Downingtown Vegetable Garden: March 21, 2010 Soil Testing

On a whim yesterday I purchased a soil test kit at Ace just to get an idea what I was working with. Everything grew pretty mightily last year but I was curious to see if there is anything I should be amending the soil with to improve the P-K-N balance as well as the pH to make this year even more successful. So I ended up buying a Rapitest brand Soil Test Kit for $17.

The kit was pretty easy to use and yielded fast results. For the pH meausrement you add a small amount of soil, some water, and then the contents of a capsule. The P-K-N tests took a little longer as you have to first mix the soil with a water at a ratio of 1:5. You then let it settle out and sample the 'clear' water along with one of the capsules. I do have one major complaint with the kit. The chemicals that you add to the water or soil come inside these little capsules that you are expected to seperate and add to the small side of the container. That was much easier said than done. It was easier to cut the capsule open with a sharp knife over a piece of paper and add it from the paper.

With the exception of the Phosphorus on Sample 1, all the results were pretty consistent. I'm doing just fine with the Potassium, but could use a little boost on the Nitrogen and Phosphorus side. I bungled the pH samples by throwing out the dirt that I needed in a premature attempt at cleaning up. I did manage to take take a pH reading of Sample 1, but the rest will have to wait.