Wasted $50 on a fancy soil pH meter that was completely useless

Bought one of those digital pH meters off Amazon for like $50 thinking it would help me dial in my blueberry bushes. Followed the instructions to calibrate it and everything. First few readings seemed fine then I tested the same spot 3 times and got pH 5.2, then 7.1, then 4.8. Absolute garbage. Tried different soil types, still jumping all over. Ended up just using test strips for $8 and they work perfect. Anyone else had bad luck with those digital meters?

3 comments

3 Comments

alex_coleman9d ago

$50 seems like a lot for a gadget when the good ol' chemical test strips are like $8 and never lie. I had a cheapo digital meter once that gave me reading for my tomatoes that would swing between "needs lime" and "basically battery acid" depending on how hard I pushed it into the ground. Honestly, for blueberry bushes that need consistent acidic soil, I'd trust the strips way more than some finicky electronics that can't handle a little moisture or a tiny bit of dirt on the probe.

jesse849d ago

Whoa wait, $50 for a soil meter? That's wild, I had no idea they cost that much. I mean, I knew the cheap ones were junk but I figured the pricey ones were like $25 tops. Honestly @alex_coleman that story about your tomato readings swinging so hard is insane though. I would have tossed that thing in the trash after the first time it told me my soil was both too basic and too acidic. And you're totally right about blueberries, they need that specific low pH and the strips are just way more reliable for that. $50 could buy you a whole flat of blueberry plants instead of a gadget that might just guess at the numbers anyway.

claire_ramirez227d ago

The part about it swinging between "needs lime" and "basically battery acid" really got me... because that's exactly the kind of nonsense I've seen from those cheap meters too. But here's my thing, how do you even know the test strips are accurate every single time? Like, I've used the $8 ones and had them change color weird because I left them in the dirt too long or the water wasn't the right temp. I'm not saying the digital meters are better, but I wonder if people just trust the strips more because they look like science instead of a gadget, you know? Also, for blueberries specifically, don't you have to mix the soil sample with distilled water and do a whole process for the strips to work right? That's way more work than just sticking a probe in the ground, even if the probe is kinda dumb sometimes.