Warning: I stopped trusting those cheap backyard soil test kits after my garden failed

I used to grab those $8 pH test strips from the hardware store every spring. Last year I tested my soil in three spots, got good readings, and planted 20 tomato plants. By July I had nothing but yellow leaves and tiny fruit. A real lab test from the county extension office showed my pH was way off and I was low on nitrogen. Has anyone else gotten bad results from those home test kits?

2 comments

2 Comments

nina_lane163d ago

Did you do the test on dry soil or wet? Makes a big difference with those cheap strips.

harperschmidt3d ago

Oh man, that exact thing happened to my buddy Dave last summer. He used those cheap kits on his raised beds, got perfect readings, and went all in on heirloom peppers and cucumbers. By August everything was stunted and sad looking, he even tried adding more fertilizer thinking it was a deficiency but it just made things worse. Finally he sent a sample to the state ag lab and found out his soil was actually super alkaline and the test strips were just showing whatever they wanted. He was so mad he threw the whole kit in the trash and now he just uses the county extension, says it's only like 20 bucks and actually works.