MY OPINION: Don't waste you money on a pH meter. Get the soil tested by your soil conservation service or many co-op offer the service. Even if you have to pay, it's not wasting your money. There are quite a few website that offer soil testing.

Your not only taking a chance on a bad pH reading but if you use that reading and it's off (in most cases they measure the pH too high) it can cause a crop failure or at least slow development, making the planting more easily affected by drought, this will be much more frustrating than paying $5-10 for an accurate test.

The other benefit is finding out what type and how much fertilizer to add. Critical, if your soil is low in nutrient content.

In most cases you are talking tons of lime per acre. Remember lime is cheap in most areas if bought by the ton. The number of acres to be limed and how much is needed will affect the cost per ton if you plan on having it delivered and spread. Many co-op loan buggies that will spread the lime of purchased there with the fertilizer.

It's critical to thoroughly disk the lime into the soil. You want to do this as far in advance of the planting as possible to give the lime time to work. I've found adding 50% more lime than recommended to my soil works best.Use ag lime in bulk and after disking I put a light coat of pelleted lime on the soil surface. Usually about 400 pounds per acre.

If your soil is acidic and you don't want to add lime, make sure the seed you choose will grow in your soil's pH. If not get ready for problems.

I tried it years ago, when I wanted to save the lime expense. My plots sucked and it will never happen again.

Lime doesn't cost it pays.

Good Luck

POP