When I was in junior high school, back when dinosaurs roamed the earth, we tested the ph of a solution by dipping litmus paper into it and comparing the paper's color to a chart. I want to test the ph of my soil in different places, and I have no desire to buy a soil testing kit: a litmus paper system should only cost a few cents per test. But I am far from a chem lab nowadays, and do not even know where to get litmus paper much less how to use it to test the ph of a non-liquid. Any advice, anyone?
Litmus paper only told the difference between acid (pH <7) and alkaline (pH >7), it doesn't indicate what the pH actually is - it won't distinguish between e.g. slightly acid (pH 6) and strongly acid (pH 4). For that (yep, I remember some school chemistry too!) one needs universal pH testing paper, which contains several dyes which change colour at different pH levels, so it gives a scale of several different colours over various different pH levels. If all you want to know is whether your soil is acidic or alkaline without needing to know to what degree of acidity or alkalinity, then a bit of beetroot juice or red cabbage juice will act the same as litmus - blue in alkaline soil, red in acidic soil.
Ok, Soccerdad. You should be able to find fine-range definitive pH testing strips at pool-supply shops or aquarium shops, as both of these deal in water that must have a precise balance. A canister of strips should run you about $10. Occasionally, you'll find ones calibrated in 10ths of a degree of pH. Pool supply shops also sometimes sell strips to test for chlorine levels and dissolved solids (read as an "alkalinity" level). However, you're in Vancouver. Check your yellow pages for listings of Chemical Supply companies. Oftentimes they stock and sell standard pH paper, and it will normally be cheaper than the strips available at the aquariam shop. To test the pH of your soil, go as follows: 1. Get some water of pH 7.0 (use your strips to determine this. If it's distilled, chances are it'll be slightly acidic, so add a bit of sea salt to bring up the alkalinity.) 2. Get a completely clean glass jar or large test tube (these can sometimes be found at home decoration stores, where they're sold as spice jars) 3. Take a tablespoon scoop of your soils, and place this in the glass jar 4. Add enough water to make a fairly liquid slurry 5. Shake well for about 5 minutes, then allow to repose for 10 6. Dip the strip, and read the pH of the soil. Because you're using pH neutral (7.0) water, the reading you get from dissolved soil is fairly accurate. When I lived in Canada and did my soil testing this way, it cost about 15 cents a test. The second method involves getting the soil quite wet with the pH neutral water, then dragging the strip through the wet soil. I prefer the first method, because I don't end up with dirt-crumbs on my pH papers.
aquarium stores also may have the pH test strips. I had a pH pen for hydroponics a few years ago, that was most accurate and pretty easy to use but at about $100 for the gizmo, not cost effective unless you are in a large production.
