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Old February 28, 2006   #1
KCMO_Don
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Default Home Soil Test Kit

anyone have any experiance with a Home Soil Test Kit?

If so, any recommended brands?

I was going to use my county extension but it takes 6 weeks, and it's the same price as kits I see online.

thanks a lot!
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Old February 28, 2006   #2
bcday
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For basic info, I just use one of the soil test kits found in many garden centers, Lowe's or wherever. It might be interesting to also use the county extension's service and see how close the garden center kit comes to matching their results.
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Old February 28, 2006   #3
Innoma
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I tried one of those home test kits, but the results seemed odd to me. It showed a very heavy phosphorous content, but all other tests were unreadable (clear). I tried it 3 times and let the sample settle down over at least a week, and the results were the same.

I eventually opted for a more thorough test from a local extension, and the results differed in that it showed a calcium difficiency and an excess of sodium where everything else was more or less in the normal/acceptable range.
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Old February 28, 2006   #4
bully
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my experience was very similar to Innoma's.
The extension was a very thorough analysis.
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Old February 28, 2006   #5
KCMO_Don
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Default Thank you

I'll go with the extenstion!
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Old February 28, 2006   #6
MsCowpea
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I go with a commercial laboratory. It happens to be nearby and it it not very expensive. Most of the time I get it back the next day or day after. They will fax the results for a faster turnaround and then mail them to you.
(ps I have tried those little kits--I found them to be totally worthless.)
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