PH question

Bermuda, St. Augustine, Zoysia, Centipede, Bahia, Paspalum, etc
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jtyrie
Posts: 111
Joined: May 22nd, 2010, 3:39 pm
Location: Prosper, TX
Grass Type: Hybrid Bermuda
Lawn Size: 5000-10000
Level: Experienced

PH question

Post by jtyrie » September 17th, 2020, 10:31 am

This should probably be in the Soil Management forum. I don't think anyone looks there unless they are having a test. Admin, please move if you need to.

I moved into my home in DFW, a little less than 6 months ago. The house is 7 years old and the Bermuda lawn appears to have had very little care. I have been taking care of a lot of issues and didn't get a soil test done yet.

I was digging up the soil for the test and decided to go ahead and do a PH test. I suspect that my PH is off because the fertilizer doesn't seem to be as effective as my experience in the past. Anyway, I have the Botaniworld Garden Tutor test strips. There are 4 colored panels in each strip. You simply match the colors up with their chart and get your PH. The problem I am having is that The colors do not match any one of their examples. The manual indicates that all four of the colors on the test strip will match up with one PH. Mine don't. For example, in my results, the bottom color is red and it matches the 3.5 PH. The second from the top color is yellow and it matches the 6.0 PH.

I have done at least a dozen tests and this result is consistent. I don't find any mention of this on their web site or in a general search of the web. Does anyone have any ideas what is going on here? It may just be bad test strips. I will be sending my soil in for the test shortly and I'd love to see if my test result match the commercial lab.

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MorpheusPA
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Re: PH question

Post by MorpheusPA » September 17th, 2020, 1:30 pm

It's probably simply a bad test. In my experience, most home tests are, well, bad.

It gets worse in that pH is also a fairly useless number as it tells you absolutely nothing in terms of how to fix the soil. So...lets say your soil actually was 6.0 (possible...but I have my doubts in the DFW area, and 3.5 is just flat out not going to happen except in some areas with chemical dumping).

That's not very far off optimal, so that's good. But...uh...is calcium OK? Magnesium? Potassium? The test tells us nothing about these, and how they're influencing your pH.

Let's wait for your Logan Labs test (you are going with Logan, yes?) and see what that says. It's going to tell us pH (which I ignore except in passing) and, more importantly, the calcium, magnesium, potassium, sulfur, and sodium balances that are making up your soil.

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jtyrie
Posts: 111
Joined: May 22nd, 2010, 3:39 pm
Location: Prosper, TX
Grass Type: Hybrid Bermuda
Lawn Size: 5000-10000
Level: Experienced

Re: PH question

Post by jtyrie » September 17th, 2020, 3:06 pm

Thank You. Deep down I think I knew that was the best answer. I'll be posting my results soon then I can get on a real plan.

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