Moisture meter

Xephier

Xephier

Active Member
Has anyone used one of these to accurately test the moisture level of the soil on their plants? If so can you recommend a good one.
 
ISK

ISK

Well-Known Member
Xephier said:
Has anyone used one of these to accurately test the moisture level of the soil on their plants? If so can you recommend a good one.
Click to expand...
yes, it's called weight scales....know what your plant is bone dry, and know what weight is fully watered, then you have an accurate measurement of the water content

or as most of us do, just merely lift the plant and feel the weight....water if it feels light
 
B

bigsteve

Well-Known Member
I use an 18-inch bamboo skewer to monitor soil moisture. Stab the pot by running the bamboo to the bottom of the pot. Withdraw and inspect. If the skewer was dry when first placed it will show you the moisture level in the pot. As you get experience you will learn to judge moisture levels by tipping the pot. After completely watering a pot tip it to get an idea of what a full pot feels like. Continue to tip every day until the pot is dry. Now tip and try to remember what that tip felt like. It's how I learned and is much faster than other methods.

Good luck, BigSteve.
 
Mad_Prophessor

Mad_Prophessor

Well-Known Member
bigsteve said:
I use an 18-inch bamboo skewer to monitor soil moisture. Stab the pot by running the bamboo to the bottom of the pot. Withdraw and inspect. If the skewer was dry when first placed it will show you the moisture level in the pot. As you get experience you will learn to judge moisture levels by tipping the pot. After completely watering a pot tip it to get an idea of what a full pot feels like. Continue to tip every day until the pot is dry. Now tip and try to remember what that tip felt like. It's how I learned and is much faster than other methods.

Good luck, BigSteve.
Click to expand...
Poking your root zone is not a good idea. It will stress your plant. If you are in flower, any stress is really not a good idea. Once again, bad advice. Just lift your pots and when they feel light, give them a drink. Don't go poking around in the root zone stressing your plants out and don't bother wasting you money on a meter.
 
B

bigsteve

Well-Known Member
Poking the soil with a skewer does 2 things, eh? It shows moisture levels and aerates the soil. Many newer growers may not realize that a plant can have trouble getting oxygen to the roots if the soil is like mud. You can skewer/aerate a rootball like I described if you find yourself without perlite or another like substance.

Note - the newby poster above has made a ( really short) career out of trolling and bad-mouthing some of us older posters. Interesting that he chooses The Most Interesting Man in the World as his icon then spends his time running around bad-mouthing others. Real interesting fellow. Pretends to be a widely experienced grower yet has been here at RIU for all of 9 weeks. Shit, I've got plants older than that fool. If you try to debate him on the merits of an argument he will descend into ad hominem attacks and call you a names as he gets frustrated. Look at his prior posts if you have the stomach and I think you will agree he is well deserving of the moderator's attention. Let's see how many raunchy posts he will leave for me here. I bet he cannot go 2 posts without an attack. Let's watch and chuckle as this fool flails as he struts around trying to be OG.

BigSteve.
 
Mad_Prophessor

Mad_Prophessor

Well-Known Member
bigsteve said:
Poking the soil with a skewer does 2 things, eh? It shows moisture levels and aerates the soil. Many newer growers may not realize that a plant can have trouble getting oxygen to the roots if the soil is like mud. You can skewer/aerate a rootball like I described if you find yourself without perlite or another like substance.

Note - the newby poster above has made a ( really short) career out of trolling and bad-mouthing some of us older posters. Interesting that he chooses The Most Interesting Man in the World as his icon then spends his time running around bad-mouthing others. Real interesting fellow. Pretends to be a widely experienced grower yet has been here at RIU for all of 9 weeks. Shit, I've got plants older than that fool. If you try to debate him on the merits of an argument he will descend into ad hominem attacks and call you a names as he gets frustrated. Look at his prior posts if you have the stomach and I think you will agree he is well deserving of the moderator's attention. Let's see how many raunchy posts he will leave for me here. I bet he cannot go 2 posts without an attack. Let's watch and chuckle as this fool flails as he struts around trying to be OG.

