Greetings all,

I purchased one of those devices (mine features two parallel wands)
that you stick into the soil of a potted plant, or a plant in the
ground and it can tell you how much moisture is in the soil (dry/moist/
wet), how much light the plant is getting, and what the ph of the soil
is.

Now, rest assured, I don't rely too heavily on this kind of tool -- I
use it to augment the rest of my plant management skills and
observations, but I did have a question about what I learned from this
particular tool: Apparently, virtually all of my indoor plants (all
of which look tolerably healthy) are "dry" and are maximally alkaline
(8 is the max on the scale on this tool). One plant which happened to
be watered recently had soil that obviously was wet to the touch,
and...as expected...the tool recorded this soil as "wet," but
interestingly this was one of the only plants where the soil was
conspicuously acid according to my tool.

Hmmm...methinks: Does this tool somehow confound moisture with ph,
such that "dry" will also be reported as alkaline, and "wet" will tend
to be reported as "acidic." Or is it the case that just about all of
my 100+ houseplants (about half of which are cacti or succulents) are
growing in soil that is alkaline? If this is the case, should I take
some kind of remedial action to tilt the ph in an acidic direction,
and if that is the case, then how should I go about this?

Seriously...according to the dang wand, virtually all of my plants max
out on alkalinity. That can't be right, can it?

Here is some other potentially relevant info:

(1) My plants mostly get a pretty good amount of light. Only a few
seem possibly underlit.

(2) I tend to let them run pretty dry before watering...though I avoid
letting them get dangerously dry of course.
I alternate between watering them with:
(a) regular water (we are on a well system, so our water is rich in
minerals, but lacks chemicals that might be added by a municipal water
system)
(b) The water I siphon out of my fresh-water fishtank when I clean it
(once every 6 wks), so I kind of think this water has some decent fish-
related organic material
(c) Water infused with some "cactus juice" fertlizer, which seems to
be a pretty weak solution; and all plants get this...not just the
cacti and succulents.
(d) Most plants are growing in terra cotta pots.

(3) And...I hate to say this becuz I really don't want to repot 100+
plants...most of these plants have been in their pots for 5 or so
years. Transplanting cacti makes baby Jesus cry.

Thanks for any advice!

Chuck