[Terrapreta] Terra preta 101

[code suidae]

On 9/21/07, code suidae <codesuidae at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> On 9/20/07, Michael Bailes <michaelangelica at gmail.com> wrote:
> > What is your soil pH now?
>
> Not sure, I haven't tested it because I know I'm going to have to
> compost it regardless, so I figured I'd wait until after that was
> done.
>

For fun I tried measuring my soil pH this weekend. I collected several soil
samples from various areas of the garden, dried them and took 30g samples of
each. To these I added 30g of distilled water and then mixed well and
allowed to settle (about 1 hour). I dipped test strips in the water, being
careful not to disturb the sediment.

All 6 test samples came up with a pH of about 5.75.

Not sure if my technique is valid, but if the result is wrong, at least it's
consistently wrong :)

It will be interesting to test again after compost and biochar amendments. I
think I'll try testing at several time intervals after I finish mixing to
see if it needs time to settle.

Dave K
-- 
"Our ignorance is not so vast as our failure to use what we know." - M. King
Hubbert
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