Are at home soil tests accurate? Let's find out. In this video I will compare the results of an at home soil test kit with a soil lab test for accuracy. I will show you how to do an at home soil test using the Luster Leaf Rapidtest Kit, explain why you might want to test your soil, and share the results of the test from the lab.
Hi, I’m Christina with Forever Food Forest. A channel where I explore ways of growing food without the use of herbicides, pesticides, or commercial fertilizers. And instead I rely on natural gardening and permaculture gardening techniques to grow food that's good for the garden and good for the planet. So let’s get started.
Blueberries require a soil pH of about 4.0 to 5.5. It’s very acidic. And if the pH is too alkaline, they are not able to take up magnesium and iron and an iron deficiency shows up and looks like yellow leaves that lack chlorophyll. Because magnesium helps make chlorophyll. A soil test is like a doctor's visit for your garden. It can help you diagnose any problems or just find out where your soil stands in terms of nutrients and pH.
I want this area to be kinda like an orchard. And I have a bunch of mulch down. I’m gonna plant some starter trees. I have a fig tree over there. An avocado tree that’s gonna go somewhere over here. But before I do any of that I’m gonna do a soil test. And to get a good soil sample I’m gonna scrape the mulch and then dig down about 18 inches, and collect a sample form 15 different areas. The reason that I want to do that is because I want to get an average of this whole area. This is known as a composite sample and it’s a lot more cost effective than doing a test on each spot individually. Instead of doing 15 different tests, I take 15 samples, combine them into one and take a small sample out of that for testing. The test is only as good as my sample. I make sure to extract an even amount of soil while moving my trowel along the side and then put that in a bucket. Then take all those samples, mix them together, and let the soil dry out.
So right here I have my soil samples. And now I’m just gonna prepare the soil test to be sent off to the lab. That’s about half a pint. Seal these up. Get a box, and send them off to get tested.
While we wait for the lab results, let’s do the at home soil test. I’m gonna mix my soil with 5 parts of purified water. Purified water is recommended because tap water may or may not have some minerals already dissolved in it, and that would affect the results.
Oh yeah, this one’s chunky.
And then I let it sit for about 24 hours until all the solids have sunk to the bottom. Look at that color. Now I use the handy dandy pipette to extract the water and not any of the solids to fill the testing chambers. I wanna fill both sides of the testing chamber because the water, as you can see, has a tint. And if the other chamber is left blank, the tint could skew the test results. So in order to be very scientific and accurate we are going to fill both chambers fully and then I’m going to add the reactor pills. This at home kit tests for major macro nutrients: potassium, nitrogen, and phosphorus as well as the pH. Now do I first take the red pill or the blue pill? We’ll keep it scientific. It’s actually more of an orange pill, isn’t it. So I just twist open the capsule and empty out the powder into the testing chamber making sure that every last drop of the powder is out. Then I seal it and give it a good shake to make sure that it all mixes around. And after that I leave it alone for 10 minutes. It’s very important to leave it alone for 10 minutes to let the color develop. And while the potassium test is developing, I’m gonna start the nitrogen and phosphorus test as well. Here in Florida our sandy soils and daily monsoon style rains over the summer cause all of these nutrients to wash out of our soils. So that’s another reason why I’m doing this test is to see where my soil stands in terms of nutrients. Even if there were nutrients in it last year, if I didn’t put down any organic matter all of that stuff would have washed away by fall. And with the magic of editing it looks like 10 minutes have passed. What is this one? Potassium. Oh it’s very clear there’s a bunch of potassium. But is it accurate? Well guess what! I got the lab results right here and we’re about to find out.