Nope!! It's pretty much worthless. If you need a soil test, then get one done by a professional soil testing lab. If your county extension service no longer offers (many don't), they can recommend one.

While others may have a different opinion, container gardening requires no soil test. Commercial potting are pH buffered to appeal to the widest range of plants and any minor issues are addressed by the need for regular fertilization.

I was debating to put a few trees in pots into the ground but didn't want to kill them in the process if my soil is incompatible.

to put a few trees in pots into the ground

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i might do such to winter over potted plants/ trees in my ground freeze MI ...

but otherwise it isnt going to accomplish much ...

it is commonly said that the roots are twice as big .. if not more.. than the tree you see above ground... so it shouldnt be too hard to understand.. they will quickly outgrow any pot you bury ... and im sure you dont want to be digging them out every year to bury a larger pot ...

i agree on the professional soil test ....

ken

"I was debating to put a few trees in pots into the ground but didn't want to kill them in the process if my soil is incompatible."

The soil would have to be VERY incompatible to kill them off!! 😊 Most plants are quite adaptable about the soils they can grow in, with proper drainage more of the overriding factor than anything else. Which makes sense, considering maybe 85% of the plants one buys from nurseries and garden centers are grown in containers and then transitioned - usually successfully - into the ground.

Rather than any specific soil conditions, I'd be more concerned about planting correctly and aftercare. Those tend to be the primary causes of plant failures, not the soil.

Of course the usual caveats about the plant in question being suited for your locale and properly loosening or stimulating the rootball to encourage outward growth are also applied.

Thanks. By the way, do you know what these are?

The rose or the spider?

I don't think they are spiders. Could they be babies of this?

First picture shows lots of aphids (on the tip growth) and two spiders. Second picture shows a praying mantis. Three unrelated creatures.

They are spiders not baby Asian Mantis.

tj

For first group, should I leave spiders alone to eat achids? I was prepared to spray Neems oil but didn't want to hurt the two if they were spiders.
Why do they come with no web if they are spiders?

Wipe off the aphids and leave the spiders. Not all spiders spin webs but that one is dangling from a silk thread. As for the invasive Asian/Chinese mantis, it eats our natve Carolina mantis and even hummingbirds so not something I’d keep in my garden.

tj

I think the dangling spider is just the shed skin of the other one. :)

You all are so smart! Thank you!

Hi Ken, What I meant was taking a potted 7 ft tall tree out of pot to plant in the ground.
What are pros and cons of each for a M.Champaca tree in Zone 10b?