BigSteve.
Click to expand...
You are a hack that gauges knowledge on how long somebody has been on a web site. You straight up don;t know what you are talking about and think you do. That is your problem. I have more experience than you do just based on your posts and have been growing for 20 years. I don't need a website as a badge of honor. My badge comes from the big, fat ganja plants that get people so high they need to focus on not dying. That is all I need.

That being said, your soil should have perlite in it already thus allowing for oxygen flow. Poking the roots is the same as cutting the plant. Both will cause it un-necessary stress. That is a fact.

Keep spewing your bullshit info and I will keep correcting you and proving you wrong. It is just too easy.

Edit: aerate your lawn, not your ganja plants. Moron.
 
Abiqua

Abiqua

Well-Known Member
Mad_Prophessor said:
You are a hack that gauges knowledge on how long somebody has been on a web site. You straight up don;t know what you are talking about and think you do. That is your problem. I have more experience than you do just based on your posts and have been growing for 20 years. I don't need a website as a badge of honor. My badge comes from the big, fat ganja plants that get people so high they need to focus on not dying. That is all I need.

That being said, your soil should have perlite in it already thus allowing for oxygen flow. Poking the roots is the same as cutting the plant. Both will cause it un-necessary stress. That is a fact.

Keep spewing your bullshit info and I will keep correcting you and proving you wrong. It is just too easy.

Edit: aerate your lawn, not your ganja plants. Moron.
Click to expand...
2 Lb FacePalm
 
Abiqua

Abiqua

Well-Known Member
Xephier said:
Has anyone used one of these to accurately test the moisture level of the soil on their plants? If so can you recommend a good one.
Click to expand...
Depends.....most likely they use a cheap resistive method of measurement, but the materials used are usually cheap....I would just use the old feel and guess method for now.....

Unless you want to step up to something that can datalog those capacitive measurements....[Arduino for instance] :peace:
 
eddy600

eddy600

Well-Known Member
I have a meter its called a 4 in 1 soil survey instrument it takes the guess work out of watering for me.I'm not sure if it stresses the plants but it helps me to grow collective quality buds without over watering.
 
Stroker

Stroker

Well-Known Member
I bought one at Lowes. It is green and called" Moisture Meter". I recommend it, cheap and works good.I was over watering my plants until I get the MM.
 
GrowPops

GrowPops

Well-Known Member
Stroker said:
I bought one at Lowes. It is green and called" Moisture Meter". I recommend it, cheap and works good.I was over watering my plants until I get the MM.
Click to expand...
I have one of the same Moisture Meters and usually overrule what it says anyway. It seams more accurate if you let it set for a couple of minutes. Tipping the pots and listening to the girls works for me.

@Stroker I'm in the process of a 4.7 for my 79..5
 
Mad_Prophessor

Mad_Prophessor

Well-Known Member
Bugeye

Bugeye

Well-Known Member
Mad_Prophessor said:
Poking your root zone is not a good idea. It will stress your plant. If you are in flower, any stress is really not a good idea. Once again, bad advice. Just lift your pots and when they feel light, give them a drink. Don't go poking around in the root zone stressing your plants out and don't bother wasting you money on a meter.
Click to expand...
I think a moisture meter damages your roots to about the same extent it provides aeration, not very much. They are more about convenience as not all pots can be easily lifted. I don't always use them, but nice to have around sometimes, like when your plant suddenly increases its water usage and you are high as fuck and can't feel your fingers and can't decide if it is time to water or not.
 
Xephier

Xephier

Active Member
Bugeye said:
I think a moisture meter damages your roots to about the same extent it provides aeration, not very much. They are more about convenience as not all pots can be easily lifted. I don't always use them, but nice to have around sometimes, like when your plant suddenly increases its water usage and you are high as fuck and can't feel your fingers and can't decide if it is time to water or not.
Click to expand...
To be fair it could damage your roots if you were stupid enough to jam it through the centre of your plant, I'd personally poke it in around the outer 10-15% ring so as to not risk hitting roots.
 
Mad_Prophessor

Mad_Prophessor

Well-Known Member
Xephier said:
To be fair it could damage your roots if you were stupid enough to jam it through the centre of your plant, I'd personally poke it in around the outer 10-15% ring so as to not risk hitting roots.
Click to expand...
For sure. Just lift the mutha fuckers up and don't poke around in the root zone. Just sayin...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top