Test Your Soil to See If it is Acidic or Alkaline

The type of soil you have says a lot about what you can plant in it. Some plants like an acidic soil to grow in while other types of plants like an alkaline soil to grow in. The more acid your soils the more lime you need to add to it to make it more balanced. Alkaline soil needs manure added to it to make it more balanced. You can easily check your soil to see if it is alkaline or acidic with baking soda and or vinegar.

First you should get several samples of your soil from different places since soil can be different in different locations. Place a mark of some kind on the soil so you know where you took the soil from.

After you have collected soil samples you can start to test the soil to see if it is acidic or alkaline. First pour a half cup of vinegar on the soil sample. If the soil makes a fizz or if tiny bubble appear then you have an alkaline soil.

To see if your soil is acidic take a half cup of baking soda and a half cup of water and mix it into the soil sample. If your soil starts to fizz or bubble then you have an acidic soil.

You can take a container of vinegar and a container of half baking soda and half water and walk around the soiled area that you want to test. As you walk you can put some vinegar or baking soda water on the soil and see if it bubbles with vinegar or baking soda mixed with water.

This simple test will tell you what type of soil you have acidic or alkaline. If you want a more accurate test you should take a soil sample in to have it tested or you can buy a do-it-yourself soil testing kit.

This would make a good science experiment for children to do. Let them test soil samples to see if the soil is alkaline or acidic. Let them go outside with some vinegar and put some on various soils and see if it fizzes. If so it is an alkaline soil. Then you can let time outside with baking soda water to test soil and see if the soil is acidic. This is a fun science project for kids to do. The can even test some soil from potted plants.