Testing Your Soil pH at Home

Learn two homemade soil pH testing methods

Knowing your soil pH is the key to understanding if essential minerals will be available to the roots of your plants.

If you live in an area with alkaline soil — which has a pH above 7.0 — you have two options. You can either take measures to lower the pH, or you can choose plants well-suited to growing in alkaline conditions. If you take the latter path, you have a wide variety of plants to choose from.”



The pH Scale courtesy of www.chesapeakquarterly.net
You can lower the alkalinity of your soil by adding organic materials like pine needles, peat moss and composted leaves. You should always make small changes, over time -so make your soil amendments and wait for it to work before making any more.

Raising the organic matter content of soil will usually move the pH of both acidic and alkaline soils toward the neutral range. This is because organic matter plays a buffering role, protecting soil from becoming overly acidic or alkaline. Finished compost usually has a near-neutral pH, so regular infusions of compost should be the primary method you use to improve soil with extreme pH issues. If your pH readings are only slightly acidic or slightly alkaline, compost and organic mulches may be the only amendments you need to keep your crops happy and your garden growing well.

#1 – You can test your garden soil pH with vinegar and baking soda

Collect 1 cup of soil from different parts of your garden and put 2 spoonfuls into separate containers. Add 1/2 cup of vinegar to the soil. If it fizzes, you have alkaline soil, with a pH between 7 and 8.



If it doesn’t fizz after doing the vinegar test, then add distilled water to the other container until 2 teaspoons of soil is muddy. Add 1/2 cup baking soda. If it fizzes you have acidic soil, most likely with a pH between 5 and 6.

If your soil doesn’t react at all it is neutral with a pH of 7 and you are very lucky!

This test was fun to do. After I added the vinegar there was no reaction in my bowl and I thought my kitchen science experiment wouldn’t work. Then I added distilled water to another bowl of soil and poured on just a sprinkling of baking soda. Instant fizz! So much fizz that I could see it immediately and hear it working. There’s no doubt – I have acidic soil in my new garden.

#2 – You can make a cabbage water pH test

Measure 2 cups of distilled water into a sauce pan. Cut up and add 1 cup of red cabbage. Simmer for 5 minutes. Remove from heat and allow it to sit for up to 30 minutes.

Strain off the liquid – which will be purple/blue. This will have a neutral pH of 7.



To test: add 2 teaspoons of soil to a jar and a few inches of cabbage water. Stir and wait for 30 minutes. Check the color. If it turns up pink, your soil is acidic. If it is blue/green, your soil is alkaline.

There are quite a few fruit and vegetable plants that thrive in acidic soil. These include:

• blueberries
• beans
• broccoli
• beets
• bok choy
• garlic
• kale
• lettuce and other leafy greens
• parsley
• peas
• potatoes
• onions
• spinach

If your soil tests slightly alkaline (pH between 7 and 8) you’ll be able to easily grow these vegetables without making amendments:

• asparagus
• cabbage and Chinese cabbage
• grape vines
• mustard and other leafy greens
• orange
• peach tree
• spinach
• sugar beets
• turnips

Knowing the pH of your soil will help your plants grow by absorbing nutrients better from the soil. Their ability to do this depends on the nature of the soil and it’s combination of sand, silt, clay, and organic matter. The makeup of a soil (soil texture) and its acidity (pH) determine the extent to which nutrients are available to plants. Use these 2 ways to test soil pH and have a great garden this year.