Help with checking pH

[fiddyonefiddy]

The $20 pH meter from Lowes works fine for me. You can mix ferts in a gallon of water, then add lime as necessary to bring the pH somewhere around the low 6s. Meter also has a fert gauge, which I think is useless. The catch is you have to strip the oxidation off the prongs if it's been sitting for a few days. It comes with a little scouring strip to do that, but it wears out pretty fast. Gotta see if I can find some more or maybe use something else to scour.

go get some white scotch brite pads from a autobody supply or any bodyshop will sell you one for a buck.or theyll probably give you some worn out ones for free.worn out for them is not worn out for you.will still work fine for what you are going to do with it.
i use oakton also i have the ph tester1

[stinkyattic]

Lime as a pH up? Lime is best used as a SOIL amendment, and use a proper pH up to fix a troublesome combination of your source water plus ferts. If you want to add calcium, use calmag. Soil pH range is 6.4-6.8 btw. Since most soils will tend to drift lower rather than higher, set your pH to 6.8 to water, unless you observe something else in your own setup.