Spent $180 on a fancy soil moisture meter and it totally lied to me

I bought this high end moisture meter from a gardening store in Austin because I kept overwatering my calathea. It read 'dry' every time so I'd water it, but after a month the roots were all mushy and rotten. Turned out the probe was just garbage for potted plants with chunky soil mixes. Has anyone else had trouble with those prong style meters or found a trick to make them work right?

2 comments

2 Comments

jessica_hall491mo ago

Has anyone tried sticking it in a cup of water first to see if it even works?

caleb2621mo ago

Ngl I used to think that was kinda pointless, like why bother testing it when you can just see if it works in the actual thing you're using it for. But I actually tried it with a busted old fog machine last summer, dropped the cord in a cup of water and sure enough it was dead as a doornail before I even plugged it in. Saved me from chasing down a wiring issue that wasn't even there. Changed my whole approach honestly, now I test everything with a quick water dunk first before I tear anything apart.