North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

["road's end farm" <organic101@linkny.com>]

On Thursday, July 17, 2003, at 09:22 AM, Thomas Olenio wrote:

> Hello,
>
> Can anyone tell me if soil moisture meters are affected by the PH of the
> soil, and to what extent?
>
> I have one of the simple (impedence /resistance) types and I do not
> believe I am getting very accurate readings.
>
> The zinc/lead tip and shank are clean, and the needle always seems to 
> peg
> at "wet".  Does PH affect this reading?  My guess is that acid soil will
> give false readings.
>
> Thanks,
> Tom
>
> --
> Southwest Ontario
> Canada Hardiness Zone 5b
> (similar to US zone 5)

I don't know about resistance type meters in high acid, but tensiometers 
do not work well in heavy (high in clay) soils.


--Rivka
Finger Lakes NY; zone 5 mostly; moderately heavy Ovid soil