Luster Leaf 1612 Rapitest pH Soil Tester

Based on my location and my own perception of my soil, I was expecting High Alkaline PH and low Nitrogen based on my grass(Bermuda) growth/health. I had no idea what to expect on Phosphorous and Potash. Overall this test confirmed what I thought, and I’m glad I did it. As for ease of use, it’s not super easy but I didn’t find it as difficult as other users. I was able to dig up my yard, 4” deep. I put a sample in a paper bowl and broke it down as small as possible. For the PH it specifically states in the instructions it’s best to use distilled water. I would highly recommend this. I do PH on my tap water for my fish tank And I know my tap water is also highly alkaline so to keep water quality out of the test use distilled water. As for the other 3 tests you have to make a 5:1 mixture water to soil and shake it up real good, then let the particulates settle out. I let mine settle for 2 hours. It says 30 mins-24 hours in the instructions. As far as the complaints about the capsules, I will confirm they aren’t super easy to open. I used a non-serated steak knife to slit open the outer side and it opened right up and I was able to pour it pretty easy. All said and done my kitchen counter looks like a lab experiment was going on. Bottomline: fast results, not too hard, very happy I did it. I’ll make some soil amendments and check again with the other pills.

A friend of the family, after hearing of our gardening troubles, suggested we try a soil test kit to see if our garden patch was deficient in any plant nutrients. This kit was inexpensive so I decided to give it a shot. It's reasonably easy to use. You open the package (which is easy, unlike some of those sharp, hard to open electronics bubble packs) and remove the tubes, then remove the capsules inside. Go out to your garden patch, dig a 4-inch deep hole, then fill each tube to the first line marked in it. Bring the tubes back in, empty a matching-color capsule's contents into each, fill with distilled water to the fourth line on the tube, shake, and wait. Getting soil into the tubes is pretty easy. Emptying the capsules was more difficult. We ended up cutting off the top of them with scissors very, very carefully, and dumping the contents inside. Filling with water to the fourth line is also difficult because the tubes are pretty narrow (around the size of a AA battery). If I had it to do over again, I'd get an eye dropper to add the water and find a better way to open the capsules. The two halves seemed glued together well. The results were easy enough to read. Our soil is pretty alkaline, has virtually no nitrogen in it, a good amount of phosphorous (maybe even a lot), and a lot of potash. Determining how to correct this, using the info in the instruction card, is a bit more of a challenge. It's all presented as a series of tables showing various plants and their desired pH levels, a few different fertilizer/supplement types, and how they affect the soil. It's clear we'll need to add something with a lot of nitrogen and probably something acidic to lower the pH a little. I'm certainly no agriculture expert. :) For the price, the convenience of Prime shipping, and the ease of use, I'm happy with the kit. With the inclusion of an eye dropper and a better way to get the test chemicals into the tube than the capsules, this would be a fantastic little kit.

The test worked fine and confirmed my fears that the native soil in my yard is generally alkaline which is not ideal for most plants. I also tested a store-bought potting soil which gave a more favorable pH reading. One caveat to consider is that people often say to "test your soil" as if all soil in your yard is the same. It's not that easy since many mulches, topsoils, composts, fertilizers, and decaying dead leaves could have been added over the years in different areas. If you want to test the "native soil" keep in mind that you might need to dig down a bit to get a proper sample. Good luck.

I gave it a 3 because it seemed to do the job . A average product . Two things they could improve . 1. The level lines they use are very hard to see. They are light silver on clear plastic . Not a BIG deal , but they should have used a dark color . 2 . POOR , instructions on how to open a capsule , and pore it into a small opening . If you try doing that you will almost ALWAYS , loose some of the power Instead , open the capsule over a piece of paper , you had creased down the middle . Then , you can pore what you spill into a small opening .

Last year we removed sod on the east side of the house, a small 6' x 20' section to plant a small veggie garden. Tomatoes, lettuce, green peppers, pumpkin, watermelon, and some carrots. We fertilized, watered, and weeded, but nothing really grew. Not a tomato was harvested, a couple of small green peppers, underdeveloped carrots, and vines from the pumpkins and melon, but no fruit. Wanting to see what the reason might be we took some soil samples and were about to mail them into Purdue University for analysis when a friend suggested this Luster Leaf Tester. It was fast and easy to use and told us we were very low in nitrogen and too high in ph values. We added urea which corrected the nitrogen shortfall, and a little amount of aluminum sulfate to lower the ph. The ph dropped very slightly, but we will have to work on that over a period of years. Adding more sulfate is not the answer, and the best ways to lower ph are to do it gradually...using compost and other ways. The idea of having a garden full of sulphuric acid is not appealing. The ph now is right around 7.0 so it should be at least okay for some of what we plant. Good product to give you an idea of your soil contents.

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Worked very well!

The test is quite accurate but expensive. Capsules dont last much (disintegrates if not used for couple of months) in Indian hot climatic conditions.

Although the item took time to arrive it was well worth it. Easy to use and accurate reading.