Full Overview

Provides 10 tests for pH. Patented comparator test system.

Technical Details

- Luster Leaf
- 1612
- Seed Starting

I bought this item because my tomatoes were getting soft bottoms from excessively acidic soil last season. After liming and waiting a few weeks, the tester showed slightly acidic. Even though they are not ripe yet, the plants are obviously healthier and show none of the early sings of the problem. This product took all of the guess work out.

I grew up on a farm and I've been gardening for over 50 years. When I was a child, we took soil samples to our county agent every few years and guessed during the years between samples. That was not often enough for NKP or PH. The County Agent's report covered 6 or 8 more things such as borax, aluminum, and calcium. Those things change very slowly and only need to be tested for only every 5 to 10 years. In the fifties and sixties, we just assumed the soil would need lime each year; it was acid. However, the amount we used was calculated by rule of thumb. Others used the taste test; tasting the soil to tell if it was sweet or sour; better than nothing but very distasteful when the fertilizer of choice is manure.

If you do no other tests, do this one! PH controls whether or not a plant can take up nutrients. All the fertilizer in the world will not help, if the PH is wrong. I purchased the full test set as well as this one so that I could do more frequent PH tests and in more places such as around shrubs, bushes, and trees, especially fruiting trees and bushes. I have been using these products for at least 20 years. This purchase was just to renew my supply. I can usually go 2 or3 years with a full Luster Leaf set plus an extra PH test set. Buy and use it!. It will save you money on fertilizer and you can have the best garden in the neighborhood!

Worked perfectly and very easy to use. The set comes with a bunch of capsules so you can use it a bunch of times.

...but Consumer Reports found the results inconsistent, so I plan to repeat the test and average the results. (There are enough supplies included to test soil 10 times.)

Comparing all of the other products out there took a while. There are so many different methods of doing this. But, this one was cheap and most importantly it worked. It gave me a pretty good idea of the contents of my soil and I was able to make additions to it for a pH that I wanted for a vegetable garden. This past Summer it produced so much that I couldn't keep up with it. So, apparently I got it right, thanks to checking the pH.

It works for me cheap and accurate compared to a test from USDA. Test with pure distilled water first to use as the basis then begin testing, always use the same location and light source to view tester. Collect samples and bring them to a location where you can work comfortably especially if its cold the little capsules can be a pain to open and use especially if your hands are frozen.

this is a good tester for the average home gardener..i also tested my neihbors trees and had goos results..good product for the price

Take some dirt, mix it in a test tube with water. Shake and test. I'm thinking that a regular aquarium product would do exactly the same thing for a lot less cost per test. Not sure about the accuracy as I don't have some precision comparative product. I tried two tests in different areas of my back yard and they both came out just under neutral. Guess I could put in a bit of vinegar or soda and see what happens, but haven't tried that to see if it actually moves far from neutral.

I was looking for an inexpensive way to test my garden soil this year and I found it in this product. Easy to use, worked accurate and great. I dont know what everyone is talking about with the capsules, it was not that big of deal to open them.

Worked as per the instructions. I bought this product to make sure my plants wouldn't require lime if the soil was too acidic. Seems to be a good product--my soil was read as slightly acidic. Recommend it.