Soil/compost PH

[The Haroo ln]

Hey all, so just measured my soil PH this morning and it's showing between 7-8. Neutral/ever so slightly alkaline. I was wondering if adding some ericaceous compost into my soil would help bring the PH down more towards 6 -6.5? Any suggestions?

 

[The Haroo ln]

Or ericaceous plant food/fertilizer? I found this on Amazon and it's says it can help bring soil into optimum ph for ericaceous(lime hating plants). It's got me wondering ...

 

[ProZachJ]

I use different types of compost and mix in different ratios to achieve roughly the pH that I want. "Biocompost" tends to have the lowest pH around 5.5. Mushroom compost the highest around 6.5.

 

[johnny108]

You could also dig out an5 gallon bucket sized hole for each plant, and fill it with bagged potting soil (I often find “soil specifically for tomatoes- this should be about perfect), then plant your plants in the middle of the hole.
Expensive, but it works.
How did you test the soil ph?

 

[The Haroo ln]

You could also dig out an5 gallon bucket sized hole for each plant, and fill it with bagged potting soil (I often find “soil specifically for tomatoes- this should be about perfect), then plant your plants in the middle of the hole.
Expensive, but it works.
How did you test the soil ph?

I have soil test meter. It tests the PH, the moistness and how much light is getting to the soil

 

[johnny108]

I have soil test meter. It tests the PH, the moistness and how much light is getting to the soil

What usually grows there?
Might be able to get a good read in the ph from what plants already do well.
Got a sacrificial tomato or tobacco plant you could plant early and protect against the cold, maybe see how it does?

 

[The Haroo ln]

What usually grows there?
Might be able to get a good read in the ph from what plants already do well.
Got a sacrificial tomato or tobacco plant you could plant early and protect against the cold, maybe see how it does?

Yeah my mother usually plants tomato's, chilli's, onion and a few other veggies there

 

[Alpine]

If you can grow tomatoes (tomato leaves) you can grow tobacco.

pier

 

[The Haroo ln]

So it turns out the soil tester i bought was faulty. I've now bought another one and it's showing me a PH of between 6.0-6.5 so looks perfect

 

[WillQuantrill]

So it turns out the soil tester i bought was faulty. I've now bought another one and it's showing me a PH of between 6.0-6.5 so looks perfect

I have one of the same testers and while I keep testing with it I have always been skeptical of its accuracy. I bought some dip strip PH testers fairly inexpensive but takes a good eye to interpret, to test the tester it confirms the same range 7-7.5. So maybe they work better than I gave it credit for but decent enough to get in the ballpark. This being my 4th season in the tobacco business I'm starting to bone up on the chemistry involved, certainly not near the level of some of the gentleman here but do plan on submitting a soil sample this fall to have concrete results.

 

[deluxestogie]

In the US:

https://www.nrcs.usda.gov/sites/default/files/2022-09/stelprdb1167377-soil-testing.pdf

Check your county agricultural extension service.

Bob

 

[Skafidr]

So it turns out the soil tester i bought was faulty. I've now bought another one and it's showing me a PH of between 6.0-6.5 so looks perfect

Playing devil's advocate here, just for the sake of discussion, what tells you that the first one is faulty and not the second one? Are you victim of confirmation bias?

 

[The Haroo ln]

Because the 1st one read between 7-8 PH in my soil patch and then the same in my pots which was weird as the compost and soil i used in my pots was completely different haha. When I measured with the new tester it read 6-6.5 in the ground and around 5.5 -6 in my pots

 

[Skafidr]

This could still be valid results, both location being the same pH, but I agree that a soil with pH of 7-8 seems a bit unusual, and also if all the locations you test are the same.