PH fluctuating

Hi,
I have a problem with my PH. I am hand watering my plants with PH 5.5-6.0 using a PH kit. 12 hours later when I test the remaining water (unused) left in the bucket it has changed to 7. What should I do? Why does it change over night? I usually test the PH a couple of times with a couple of hours between to be sure its right, but during a longer period of time its fluctuating. Please help!

cheers

Are you sure you tested it right the first time?

I've actually read on one site "that pH is not static, it changes over time, in fact it even changes over the course of a single day. Typically it drops at night and rises during the daytime."

Do you have a ph meter to test your SOIL'S ph? Because that's what you really need to worry about

The wikidbch is correct, things change. Straight water should not change much ph over night, but if you add anything it will. Natural forms of ph up and down like vinegar, lemon juice, baking soda fade as time progresses and the ph returns to where it was hence. Also nutes, if the water you have sitting contains nutes it's ph will change over night as well.

Hopefully that helps. So if you just have plain old water and you see a drastic ph change, i.e. 0.5+ you might want to reexamine your methods of ph-ing the water and make sure you are doing it correctly and that your meter, or whatever you use, is calibrated properly.

thanks guys!
I have a cheap PH Soil meter but I don't think it's working, What ever I do it stays on 7. So I am using a PH kit with PH up, down and indicator. So if the PH changes during the day does it mean when I give the plants PH 5.5, it will change in the soil later on or only in the remaining unused water that I have set aside?
peace