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Appreciation post: my $6 moisture meter from a garage sale beats every fancy app I've tried
Bought a 2 prong analog moisture meter at a garage sale in Boise 3 summers ago for $6. The needle jumps around a bit and the calibration is probably off by 10 percent. Still, it told me my fiddle leaf was sitting in wet soil for 4 days while my $40 soil sensor app said everything was fine. The app was reading the top 2 inches, the cheap prongs went down where the roots actually live.
I get why people love the bluetooth sensors and the graphs and the reminders. I really do. But I've killed more plants trusting a smooth app reading than I ever did poking a dumb needle into the pot and just looking at it. The needle doesn't care about my wifi or my subscription.
My monstera leaf still has a brown tip from the app era. That one's on me, not the plant.
Anyone else still use the old school two prong deals? Or am I just being stubborn about tech?
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dianawilson2d ago
A six dollar needle beats a forty dollar app, that says it all. Your point about depth is the real lesson here. Top two inches can read dry while the root ball is still soaked, and that gap is what kills plants. My pothos went yellow from that exact thing, cheap probe saved it after. Keep the stubborn streak, those prongs go where the roots actually are.
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