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| Moisture meters http://www.weetrees.co.uk/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=8337 |
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| Author: | BrendanJ [ 25 Nov 2012, 17:50 ] |
| Post subject: | Moisture meters |
What is your opinions of moisture meters? As a relative new by and knowing the importance of watering correctly, I bought a cheap one, but I am not sure how reliable they are I've noticed that depending on the medium they seem to give surprising results, a gritty mix always seems to read wet, regardless of almost kno watering. A 100 percent academia reads dry even when surface looks wet I suppose the point is , cani trust it? And if not what is the best way of judging it needs water or not. Thanks for any advice Brendan. |
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| Author: | arihato [ 25 Nov 2012, 18:23 ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Moisture meters |
The best moisture meter are you eyes. Learn when your mixture is dry and the colour change that goes with that, observe. It is not surprising that your meter reads different for these mixes if you know where the water is in them. In a gritty mix the moisture is on the outside of the grit, it can't penetrate it, in the Akadama it is on the inside of the particle, so the outside is relatively dry. In different pots the moisture will be in different places, a shallow container holds more water than a deep container. A deep container holds the water it has in the lower part of the pot, so the top may look dry but the tree has still enough water, providing it has not recently been repotted. For my ShoHin, when the surface looks dry, I water For the bigger trees I use my finger and if the soil is dry about a cm below the surface, I water. |
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| Author: | Jerry Norbury [ 25 Nov 2012, 20:11 ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Moisture meters |
If you have decent soil you do not need to measure the moisture level - you effectively just water it every day. |
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| Author: | Paul B [Swindon] [ 25 Nov 2012, 21:01 ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Moisture meters |
As well as the colour and depending on how many trees you have................get used to the weight of the tree and pot. It gives you a very good idea of how wet it is. As long as you have a good free flowing mix, it doesn't matter too much if you do water, as it should drain straight out. Just as well with the weather that we have had this year. Pines I prefer to get quite dry before they are also well watered. |
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| Author: | johnbaz [ 25 Nov 2012, 21:36 ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Moisture meters |
Brendon A good way of telling whether your compost is wet or dry is to push a wooden meat skewer (Or even less noticable, a cocktale stick in to the compost behind the tree (or where it can't be noticed too easily) and pull it out daily, you can tell from the wood whether watering is needed  I have a moisture meter and only ever used it in large plant pots (with patio trees or other plants in).. I also have a soil PH tester that looks the same as the moisture one  Cheers, John 
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| Author: | splendidplumage [ 25 Nov 2012, 21:51 ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Moisture meters |
They are pointless. It seems a bit arbitrary to base your watering decisions on how wet one part of the soil in the whole pot is. I agree with Arihato. Use the 2 free moisture meters near the top of your face. |
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| Author: | BrendanJ [ 26 Nov 2012, 10:23 ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Moisture meters |
To All, Thanks all for the feedback, the wise ones certainly have a consensus here.  My problem is that as just started I have several trees in less than ideal poting conditions (until spring at least), - Mixed & unknown soils, some different on top to what is beneath - Compacted trees awaiting repotting, - various depths of pot, some much deeper to try and encourage the tree, but still not ideal soil And as yet I do not have the experience that you obviously have of either watering generally or the trees themselves. So far they are all alive, but very far from the daily watering routine, I'd say once a week seems to do it currently and some even less than that. In using the meter, I am making sure to test in various area,s and depths. But just wanted to confirm that they do indeed work and are reliable, although in time I am sure from your comments I will need less and less. But as you seem not to use them, maybe you cannot answer my question. Any one else that uses them? or finds them usefull, or totally not usefull Interested to hear, and thanks again for the advice Brendan  
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| Author: | Jerry Norbury [ 26 Nov 2012, 12:14 ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Moisture meters |
Watering now is simple and deceptive - because you virtually don't need to do any. |
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| Author: | RGrandall [ 05 Aug 2015, 18:20 ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Moisture meters |
BrendanJ wrote: Any one else that uses them? or finds them usefull, or totally not usefull Hey Brendan,Interested to hear, and thanks again for the advice As I'm sure you can tell, there are a lot of differing views on the effectiveness on soil moisture meters, and rightly so. Much of the negative views on them come from bad experiences with the cheap meters. Often times these don't work or give false readings that can cause you to do more harm to your plant than good. There are a couple of issues you likely will run into if you use one of these meters. The first is corrosion. Since many do not have insulated sensors, they often corrode quickly, and once corroded, it doesn't sense like it is supposed to do, and in essence, gives false readings. The other issue is that many (i'm not saying all) of the cheap meters are affected by salinity (i.e. fertilizer). What happens is that a higher salinity content makes the meter give a higher "wet" reading, even if the soil is bone dry. Having gone through my fair share of sensors, I can understand the frustrations most people have gone through. Finally I reached this soil moisture meter and have been considerably happy with it. Although it is a little more expensive than your average cheap meter, it is fully insulated (so it doesn't corrode) and isn't affected at all by salinity. For the 3 years I've had it, I have been well pleased. If you are having issues with the cheap meters corroding, one temporary solution is to wipe/scrape the corrosion away with a piece of steel wool. As far as the salinity goes, I have never found a quick fix for it. Hope this helps! |
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| Author: | paulpash [ 06 Aug 2015, 09:29 ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Moisture meters |
Weeds are better indicators than moisture meters in organic soils ... leave one in your soil & once it starts to wilt then water. The downside of only having to water once a week or less is that watering serves 2 functions a) the obvious rehydration of the substrate and b) it draws fresh oxygen in as it flows through. |
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