Testing the Acidity/Alkalinity of your Soil
Why Testing is Important
The level of acidity or alkalinity of your soil is important if your plants are to be happy and so produce best results.
Most plants prefer a soil that is neither too acid nor too alkaline, in other words more or less neutral. is the condition in which most plants find it easiest to take up nutrients from the soil.
However, there are exceptions. For example, there is a group of plants known as ericaceous, which means acid-loving. This group includes such well-known types as rhododendrons, camellias, hydrangeas, phlox, pieris, trilliums and many more.
On the other hand there are plants that love alkaline conditions, for example clematis, lilacs, apple, astilbe, campanula, paeonia, pyracantha, verbascum and others.
How to Carry Out Testing
Professional gardeners measure acidity/alkalinity on a scale from 1 to 14, where a value of 7 is neutral, less than 7 is acidic and more than 7 is alkaline.
Most gardeners, however, do not need to be so precise and only need to know “more or less” if their soil is acid, neutral or alkaline.
For this purpose, inexpensive testing kits are readily available. Samples of soil from various parts of the garden are put into a solution that changes colour according to the type of soil it is.
Typically, if the solution shows yellow or orange, this indicates an acid soil. Dark green indicates alkaline soil and light green indicates neutral.
The simplest kits cost from £2 to £3. There are much more expensive kits that will provide greater precision and will also test other characteristics of the soil such as the levels of different nutrients.
Perhaps the most expensive options are to send soil to a laboratory for testing, which might be important if you believe the land may be contaminated in some way.
Whilst valuable for commercial growing, most gardeners will not need to invest in the more expensive options.
Read more about Types of Soil |
Read more about Soil and Climate |