Soil ph

[lhb2444]

Yesterday I went for a walk to visit a nursery in Petersham to buy some snail bait and to check out there cacti range which was worse than terrible to be honest, as you can see the 4 cacti they have are all very much dead.

Anyway to buy the snail bait I had to use a minimum of $15 on my card and the only thing I could find was this cheap looking garden multimeter (soil ph, light and moisture levels) So I gave it a go on a bunch of the plants and cacti in my garden and got some super mixed results for soil ph and moisture levels for plants (mostly tricho's of the same cultivar) potted in the same mixture at the same time and that have been fed and watered the same amount which leaves me to believe the multimeter probably isn't very accurate or reliable.

So whats the best and most accurate (preferably cheap too) way to measure the soil ph and generally what ph is good for my cacti?

[Stillman]

depending on your medium, the ph of the water you feed the plant will certainly help or hinder any PH issues ( ie if your water is acidic it will certainly contribute to acidic soil or media). Trichs seem to be very easy from slighly acidic to slightly basic it doesn't seem to effect them I'm sure too far either way and they might have issues.

[lhb2444]

Thanks for the reply stillman.

Most of readings reported medium to highly alkaline soils. I've read that adding small amounts of vinegar to your water before feeding your plants can help to lower the ph so I might give that a try next time they're watered. I know trich's are pretty hardy plants and can take alot of abuse so how do most other cacti go regarding soil ph?

I've got about 15 assorted other types of cacti so should I be looking to lower their soil ph to?

[Stillman]

I treat most of mine the same. if your water is really hard maybe just add some ph down, can get it from hardware or aquarium shop. Unless you have read that a plant specifically likes "hard" water I think neutral to slightly acidic seems to work well across the board. Rain water I think is around 5.8 to 6 ph? I try to mimic that when I can.