My $80 moisture meter was a total bust for indoor plants

I dropped eighty bucks on a fancy digital moisture meter for my houseplants (mostly ferns and a fiddle leaf fig) because I kept overwatering everything during night shifts. Turns out that thing gave me wildly different readings every time I stuck it in the same pot, so I'm still guessing if my fern is thirsty or drowning. Has anyone else had better luck with those cheap wooden probe meters or just learned to trust the finger test?

3 comments

3 Comments

ryan_clark403d ago

Tbh I feel your pain on this one. I bought one of those digital ones on a whim and same deal, it would go from bone dry to soaking wet just moving it half an inch over in the same pot. Honestly the finger test is way more reliable than any of those gadgets for houseplants, especially ferns that like consistent moisture. Ngl I think those meters are just designed for outdoor soil or something, they never work right in those loose potting mixes we use indoors.

caseys303d agoMost Upvoted

Get ready to be corrected here @ryan_clark40 but honestly I think a lot of people just don't know how to use these meters right. If you're getting wild readings just moving it half an inch you're probably hitting a root or an air pocket in that loose mix. My digital one works great once I learned to push it in at a slight angle and let it sit for 10 seconds before reading. Those cheap wooden ones are even worse in my experience they corrode after a few weeks and give you nothing but lies. The finger test is fine for surface level but if you've got a deep pot with a fiddle leaf fig you're just guessing about the bottom half of the soil which is where the real moisture hides. Maybe yours was just defective or something but mine has saved me from killing two ferns and a calathea so I'm sticking with it.

alices163d ago

My third grade students actually did a little science project with those moisture meters last year. They tested them in different pots and compared the readings to what they felt with their fingers. Half the class swore the meter was broken because it said "wet" in a pot that looked bone dry on top. Turns out one kid had overwatered from the bottom and the top was just crusty. The other half just kept poking different spots and getting different numbers every time. In the end the class voted and said the finger test was more trustworthy, which I thought was pretty funny coming from a bunch of eight year olds.