What does everyone use to text soil ph?
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I just check the run off water (after watering). Gather up enough to test. Not going to tell you the ph of soil but I monitor it for creeping higher ph levelsâŚ
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I bought a few of the cheap-o kind off Amazon & after a few some of the people on here suggested Apera 20. Bought one & love it. Make sure when you get a decent PH pen to use the storage fluid, I didnât know about it an perhaps thats why the cheap-Oâs failed.
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I use an Apera PC60 since it measures both pH and PPM. Itâs a more expensive option, but I had problems with some of the cheaper options. Whatever you do, donât rely on one of those 2 prong 3-in-one meters. They are worthless other than the ability to get a general idea of soil moisture .
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My phone.
Soil slurry - Apera PH20 and Bluelab Conductivity Pen for ppm
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Welcome ! If growing a little weed is something you plan on continuing to do. I recommend save your 10 or 20 bucks that you will spend on a cheap throw away pH probe , basically the cheap ones youâre going to spend all your time chasing the calibration . spend 50 bucks on a quality apera or blue lab digital pH meter. Well worth the money just my thoughts good luck.
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Another vote for the Apera. I use the pH20 and I love it. As said above, take a little runoff and measure that 
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@Dewaine , @MidwestGuy, @IKnowURider, @beardless, @kellydans:
Here is how you check the PH of your soil.
Measuring the pH of soil / soilless runoff
How to test the pH of your soil mix
The pH of soil is just as important as with hydro applications, but few people know how to test soil pH to see if it is within the optimum range for growing robust healthy plants. Here I will try to explain my method of testing any soil / soilless mix, enabling me to spot any problems and correct them if necessary.
Firstly, wait till your soil has dried out and is due for its next watering schedule. Then take some plain water that you usually water your garden with, and adjust the pH to 7.0. You must make sure that you know the exact pH of the water going into your soil, and the neutral 7.0 is best, but anywhere from 6.5 â 7.0 will suffice.
Then place your pot into a bowl of some sort to catch the runoff water, and then start to water your soil slowly (with your pH- corrected plain water) till the water starts to drip from the bottom. Itâs the first drops of water that will give you the best reading of your soil, so make sure to water slowly till you see the first droplets. Then remove the pot from the bowl to eliminate excess water entering the bowl. Then perform the pH test on the runoff and compare it too your initial test.
The results of the runoff test will likely be lower than your starting value of 7.0. If this is the case, a small drop of 0.5 pH to 6.5 pH (example) would be ok and your soil needs no further alterations at the moment. But thatâs not to say that it wonât need any future tests at all, just not at this time.
[Editorâs note: It may be beneficial to obtain an initial sample, as well as a âfull flushâ sample in separate bowls. In addition, test several plants in the garden just to verify your results]
What if the pH is off?
If your results prove to have dropped considerably, say to around 5.5 (which can happen in late stages of flowering), you will need to add some lime into your soil to help buffer the pH back up again.
Remove the first inch or so of soil, taking care not to damage any roots whilst performing this task, ensuring that your pH is correct should be done throughout the life cycle; this will help eliminate any nutrient lockout that may occur. I recommend doing this once a month just to keep the PH in check, and you should never have a problem with deficiencies caused by pH lockout. Then sprinkle the lime into the pot, nice and evenly at a rate of 1 teaspoon (5 ml) of lime per gallon of soil. Then replace the soil you removed earlier, and saturate the soil good to wash in the lime.
Do the same test next time your plants need watering just to check that everything is fine, if more lime needs to be added then just repeat the process again till you reach close to 6.5 â 7.0 with the runoff.
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With the use of fabric pots it seems no matter how slow I water, I still get some coming down the side of the bag. For that reason I figure the first bit is less reliable than the ph of a full 10 - 15% runoff. I havenât killed any plants lately
I thought this article did a pretty good job of explaining it. Runoff pH: Explaining the Bro Science | Curious Cultivations
It says to: water the plant until some comes out the bottom. Once it stops dripping out, measure the pH of that liquid.
Its explanation is closer to yours (except for the stop dripping part) than how I do it.
The take away in either case is, it is better to check than not doing it at all.
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@beardless ⌠well, the method that you describe here, would be for checking runoff of the water that you just put in since youâre waiting for it to stop dripping.
The question here was âSOIL ph testingâ not run off. And the method that I talk about above, is how you do it. Donât wait for what you just added to drain down, cuz that will only give you a false reading of what you are really wanting to check.
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