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c/botany-lovers•michaeltorresmichaeltorres•22d ago

I wasted $150 on that fancy soil moisture meter that everyone raves about

I bought this digital soil moisture meter from a big online store because every plant group said I needed one to stop overwatering my ferns. Turns out it was completely wrong on all three of my pots - said the soil was dry when it was literally soaked through. I checked by sticking my finger in the dirt and the meter was off by like 40 percent each time. After a week of using it I killed a maidenhair fern that cost me $25 and that's when I tossed the thing in the trash. Anyone else find those meters to be total junk or did I just get a bad one?
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3 Comments
knight.felix
Great, so it's basically a $150 random number generator.
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jade517
jade51722d ago
My cheap $10 analog meter from the hardware store has been way more reliable than those digital ones. The problem is most of those fancy meters use resistance readings which get thrown off by fertilizer salts and different soil types. If you want accuracy without guessing, just learn the weight method where you feel how heavy the pot is when its dry versus wet.
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ruby_henderson36
Oh @jade517 I weigh mine by picking it up and dropping it half the time...
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