Make your own pH testing kit

[Suzie Q]

Just read an article in Grown your Own mag, written by Alys Fowler from Gardeners World.

To make the testing kit just boil some red cabbage in water until cooked drain the liquid into a bowl and cool (eat the cabbage as normal!)

When cooled pop a table spoon of soil in half a cup of water (fresh)and stir until it is suspended in the water, add 3 mm of the cabbage water.

If it goes purplish red with a slight tinge of blue then it is neutral soil
greenish - yellow is VERY alkaline and VERY red is acid.

I have tried the above with the discarded leaves of the purple brussel sprouts and it worked a treat.  Only one of the tests came out as non neural and although it was not red it had a slightly redder tinge when lined up against the rest - some lime should sort that out.

Hope it helps

[Suzie Q]

[star]

Thats interesting Suzie. Thanks for posting :D

Will give this try  ;)

[telboy]

You learn something every day. Many thanks for that!

[theothermarg]

Yes thanks ! they say to test different parts of the garden but buying loads of kits would be costly
I,v read several articles by her and it seems there is a book on cheap gardening which I am thinking of buying perhaps when on offer as I am a cheapskate gardener ;D
marg

[Robert_Brenchley]

It'll work but it's fairly crude. Some plants can be pretty sensitive so it's better to use a proper testing kit.

[ceres]

Yes thanks ! they say to test different parts of the garden but buying loads of kits would be costly
marg

It's not.  The kit I bought cost a pound or so and it came with loads of capsules of the reagent so that you can test all over your area.  I've still not used up all the capsules.

[star]

Oh, I always thought they were expensive too.

Ceres if I had a kit I would be tempted to do a double test and see if they matched up.........not for one minute suggesting you should







but if you did, would you let us know your findings............pwetty pweeeez 8) ;)

[ceres]

Well, I haven't grown red cabbage this year but if I can beg, borrow or steal one I'll definitely do the double test and report back.

[growmore]

Just a thought ..Doesn't the ph of the water used affect it quite a lot? Or does it suggest distilled water .. I think  maybe without adding the soil we would get varying results depending on where we live. Some areas of UK have very hard water.. Or am I Looking at it wrong..

[star]

No I think you are right. You use distilled water, good point to bring up ;)