A: The entire statement is erroneous. First we use a Calcium Chloride extraction procedure and our pH is accurate as can be seen by the certificate prescribed by our peers. Our laboratory measures its results by an affiliation referred to as ASPAC; the Australasian Soil Plant analysis Council. If you look up ASPAC on the internet and scroll down to "CERTIFIED ASPAC LABORATORIES. You will see that Quantum is one of the certified laboratories. The certification below reveals that our method of pH measurement is correct, and although it reveals a lower pH that other New Zealand laboratories, it has nothing to do with selling more lime. Lime and pH do not go hand in hand and that statement comes from the mouths of the ill informed.

pH stands for (p) potential and the (H) represents the Hydrogen; it is a measure of the concentration of Hydrogen alone, not a measurement of the amount of lime required.

As nutrients are removed from the soil, Hydrogen takes their place, the lower the pH, the less plant nutrients are held and the greater the concentration of Hydrogen. pH is termed a reverse log of hydrogen ion concentration. Every substance dissolved in water or mixed with water is acid, or alkaline. For example vinegar contains acetic acid and is acidic. Pure water is neutral and has a pH of 7.0. A solution of salts on the other hand such as lime, baking soda and lye give an alkaline reaction.

In soils as the concentration of Hydrogen increases the pH drops. You can have an alkaline pH and still require calcium, this is the case where the pH is propped up by sodium, as in the case of Superior Minerals verses Watts which this same character quoted saying the I had given the wrong recommendation, I had not, and was not even
aware of the case and not called to defend myself. The problem with that soil was that the pH was propped up by over 20% base saturation of sodium.

The "normal" NZ method of measuring the pH in a soil is by mixing the soil in a paste of soil and water. Unfortunately, much of the hydrogen in our acidic soils are attached to the surface of the soil particles and water will not knock that Hydrogen off, otherwise each time it rains all of the Hydrogen so held would be flushed into our waterways and out into the oceans. We do not believe the soil/water pH is at all accurate and we use a solution of soil/CaCl (Calcium Chloride). The calcium flushes off the attached Hydrogen and this increases the concentration thus giving a lower pH, or higher concentration of Hydrogen, a far more accurate method of measuring soil pH.