Any recommendations for a 'good' moisture meter?

[SmallTreeGuy]

Exactly my point

Damn, you’re weird.

 

[leatherback]

@Josephflores960 just a gentle reminder that this is a friendly forum, and not reddit.

Pretty much all people on this forum respond to help others, and many members here have been doing bosai for decades and can be a great source of information. However, responses like the ones you are placing here has chased off many an old-time expert.

I would hate to see more of them go and invite you to cool down and treat people in a civil manner.

 

[Josephflores960]

@Josephflores960 just a gentle reminder that this is a friendly forum, and not reddit.

Pretty much all people on this forum respond to help others, and many members here have been doing bosai for decades and can be a great source of information. However, responses like the ones you are placing here has chased off many an old-time expert.

I would hate to see more of them go and invite you to cool down and treat people in a civil manner.

Thanks for being the first the address this in a gentle manner. I apologize, thank you. Wish you well.

 

[leatherback]

Enjoy growing bonsai.

 

[pandacular]

Next to this, I have 2 plants that I know go dry most quicly. Once one of these shows signs of underwatering (Dull foliage or worse, drooping foliage) I know I should have watered earlier.

This is a really interesting part of your response. I actually keep a few of my more water sensitive house plants alongside my bonsai in the summer as a signal of when to water, generally crotons, Codiaeum variegatum. This is such a dramatic plant that if it has begun to wilt, it is incredibly obvious and I know to make sure to water my trees (and the croton, of course).

Also folks, remember the first rule of the internet: don’t feed the trolls.

 

[leatherback]

This is a really interesting part of your response. I actually keep a few of my more water sensitive house plants alongside my bonsai in the summer as a signal of when to water, generally crotons, Codiaeum variegatum.

It is quite common advice here when e.g. growing pines which like to be on the dry side, and typically are watered only every few days: Keep a small weed in the pot. Once the weed starts to wilt, it is time to water your pine

 

[Bonsai Nut]

Edited out all the flame posts...

 

[Bonsai Nut]

If you do it long enough, it becomes second nature to notice dry soil ON SIGHT--which is the aim of good watering practices. Lift test becomes secondary. I do this with all my trees, even the 125 lb one.

I don't rely on any single method. I would say:

(1) I can often tell on sight if the trees need water - particularly deciduous. There are small signs in the appearance of the foliage - they start to droop slightly, and the color starts to gray out ever so slightly. This is particularly apparent if you are looking over a bench of trees and they all start to take on the same slightly "parched" look.
(2) I lift pots. It's not that one pot is "heavy" versus another is "light", rather you know when the pot feels like dry versus when watered. Particularly if you have over 100 trees in Anderson flats or the same-sized nursery containers, you can tell the difference.
(3) I feel the surface 1" of the soil. If the soil is dry down to 1", and only damp below that, it is time to water. If I don't know the condition of the soil below that level, it is time to repot the tree I should never have a tree (here in NC) where the top of the soil is bone dry and the bottom of the soil is saturated. Note - this depends a little on where you live, in SoCal when the Santa Anas were blowing the soil surface dried quite quickly.

I personally would never trust a moisture meter because there are too many ways that you can get a bad/inconsistent reading. As an example, if you own a moisture meter try this simple test. On one plant take 10 different readings in different parts of the soil. Are they all consistent? Probably not. Now what? Do you average them? Take the lowest? Take the highest?

I find that if you have the time to use a moisture meter, you have more than enough time to poke the soil with your finger and lift the pot.

Also, this is not intended to be a flame, but if you are having trouble with understanding moisture in your soil, it may be because you are using an organic soil mix, where the moisture levels from the top to the bottom of the soil are much less consistent.

 

[gooeytek]

My moisture meters are several large, clear, orchid planters containing soil similar to the bonsai mix I currently use, but with more organic material. In these, I have Lily of the Valley and garlic growing (squirrels don't like their scent). Lily of the Valley likes wet soil, and garlic likes it drier. Garlic "leaves" will start to yellow if overwatered. I have them scattered on top of stumps around my growing area.

They're not meant as an absolute gauge for everything, but more of an at-a-glance control.

 

[Paradox]

You all laugh and carry on here, and that's ok, but a lot of us struggle with this ALL THE TIME. I would think, with all our technology, that someone would have invented something that would measure moisture levels in pots using granular soils. I've wondered if those devices that measure moisture levels in hay before baling it would work.

Now would someone please explain how your answers above work. Let's assume no akadama, peat moss, potting soil or anything that makes testing easy. Let's say we have a pumice and lava mix.

How does a chop stick work to measure moisture levels? Does one just stick a chop stick in and leave it in the pot or stick it in every time you want to measure. I've done the stick in and leave it and the chop stick turns brown/black over time but how does it tell me if there is moisture in the pot? I would also assume that if the stick was totally dry, then the soil would be dry and the tree dead or heading that way. Sorry, but I have never understood how this is supposed to work.

How does a finger work to measure moisture? Can I assume that if I stick my finger in the pot about an inch of so and it feels cool, then there is enough moisture?

How do your eyes work to measure moisture? Yes, if the leaves are wilting on deciduous or something, but how would you tell if a conifer in this soil mix needs water by using your eyes to measure?

I am not being a smart ass and I'm not stupid. I am serious and would like an explanation how you all make these answers to the moisture problem work. Thank you.

I just read through this thread again and I am not sure all of your questions got answered completely. Sorry for the delay.

You stick the chopstick in the soil as deep as you can get it, preferably 1.5 to 2 inches. You leave it in the pot. Check it once a day and when it is almost dry, water. You generally and see or feel if it's still wet. This will sound silly but if I was not sure seeing with my eyes and feeling with my fingers, I learned to touch the chopstick to the skin beneath my nose. That skin is very sensitive to moisture or feeling. Of course if you have a mustache, it won't work as well.

I've used the chopstick method in lava and pumice mixes in the past and it works great. Lava and pumice drain fast but they do hold moisture so it still works with that mix.

I used chopsticks for a couple of years until I got the hang of when things needed to be watered. Knowing comes with time and experience doing it.

@rockm is correct in that there are so many factors that effect it. Where you live, the humidity, how much it rains, the season, where you have the pot, the tree and how it uses water.

Using the open mix we typically do does help as stated as it is impossible to overwater that mix.