Do moisture meters work?

[fatbuds420]

Yeah they work fine, if you're trying to kill your plant

What's that? I didn't know it had a "My garbage is full" indicator on it

Spend your money on some good soil and nutrients, instead of wasting time, money, and energy on something you don't need...the only good thing a moisture meter did for me was hold up a stretchy plant

I had all that stuff when I started. PH strips, moisture meter, PH pen, and PH up & down because everything I read, said I needed it....NOT!!!!

Now, I use FFOF and their nutrients, all I do is water and feed, my PH pen is gathering dust somewhere, and I couldn't tell you where all the other stuff is, but it's useless

FFOF my friend, just water/feed and relax

Mochas Garden

• MochaBud
• Apr 4, 2020

pruning & feeding tonight

new veg closet

• MochaBud
• Apr 2, 2020

013.jpg

• MochaBud
• Aug 30, 2019
• 3

White Widow 3 weeks in flower
No PHing of water!

Can you elaborate on how moisture meters are bad? I'm bad at telling the moisture level with my finger, and I'm not a fan of the lifting method either.


I do agree on the other stuff, the first plant I ever made was huge, didnt check for pH, was using some cheap universal soil, and terra canna vega nutes, came out grate


The issue i have is with watering autos, you really need to be careful with them, so easy to stun them, and i always overwatered them, I stick my finger deep down in the soil and TO Me, it feels like it's dry enough to water, but apparently not since the moisture meter still says its not dry.
.

I dont like autos just like many people, but IT'S A CHALLEGE TO ME NOW. I need to grow at least One good auto. At least one!

It's so damn easy to grow a decent feminized plant, but I was never able to make autos grow

I ALWAYS stun the fuck out of them.


Now Imma try using the moisture meter. Hopefully it will help me to tell when it's time to water.

 

[MochaBud]

Can you elaborate on how moisture meters are bad? I'm bad at telling the moisture level with my finger, and I'm not a fan of the lifting method either.


I do agree on the other stuff, the first plant I ever made was huge, didnt check for pH, was using some cheap universal soil, and terra canna vega nutes, came out grate


The issue i have is with watering autos, you really need to be careful with them, so easy to stun them, and i always overwatered them, I stick my finger deep down in the soil and TO Me, it feels like it's dry enough to water, but apparently not since the moisture meter still says its not dry.
.

I dont like autos just like many people, but IT'S A CHALLEGE TO ME NOW. I need to grow at least One good auto. At least one!

It's so damn easy to grow a decent feminized plant, but I was never able to make autos grow

I ALWAYS stun the fuck out of them.


Now Imma try using the moisture meter. Hopefully it will help me to tell when it's time to water.

I use my leaves as a gas gauge, when they droop, leaf stem and all, I know it's time to water/feed...My wife and I call it "wilted lettuce" and that's when the pots are dry, and you can lift them (pot and all) about an inch or so to feel that they're light

 

[Finnicki]

Every industry has things you need and things you don’t. I too bought a ph meter and I glance at it occasionally on my way to the tent. Learning curve. Now I have learned. Took 7 months.

 

[Emilya Green]

@Emilya are cannabis fertilizers saline? these meters work by measuring the electrical conductivity....

yes, most of our nutes are chemical salts

 

[Emilya Green]

I heard ph stripes are very inaccurate and I was told to buy a electronic meter

test strips work fine to get you in the ball park.... until you add nutes to the water and change its color. Now the color on the test strip is very subjective, as if it wasn't before colored a bit just by the fluid. You can trust an electronic meter, whereas you can't always trust your eyes.

 

[Bush Doctor 77]

I use my leaves as a gas gauge, when they droop, leaf stem and all, I know it's time to water/feed...My wife and I call it "wilted lettuce" and that's when the pots are dry, and you can lift them (pot and all) about an inch or so to feel that they're light

Good way to trim fans, too. To prevent the buds getting to the permanent wilting point, the plants will sacrifice the fans. Even the biggest pots/bags will be light, and easily tilted or lifted. My 7 gallon bags get down to just a few pounds when ready, but I am using peat/perlite which has a low dry density. Light soils are good for herb.

 

[fatbuds420]

I use my leaves as a gas gauge, when they droop, leaf stem and all, I know it's time to water/feed...My wife and I call it "wilted lettuce" and that's when the pots are dry, and you can lift them (pot and all) about an inch or so to feel that they're light

well, that works with big plants, the lift method doesn't work with seedlings in their final pot...

i guess i'll use a combination of the moisture meter and looking at the leaves, thanks

 

[fatbuds420]

yes, most of our nutes are chemical salts

could that severely impact the reading of the meter? all i need is to know when it's dry, i don't care about it being super accurate

 

[Homer Simpson]

I don't understand the condemnation of water meters because I have a 20 yr old one that doesn't need batteries and tells me exactly what the moisture content is throughout the whole height of the pot as I insert it. I can accurately watch the moisture dropping and know exactly when I want to water. But to each his/her own.

