That $90 soil moisture meter was a complete waste

Bought one of those fancy digital meters last spring after my fiddle leaf fig dropped half its leaves. It kept saying the soil was dry when it was actually sopping wet, so I overwatered and killed two other plants before I figured it out. A cheap wooden skewer stuck in the dirt works better than that thing ever did. Anyone else had bad luck with these gadgets or is there a brand that actually works?

2 comments

2 Comments

sarah19826d ago

...and honestly I think my plants are laughing at me at this point. I bought one of those pricier ones after killing my peace lily, and the thing read "wet" when the soil was bone dry. I literally stood there for five minutes jabbing it around like a confused detective before giving up and using my finger like a normal person. The only gadget I trust now is a dollar store chopstick, and that's only because I can't blame the tech when I inevitably forget to water something. My green thumb is really just a brown thumb with good intentions and a skewer collection. If anyone finds a meter that also tells me when to stop buying more plants, let me know, I need that feature more than the moisture reading lmao.

the_tara26d agoMost Upvoted

That moisture meter thing is such a scam, I had the same problem and threw mine in a drawer after a week. What finally worked for me was just picking a watering day, like every Sunday, and sticking to it no matter what. I check the soil with my finger first, but if I'm feeling lazy I just wait for the leaves to look a little droopy, that's my real signal now. My peace lily actually survived once I stopped overthinking it, turns out they like being ignored more than being fussed over. And yeah, the "stop buying plants" feature would be a million seller, I already have three more on my kitchen counter that I promised myself I wouldn't get.