Which soil pH meter did you get KarenRei? Been looking to get one myself.
Bluelab. Not cheap, but based on my experience so far, 100% worth it. You'll need a meter with soil probe, and a bottle of storage solution, pH 4 calibration solution, and pH 7 calibration solution. Just keep the storage cap filled up to the line, and brush the probe tip with a toothbrush when you're done for the day before you cap it. I had to consult their tech support at one point (long story short, I wasn't brushing the probe tip
), and got a quick response, and they even offered to send me a replacement probe at no cost if their advice didn't work. It of course did work.
The probe holds calibration well (I periodically test with calibration solution just to make sure - there's virtually no drift) and gets consistent readings within a given pot.
My first time around testing all of my pots, there were some plants whose readings got a real "Holy heck, no wonder I've been getting those symptoms!" reaction out of me
I had two pots test in with a pH under 4! I mean, fine if you're growing rooibos, but otherwise...
(that was BTW the result of me acidifying the soil based on bad readings from a junk pH meter :Þ )
I just wish it was this easy to test for specific nutrients
Over the years I've come to realize a risk to growing plants in pots that never go outside: nutrient accumulation. Plants use nutrients unevenly, and if the soil never gets washed through, you can have some build up to dangerous levels (yes, this has killed plants for me
). I now make it a policy to regularly "wash through" the soil in my pots - akin to a person growing plants hydroponically changing out their solution at regular intervals. This isn't something that would ever affect people growing plants outside since rains regularly wash through pots.