 

[fatbuds420]

I don't understand the condemnation of water meters because I have a 20 yr old one that doesn't need batteries and tells me exactly what the moisture content is throughout the whole height of the pot as I insert it. I can accurately watch the moisture dropping and know exactly when I want to water. But to each his/her own.

i have the same, those meters measure the conductivity, but the measurement can be very inaccurate if you have a high salinity soil.... (according to some) i'm not sure just HOW inaccurate it will be....

do you grow autos? if it works for you i guess it will work for me

 

[MochaBud]

well, that works with big plants, the lift method doesn't work with seedlings in their final pot...

i guess i'll use a combination of the moisture meter and looking at the leaves, thanks

Are you growing autos?

 

[Homer Simpson]

i have the same, those meters measure the conductivity, but the measurement can be very inaccurate if you have a high salinity soil.... (according to some) i'm not sure just HOW inaccurate it will be....

do you grow autos? if it works for you i guess it will work for me

I grow regular feminized seeds never autos. Even if they are terribly inaccurate that doesn't really matter because if the needle stays at zero I know the medium is bone dry but once the needle starts to move I know there is at least some moisture left. So what if it's off by 10% or even 80%. I can tell at what point in the pot it goes from bone dry to some moisture and that's all I really need to know. But I think mine is pretty accurate and I think it tells pretty much how moist the whole pot is and to what degree.

 

[fatbuds420]

Are you growing autos?

autos/and fem

as i've said, i wanna grow one successful auto, so far it's been a disaster

 

[fatbuds420]

I grow regular feminized seeds never autos. Even if they are terribly inaccurate that doesn't really matter because if the needle stays at zero I know the medium is bone dry but once the needle starts to move I know there is at least some moisture left. So what if it's off by 10% or even 80%. I can tell at what point in the pot it goes from bone dry to some moisture and that's all I really need to know. But I think mine is pretty accurate and I think it tells me everything I need to know.

could you post a pic of yours (no homo) ? maybe we have the same one

 

[TorturedSoul]

After I started using my two-prong three-in-one meter, I questioned it. I stuck the prongs in a jug of water. The meter said it was 'damp.'

I also dipped it in a food grade sanitizer solution. It should've read 2.8 or less. It read 4.5

I don't use it anymore.

. VERY cheaply made products. They also tend to develop internal corrosion, on average, for some reason. Better off doing it like great-grandma did, lol.

 

[Homer Simpson]

could you post a pic of yours (no homo) ? maybe we have the same one

Oops... Had my pants half down before I noticed the homo comment. Not that I am gay, not that there is anything wrong with that, but just trying to be helpful any way I can, lol.

 

[Emilya Green]

i have the same, those meters measure the conductivity, but the measurement can be very inaccurate if you have a high salinity soil.... (according to some) i'm not sure just HOW inaccurate it will be....

do you grow autos? if it works for you i guess it will work for me

if we are talking about the moisture meter part of this, it is not accurate at all... all it can do is distinguish wet from damp... but that is enough to know where the top of the water table is... the only important information that meter can give.

 

[TorturedSoul]

That goes along with my "cheaply made" comment, lol. In theory, they should work great. After all, they're just measuring electrical resistance in the soil... Dry soil is a really poor conductor, damp soil less so, and wet soil is probably pretty good. 100% water is, of course, great, which is why we teach children not to use a hair dryer whilst standing in a bathtub that still has water in it .

But, well... Made in China .

 

[fatbuds420]

Oops... Had my pants half down before I noticed the homo comment. Not that I am gay, not that there is anything wrong with that, but just trying to be helpful any way I can, lol.

pretty similar to mine, is the picture bad or is it turning brown?tiny bit of corrosion on mine too

 

[NorthernCosmos]

Inserted horizontally, through the holes of my airpots, or the fabric of my fabric pots, I found it to be a useful tool to measure moisture content at top, middle and bottom when I first started growing and was getting a handle on my watering technique. Very helpful in preventing me from watering too often.

I do the same. E.g. some times a plant decides to stay wet for longer than the others, and then I like to probe horizontally through the holes (I've drilled plenty in the sides of my buckets). That lets you get a feel for where things are at. For the watering decision I use the weighing method - the moisture meter is just for monitoring and learning a little. No conflicts there.