How can we homemade measure the pH from a soil sample? I have two soil samples and I'm looking forward to knowing how can I measure the pH without technologies.
"pH is determined by measuring the hydrogen ion activity in an aqueous solution. A glass electrode, calibrated against a pH standard is used to do this. A sub-sample of soil is mixed with water or CaCl2 at a ratio of 1 part soil to 5 parts liquid and the pH of the suspension is measured after 1 hour shaking".
@ Halley, you may very well measure your soil pH at home using pH strip by following the procedure: Dig for a Sample, Place 1 to 3 Teaspoons of Soil in a Clean Glass, Pour in Distilled Water, Agitate the Soil Vigorously by Stirring or Swirling, Pour Soil Sample Through a Coffee Filter and Into Another Clean Glass, Dip the pH Test Strip into the Liquid, Note the pH from colour change. You may also use pH tester if you have. Accuracy will depend on the range they cover, the number of colored spots, and the general quality of the product. Because the important pH range for soil is between 5.0 and 8.0, test strips covering this range are better than ones covering a wider range. A product with a range of 0.0 to 14.0 is quite useless for soil.
@ Halley, you may very well measure your soil pH at home using pH strip by following the procedure: Dig for a Sample, Place 1 to 3 Teaspoons of Soil in a Clean Glass, Pour in Distilled Water, Agitate the Soil Vigorously by Stirring or Swirling, Pour Soil Sample Through a Coffee Filter and Into Another Clean Glass, Dip the pH Test Strip into the Liquid, Note the pH from colour change. You may also use pH tester if you have. Accuracy will depend on the range they cover, the number of colored spots, and the general quality of the product. Because the important pH range for soil is between 5.0 and 8.0, test strips covering this range are better than ones covering a wider range. A product with a range of 0.0 to 14.0 is quite useless for soil.
Get a pH meter having a glass electrode from Amazon. Fill a Dixi Cup 3/4th full of soil. Add distilled water so to saturate. The water should be to the top of the soil. Mix. Squeeze the cup to remove the water into the cup provided with the meter and take the reading. This water can also be used for measuring Electrical Conductivity. I suggest pH paper is not that good on soils having a yellow color due to soluble organic matter.
The procedure described by prof. J. C. Tarafdar is very clear and I agree to his protocol. Rather, we can use a glass electrode pH meter dipping into the saturated soil solution sample adding with distilled water after completing stirring.
Sorry I may have done some confusion in my typing, I want to know how to measure without ph stripes or ph meter, I'm looking for some de-technologized solution like I saw on the web "we can made a homemade solution with purple cabbage to measure pH".
At this time I don't have any of this to use it's kinda a Dr. Stone (anime) solution that I'm looking for.
There are some pH meters produced for the farmer use. You can use them. They are commercially available and very cheap. The other way of measuring the pH is to use pH indicators. Just add couple of drops indicator solution and learn about approximate pH of a solution.
purple cabbage might work but you would need to 'calibrate' the response using pH buffers
I think the things you are thinking of are more litmus paper that tell if its acid or base. Not much good for the range you are looking for.
I also might add that I have seen a lot of problems occur when people do their own pH reading even when using a pH meter. Thats because a pH meter need to be properly taken care of and calibrated using buffers. The problem comes in because the meter will always give some sort of reading and when it is wrong the grower does a lot of things to their soil to try to correct for it. They might add a lot of sulfur or lime. Another problem is the adjustments to the soil take time so you can't add something then take another reading and do more correction. That is why sulfur, gypsum, lime and dolomite are added in the Fall and in the Spring you re-test to see what happened. Nutrients added just before planting. I do suggest you take your own pH readings and salt readings using a glass electrode and electrical conductivity meter.
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