Pro tip: That viral baking soda test for garden soil pH is useless

I saw a post saying you can test soil pH by mixing baking soda and vinegar with dirt in cups. Tried it on my raised beds in Portland and got all fizzing both times. So I bought a $15 pH meter from Lowe's and it showed 6.2 and 7.1 for the same samples. Total waste of an afternoon. Has anyone else actually compared those kitchen tests to a real meter?

3 comments

3 Comments

stella_scott966d ago

Yeah, "total waste of an afternoon" is right. My buddy in Eugene tried that same backyard science experiment and all he got was a sticky mess on his kitchen counter. He swore his soil was perfectly neutral because both cups fizzed. Then he borrowed my meter and found out one bed was 5.8 and the other was 7.3. He still talks about how he wasted a whole Saturday morning on baking soda and vinegar like it was some kind of culinary soil witchcraft.

zara_sanchez6d ago

And then there's the whole thing with letting the soil dry first, like you're supposed to remember to do that before you start messing with kitchen supplies. I've seen so many people skip that step and end up with a soupy mess that tells them nothing useful about their pH. Is there a simpler trick anyone has found that doesn't involve a full science fair setup?

jenny_lee6d ago

That "total waste of an afternoon" your friend in Eugene had sounds exactly like what happens when you skip the drying step. I've been gardening for years and finally gave up on the kitchen tests because they just aren't reliable. What worked for me was getting a cheap soil pH meter from a garden center, the kind you just stick in the ground and read right there. Costs maybe fifteen bucks and saves you from cleaning baking soda off your counters. If you really want to use household stuff, take a small dry soil sample and mix it with distilled water, not tap water, then test with litmus paper strips you can get at a pharmacy. That method is way less messy than the fizz test and actually gives you a number you can use.