Although I am a succulent grower I attended an orchid Society meeting a few nights ago.(by the way I do not grow Orchids) A gentleman had a pH digital water testing meter. Several members had brought little bottles in with tap water and water butt water.
As he tested the samples ,it was clear that the water butt waters varied a great deal. Some were so bad they could kill plants.
He said that he would not think of growing plants unless he knew the pH. Question.........Do we know what pH our growing water is ? Should we ? Do commercial growers watch their pH levels to get the right levels ? for good growth ?
I shall be buying a digital pH water Meter, so that I know and can then use an up or down soloution if needed to adjust the pH
What are your views are we careful enough as to the water we use or make a wild guess trusting fate with fingers crossed. ??????? Or do any of you test your plants water and with what result ? Over to you...............Roger.
B.C.S.S Member 32963 Clacton on Sea Branch and Sedum Society .CSSA long time member also Alpine Garden Society. I collect Sedums and Opuntias large and small. I live in Essex and also go to Chelmsford branch meetings. Roger Mann.
I know. Not that I test every can of water, but I have tested both collected rainwater and tapwater and retest every now and then. Very soft water here in Manchester but I still use rainwater when it is available. Which is nearly always!
I always water my cacti & succulents with water collected from the greenhouse roof into four water butts. I periodically test with litmus paper. It always reads at around 5.5, which is just about right.
Rod Smith
Growing a mixed collection of cacti & other succulents; mainly smaller species with a current emphasis on lithops & conophytum.
I bought a cheap water test meter off EBAY and it gave peculiar readings from the water butt. In the end I scrapped it and just used cheap PH indicator paper, also off EBAY:-
You don't need to test the rainwater much so PH meters are overkill and I am not sure the cheap ones are that accurate anyway.
Correct the cheap ones are not accurate and the expensive ones need to be re calibrated before use, far better to use indicator papers or the universal indicator solutions sold for soil test or aquarium use.
I agree cheep electronic pH meters are a waste of time
Although pH is in theory a simple measurement of free ions in solution accurate measurement requires expensive meters and more specifically high quality probes with multi point calibration at every use and will be especially problematic with dirty water with sediment
That level of accuracy is not needed for knowing the pH to water plants and simple paper tests are much more reliable
Buy a suitable indicator paper from eBay !
Martin
Northern Hampshire
Secretary Oxford Branch
'Thelocactus' National Plant Collection
Many thanks to everyone for the feedback and have taken notice of your comments and will have to decide on my next step..........Roger
B.C.S.S Member 32963 Clacton on Sea Branch and Sedum Society .CSSA long time member also Alpine Garden Society. I collect Sedums and Opuntias large and small. I live in Essex and also go to Chelmsford branch meetings. Roger Mann.
