Ph soil monitors

I would like to purchase a PH monitor for checking my soil frequently. We have moderately alkaline soil here and I keep amending it and am uncertain If the soil ph is where it should be for the specific tree or crop. Even though I have added much compost , acid type mulch , sulfer and used folier sprays ( over the last 1 1/2 years) I still have trees which appear to be very low on nitrogen ( yellow green leaves) and Fe ( yellow leaves with green veins. I have used some commercial fertilzer ( which has added zinc which is also supposted to be low in our soil ) and still am having problems .I have a old Ph meter ( which I am not sure is accurate) which seems to indicate that the soil is acid enough but the plants differ and show deficiency. Does anyone have a suggestion on the best ( or better) type to purchase. I know soil protessional soil testing is great, but I wish to check each individual tree and many different areas, and this could get expensive. Also How deep should I check the soil for ph testing. Also any comments of the monitors for checking fertility (Nitrogen , phosphoras etc) . Can they really give you an accuate value. Thanks.

Juneandtraci, I hope someone knowledgeable answers your question, because I wonder the same thing! I see those PH-monitors for sale in my garden center, but I also keep reaing that I should send soil lamples off to my county extension office. The trouble is that I have several different beds in my garden and I know they aren't all alike in composition.

I've never used one of the meters, only the old test strips.

I used to live in Phoenix, so I understand your battle of the alkaline - adding compost, coffee, coffee grounds, sulfur, etc to get the pH down. It never lasted for long. The lightbulb went off when someone mentioned that (of course) the water you're using is also from the desert and also very alkaline - that's where much of the caliche comes from.

So I switched to the desert plants and trees - honey mesquite, acacias and the occasional eucalyptus and stopped fighting it.

Good luck with yours!

...And, thats why you need to acidify your water! I finally bought a chemilizer and use phosphoric and sulphuric acid in my water to get the pH down to 7 or so. Still not easy, but things grow a little better....
DD

Mmm - that's waaaayy too much work for me, lol.

Something a great guy from N. Scottsdale told me - grow things that grow well in your area and everyone will always think you're a great gardener. And for half the work, which meant that I could double my plants.

Pagancat, that's a great gardening truth. But then why are we gardeners always trying to push the envelope?

Trying to make a great discovery of the one zone 9 plant that will live in zone 6, I guess! But I'm picky, too - survival isn't enough for me - it's gotta look *good*!

Tell us what kind of plants/trees you are trying to grow... that might help!

lol pagancat, but i've found more zone 9 plants that do better than zone 6 plants in zone 6.
by the way who is that mystery person who assigns usda zones to plants, personally i think it must be a weatherperson, same track record anyway.

Naw - it's done by dates, which is totally messed up at this point. But it misses so many other factors. I used to love it when the plants I bought in Phoenix said "full sun" on their tags. Not even the cactus take full sun in Phoenix.

I'll take a shot at the PH testing question. I have purchased two so far. One is a kit I got at Lowe's which has 4 tubes and some tablets. It worked reasonably well, but with all the shaking of the tubes for up to 5 minutes on various tests, I thought my wrist would fall off. It also only comes with enough tablets to do 10 tests...which just isn't gonna cut it for me.

Sooo...I kept looking. I finally found and bought this test meter: http://www.amazon.com/Rapitest-Electronic-4-Way-Analyzer/dp/B000E5Q7IA

I am very pleased with it. I can take it around to any soil anywhere in my garden, a container, indoors, outdoors, compost bin, anywhere! I just set the test button and slide it in, wait a few seconds and it registers. Very simple to use and so far I've found it very responsive. I haven't evaluated it against my test tab kits or against some lab tested samples, but for quick, simple testing at home, I've found it to be pretty darn good.

Hope this helps some...or at least it's a place to start.