Has anyone had experience with PH meters such as those sold by Mossy Oak or various Garden Shops? If they are accurate, it would be much more convienient that mailing in soil samples.

I have the " Rapidtest" electronic soil testor, about $20. A sample from my plot gave me a reading of just under 7. I then sent the same soil in for a test. It came back with a reading of 8. This does give me a ball park figure.
The fertility test part test for all nutrients together, so it does not tell you exactly what the soil needs. Does this help?
Russ

Thanks RO. You confirmed what I suspected. Before spending a lot of money, time, and effort get a soil test. I will be sewing a legume plot next spring and one point off on the ph isn' t close enough for satisfactory results.

One point is huge when it comes to sowing crops. An analogy for the error that Russ found would be if the speed limit was 60 mph and your speedometer said you were driving 55 when you were really doing 70. A point of pH is large when the reading says that you' re acidic when you are actually quite basic. Use the soil test. Even if the pH meter was accurate it still wouldn' t take buffer pH into consideration. So you wouldn' t know the proper addition rate.

Dan O.