3. Water & Environmental / 7. FAQ's and Knowledgebase / pH measurement / Test Kits and Reagents

How can I test soil fertility, NPK, pH and metal content?

Soil testing may be needed for environmental studies, or in farming and horticulture to ensure plants and crops are receiving the right balance of nutrients in the right conditions.

soil test

There are a wide variety of soil test kits available which range from quick tests on a couple of basic parameters through to larger kits including electronic photometers to achieve higher accuracy results on a wider range of tests.

Palintest have one of the biggest offerings of soil test kits in terms of range of specifications – we’ve compared their different kits below to help you choose the best kit for you…

 

Parameters Covered

Perhaps the most important consideration – what parameters will each kit cover?

The range varies from basic soil pH and lime requirement, NPK analysis or a full analysis including the metals in soil.

The parameters are summarised in our comparison table below

The SK 100 Kit, the most basic kit in the range for pH and Lime Requirement of soils only
The SK 100 Kit, the most basic kit in the range for pH and Lime Requirement of soils only

 

Instruments Included

Some of the kits include a “multiparameter pocket sensor” – this is a portable pH and conductivity meter, to test these two parameters electronically by a meter.

The two most advanced kits include a Soiltest 10 Bluetooth enabled photometer – again this allows electronic measurement of the parameters by a photometer. This gives higher accuracy results.

The more basic kits work via “tester blocks”, a type of test kit which works on a visual colour comparison basis to get the result. This does make them lower cost and very simple to learn to use, but does give less accurate results as light and personal vision differences will effect the results.

SKW 500 kit
The SKW 500 Kit, the most advanced in the range, measuring 16 parameters by photometer or digital meters for optimum accuracy

 

Comparison of kits

SK 100 Kit SK 200 Kit SK 300 Kit SKW 400 Kit SKW 500 Kit
pH Y Y Y Y Y
Lime Requirement Y Y Y Y Y
Nitrate Nitrogen (N) Y Y Y Y
Phosphate Phosphorus (P) Y Y Y Y
Potassium (K) Y Y Y Y
Magnesium (Mg) Y Y Y
Calcium Y Y Y
Conductivity Y Y Y
Salinity Y Y
Aluminium Y
Ammonia Nitrogen Y
Chloride Y
Copper Y
Iron Y
Manganese Y
Sulphate Sulphur (S) Y
N/P/Mg Tester Block Y Y
Double Tube Assembly for
manual K test
Y Y
Soil pH Tester Block Y Y Y
Pocket Conductivity Sensor Y
Pocket pH/conductivity Sensor Y Y
Bluetooth Enabled Soiltest 10 Photometer Y Y

 

For more information on the soil test kits, follow the links above or contact us;


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6 thoughts on “How can I test soil fertility, NPK, pH and metal content?

    1. Hi Oliva,
      I’ll ask our export team to email you with more information and shipping costs
      Kind regards
      Camlab Support Team

    1. Hi Leland,

      Thank you for your enquiry – I’ll ask our export team to be in touch and quote you including shipment to the Philippines.

      Kind regards

      Camlab Support Team

  1. How accurate is the SKW 500 kit ?
    How much will it cost for shipment to Tanzania please. Do we get any discount if we order 5 or more kits ?
    Thank you

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