Advice on a good soil moisture meter

ItsSaturday

ItsSaturday

Well-Known Member
Hey everyone... Just wanted to get some different opinions on soil moisture meters... It's getting hard for me to lift my girls and wanted something simple that works just as well as lifting and sticking fingers in the soil... lol I'll probably keep doing the finger test anyway but I wanted something to get deep down in the root zone... Any realistic advice would be appreciated. Thanks. :-)
 
Silicity

Silicity

Well-Known Member
why prod things into the ground and possibly damage the root system?

honestly after a week in flowering/growing cannabis most people should understand when their plants are needing water.
 
ItsSaturday

ItsSaturday

Well-Known Member
Silicity said:
why prod things into the ground and possibly damage the root system?

honestly after a week in flowering/growing cannabis most people should understand when their plants are needing water.
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Not sure if that was a question or not but... Damaging a few roots once is less stress then over/under watering... As I said in my initial post it's difficult for me to test when they need water in traditional ways...

Secondly, I can tell when they "need" water but I'm looking for something that will tell me when "to" water without having to put a lot of effort into and guess work into it.

If I can find a reliable moisture meter I would rather use that then having to struggle to determine when the best time to water them is... Sometimes my girls need water everything 2-3 days... other times then need water once a week. So saying that after you have grown for a week you should know when they need water, is a very ignorant statement as every plant and pot is different and has different needs...
 
Silicity

Silicity

Well-Known Member
yup but the fact your relying on something that does not know the size of your pot or the medium and then relying on it to tell you when to water sounds foolish. and how is overwatering/underwatering more stressful to the plant? the plant is a plant and grown in its natural enviroment has to account for over/under watering. has overwatering killed any of your plants? id assume no and ive had plants look like shit after roots get damaged.

im not trying to hate/flame or any of that, im just trying to help you and a digital meter isnt going to give you a very accurate reading and a good one is expensive. my watering method is sticking my finger an inch in the soil and if its getting drier than i water and i have yet to over/under water on numerous grows. please save yourself the cash and water every 4 days.
 
Warlock1369

Warlock1369

Well-Known Member
Prodding soil is good. It airets the soil. Knowing his issues a meter would be a good idea. I would just get the 15 dallor one from the hardwhere store. Use it as a reference only tool. But use commonsense as a basic.
 
ItsSaturday

ItsSaturday

Well-Known Member
Silicity said:
yup but the fact your relying on something that does not know the size of your pot or the medium and then relying on it to tell you when to water sounds foolish. and how is overwatering/underwatering more stressful to the plant? the plant is a plant and grown in its natural enviroment has to account for over/under watering. has overwatering killed any of your plants? id assume no and ive had plants look like shit after roots get damaged.

im not trying to hate/flame or any of that, im just trying to help you and a digital meter isnt going to give you a very accurate reading and a good one is expensive. my watering method is sticking my finger an inch in the soil and if its getting drier than i water and i have yet to over/under water on numerous grows. please save yourself the cash and water every 4 days.
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I appreciate your advice and didn't think you were trying to hate or flame was just trying to explain my reasons... I've never over/under watered before and that's why I'm worried about... I agree with you that it's not the best option by far but I am worried about killing my girls... The expense is not an issue... for me it's more for the piece of mind since the only way to check them for me now is to do the finger test...

I'll try watering every 4 days and see how that goes until I find a good meter... If the meter works I'll stick with that if not then I'll have to figure out another way...
 
Silicity

Silicity

Well-Known Member
i agree slightly with above poster but the 15$ ones are shit and a joke, ive purchased 2 of them and both were inaccurate and my brother and friends have tried them and they are junk. as i stated a good working one is expensive as its hard to give a moisture reading due to more roots being in a given area/medium/size of pot. does your soil retain water very well or does it have a good drainage additive like perilite? youll never get exact watering times correct and nobody has also in soil, commonsense is your greatest tool here and watering based on dryness of your soil is a good method to use, understand a meter will not give you a digital readout saying your cannabis is ready to be watered accurately.
 
ItsSaturday

ItsSaturday

Well-Known Member
Warlock1369 said:
Prodding soil is good. It airets the soil. Knowing his issues a meter would be a good idea. I would just get the 15 dallor one from the hardwhere store. Use it as a reference only tool. But use commonsense as a basic.
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Thanks bro I think I'll just try them out and see how well they work... I've heard horror stories about these things thats why I wanted an expert opinion... Wife told me to just get a scale and put it under them so I can tell when they need water... lol never even thought of that...
 
ItsSaturday

ItsSaturday

Well-Known Member
Silicity said:
i agree slightly with above poster but the 15$ ones are shit and a joke, ive purchased 2 of them and both were inaccurate and my brother and friends have tried them and they are junk. as i stated a good working one is expensive as its hard to give a moisture reading due to more roots being in a given area/medium/size of pot. does your soil retain water very well or does it have a good drainage additive like perilite? youll never get exact watering times correct and nobody has also in soil, commonsense is your greatest tool here and watering based on dryness of your soil is a good method to use, understand a meter will not give you a digital readout saying your cannabis is ready to be watered accurately.
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My mixture is 40/40 FFOF FFHF and 20% perlite... It retains water decently but also drains the excess very well... I'm not a fan of the meters in the first place but was thinking it would be a good extra tool to have... I know the cheap ones don't work for shit lol... I'm gunna try a few things out and see if they work...

Thank you all for the advice... :-)
 
intenseneal

intenseneal

Well-Known Member
IME you plants are the best meter you can buy. Watch them they will tell you when they need water. When they start to get droopy they need to be watered.
 
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