I bought a bunch of pH test strips, which arrived today, so I have been testing the pH of various things carnivorous. I bought two kinds of pH strips - a full-range strip that uses the 3-pad process to give accurate readings to the nearest full pH unit (from 1 to 14), and a more precise strip that measures pH between 4.0 and 7.0, with an accuracy of 0.4 pH unit.

Do other folks measure pH? Do my numbers seem reasonable for CPs? ...I thought the pH would be a bit lower in natural habitats, but maybe not?

Anyway, here goes:

pH of my tapwater: about 7.0 (and I know it is loaded with dissolved solids, ie, my tapwater is bad water)

pH of the last remaining jug of snowmelt from last winter (ie at least 6 months old): 4.8-5.2 (hey, I've got acid-snow!)

pH of drainage water from our roof, collected around June-July: 4.8-5.2 ... but this has higher dissolved solids than snowmelt, since the roofwater grows algae in a room lit by fluorescent lights, but the snowmelt grows nothing even after 6 months.

pH of the growing medium of my B52 flytraps, set up 1-2 weeks previous: 4.4-4.8

pH of my smaller pot of outdoor flytraps (several year old growing medium): around 5.0

pH of my big terrarium of flytraps (several year old growing medium): about 4.8

The growth medium is clearly on the acid side (as it should be), but I expected it to be much more acid, like around pH 4.0 or so. But I'm not sure why I say that, as I haven't found much info about the recommended soil pH for carnivorous plants.

Anyone else out there measuring pH?, and if so, what are your thoughts? Thanks,

-Don