Luster Leaf Products 1663 80 Professional Soil Test Kit, Green

Good enough for average backyard gardener. Yes, it's not as accurate as sending in a soil sample. Takes a little getting use to use, but gives you a general idea of what and how much to amend to your garden soil. I have black, hummus rich, loamy garden soil (it's very pretty), but am depleted of nitrogen and potassium. I had amended in spring knowing my soil was likely deficient, but I didn't realize I wasn't amending enough nutrients. My high intensity garden is 350 sq ft in size. The instruction and info sheet included was insightful with how much I should be amending based on test results. Very happy with end results. Will order again when I run out of test solutions in the future.

I purchased this kit because the old one I had yield inaccurate results. I have soil meter also. This kit comes complete with everything to test your soil. IF you follow the directions it works fine and is accurate. The filter pads and the soil composition need to be figured out on order to get a clear water sample. Sometimes it take two pads, the instructions point this out. I read some poor reviews about this kit, the only thing I can say is maybe there was cockpit trouble with the operator. This kit is ok. The solutions just barely have the volume for the advertised number of tests, but they are adequate.

we've used this to test soil around our home and small garden and fruit trees, it is provided valuable insights into soil types and condition

I purchased this test to have an easy, all-in-one kit at home so my husband could test soils around the house.Unfortunately, this kit does not work. I used the kit to test my lawn soil and received "odd" results, which led me to do a battery of positive and negative control tests in my lab.Yes, I read the instructions carefully. I am a lab scientist and professor of microbiology.RESULTS:pH test works correctly. To calibrate, I used various pH solutions in my lab and the pH indicator turned the correct color for each solution. This is the only test that worked accurately.That being said, pH testing is not exactly rocket science, and liquid pH indicators usually have a long shelf life. pH-only soil test kits are also WAYYY cheaper than this kit, so I am frustrated that this is the only test in the kit that worked.The Nitrogen test did not work. Positive and negative controls, as well as actual soil samples, showed no variation in color. Red should indicate the presence of Nitrogenous compounds, but I never saw that result.The Phosphorus test always turned blue. Blue indicates a positive result. Positive and negative controls and actual soil samples all turned the same blue color. I am unsure why the test turned blue in the negative control, but that makes me doubt the other results.The Potassium (K) test never became turbid in positive or negative controls or real soil samples. Increased turbidity (cloudiness) indicates Potassium, but this kit never clouded.My second complaint is with the materials and supplies themselves.I could easily mix up some new chemical reagents for each of these tests and fill the bottles with my own solutions for my husband to use. However, the actual test vials and sample filtering procedure are just a pain in the arse.First, the diameter of the tubes is narrow enough that the solution always gets stuck (like ketchup sticks in the glass bottle) until you break the surface tension. You can't just pour anything. You've always gotta stick the end of the spoon in there to break the tension bubble before it flows. Poor design!Secondly, to complete the N, P, and K tests, you must filter the soil sample using a manual filtering tube. They only send one. That means you have to use it, clean it, and refill it three times, and then transfer the extracts into secondary vials for testing.Having to fill-extract-clean-refill-extract-clean-refill-extract-clean takes a ton of time! It would have been wiser to send three filtering tubes so you could run the three tests simultaneously without transferring to secondary vials.Overall, poorly designed and poor-quality (and/or) expired reagents. Avoid this kit!

Having used a water chemistry test kit for many years (no I don't have PhD just a Masters), I see that more or less nothing has changed since I used an ancient kit for my testing 20 years ago. It's ridiculously easy to do the testing, and I am quite sure the solutions are identical to those I used. Since I am not an idiot like Mr. PhD I made up some simple solutions to test the accuracy of the kit. Since the tests give results in mg/l for the nutrients that's ppm so the compounds that are actually measured (e.g. NO3 for nitrogen)can be added to plain water to approximate the concentrations in the tests. Long story short the results were close enough for government work. I didn't find it all that flimsy, although I did crack one of the sample tubes at the top trying to pry the plastic lid off. The results were a bit iffy to interpret but so are the same tests in other test kits.I am guessing that the reviewers either didn't let their samples completely dry, which will effect the results since you would actually be measuring the contents of the groundwater AND the soil, not the soil. Or they didn't pulverize the soil sample into dust, which it definitely should say on the instructions. You can't reliably extract the nutrients from chunks of dirt. I dried mine in the sun for a few hours then smashed them with a plain old spoon before putting them in the test tube. I can't give the kit 4 stars because of this. Also if you are submitting samples to get tested in a lab you have to virtually duplicate the sample. Same hole, same depth, or your results won't exactly match. also as the kit suggests you need to take multiple samples and average the results. I took 8 samples, 1 from each of my beds. These results were fairly consistent as I hadn't fertilized them in a while so the nutrients were back to the base levels found in my soils. I compared the pH and nutrients to levels reported by the local agriculture extension service for my area and soil type and they were consistent.Finally, they claim you can do 80 tests with the kit. Yeah right, that would maybe be the total for all tests in the kit. You'll get more like 15 tests for each nutrient if you don't mess any up. So that's a definitely misleading, unless you know what they mean by 80 tests beforehand (which you can't until you get the actual kit). And for those who complain about getting moire of the solutions, it is plainly stated in the kit that more can be obtained by emailing them. So unless you did and they wouldn't supply them, you are wrong. Overall I don't think you can find a better and more thorough kit for them money. If you're really serious about matching what your results are with what the lab does, find a kit at one of the ag. supply website sand pay a LOT.Tell the truth and give abundantly clear instructions and I will up my rating. Until then buyers need to read this before purchasing. IMHO :)

The kit appears to be exactly what I needed so I’m an pleased with the quality. One thing, and it’s really not worth mentioning ( except maybe if others) both clasps for the very nifty and necessary case we’re broken. However, I’m impressed with it so I just threw a hefty rubber band around it. Satisfied so far