself will set you back 1-2 grand. You'd also need calibrating solutions at pH4 and 7 and minimum.

Maybe I need to start a Hay Talk pH testing service where you send me your soil and I test the pH 

If I were you I'd just get some pH test strips, you could find them on Amazon or Ebay.


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## FarmerCline (Oct 12, 2011)

I bought one of those PH tester probes at Lowes Hardware last year for about $10. It was one of the ones like you are talking about with two probes that you stick in the ground with a gauge and needle to read the PH. Stuck it in the ground and it read about 7 everywhere I tested.....thought that was very optimistic for these fields so I went down in the woods and stuck it under a pine tree and laurel bushes and it read 7. I knew that wasn't right so I returned it and told them it didn't work.


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## Hayjosh (Mar 24, 2016)

That Lowe's meter is a joke. It's not going to be very accurate at all. Case in point...somebody in the reviews section mentioned they added vinegar to some water they were testing and it read about pH 5. That's good and all, except vinegar (acetic acid) has a pH around 2.


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## Hayman1 (Jul 6, 2013)

I agree with Hayjosh. Measured many soil samples in a lab and some with fairly expensive portable equipment in the field as part of my grad school studies in soil mineralogy. Forget the cheap things, they are going to lead you astray every time. Too easy to send a sample to the lab and get reasonably accurate info, want better understanding of what's going on, send more random samples.


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## Hayman1 (Jul 6, 2013)

I agree with Hayjosh. Measured many soil samples in a lab and some with fairly expensive portable equipment in the field as part of my grad school studies in soil mineralogy. Forget the cheap things, they are going to lead you astray every time. Too easy to send a sample to the lab and get reasonably accurate info, want better understanding of what's going on, send more random samples.


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