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Home > Archive > Lawn and Garden forum > September 2006 > is self administered soil test reliable?
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is self administered soil test reliable?
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| kilroybass@usa.com 2006-09-10, 3:26 am |
| i bought a soil test kit at Lowe's. It tests for pH, nitrogen, and 2
others. It has 4 small bottles and what looks like a pill inside the
bottle. Are those reliable or should i take the
soil to my local extension?
Also, i just fertilized my lawn last week. Should I wait a couple more
weeks before doing the
soil test? I don't want to skew the results, because the fertilizer I
applied was nitrogen heavy.
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| trader4@optonline.net 2006-09-10, 9:25 am |
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kilroybass@usa.com wrote:
> i bought a soil test kit at Lowe's. It tests for pH, nitrogen, and 2
> others. It has 4 small bottles and what looks like a pill inside the
> bottle. Are those reliable or should i take the
> soil to my local extension?
>
> Also, i just fertilized my lawn last week. Should I wait a couple more
> weeks before doing the
> soil test? I don't want to skew the results, because the fertilizer I
> applied was nitrogen heavy.
IMO, these kits are OK for testing PH, but that's about it. I have one
of the Rapitest capsule based kits. The PH readings have been
consistent with what I've seen from agri ext tests, so I have some
faith in them. I've never seen it show any indication of nitrogen,
even a couple weeks after applying high nitrogen fertilizer.
However, it;s not all that bad, as PH is what I really use it for
anyway. I put down fertilizer by amount and schedule, spring/fall, so
I'm not that concerned with NPK.
Suggest you get a real test done too and let us know how it compares.
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