the freshman gardener
How to read a moisture meter… and not overwater your houseplants
One of the basic necessities of having house plants, is having and learning to read a moisture meter. Sure, you can stick your finger in the soil but how accurate is that? Plus you’ll have to dig the dirt out from under your fingernails and my way is a lot easier.
Most moisture meters can be bought at any big box hardware store or nursery. Amazon has a zillion options as well. They’ll set you back $10-$20 but avoiding root rot on your house plants is priceless. My specific moisture reader has 3 sections but a basic water reader will do just fine.
How to Know When to Water
First things first, make sure you have it switched to read the moisture of your soil. I like to take different measurements all around my plant. I’ll stick it all the way to the head of the reader close to the roots, further from the roots, and all around different areas of the pot. If there is a pot closer to a heater vent or a window, they tend to dry out faster on one side than the other. I don’t water unless I get an average of a 4 on my meter. Make sure to let the reading stabilized before taking your reading. I have seen it take up to a minute to get down to the level it was at.
Why Use a Moisture Meter?
My husband bought me a lemon tree a few years ago. We don’t live in a warm enough climate to keep it outside, so she lives in my house for the colder months. She’s also a bit of a diva. Worse than a fiddle leaf fig! One particular time she had dropped a lot of leaves and they were droopy. I had been measuring the water and was sure it didn’t need water. So I emailed the company we got the tree from. She first asked how I was using my moisture meter and wanted to make sure I was taking several readings, especially near the roots. I had been measuring towards the rim of the pot and my poor lemon tree was SO thirsty! Since then, I have’t had any water issues.
I use my moisture meter on all my houseplants, every time I water. Root rot and over watering is one of the main causes of plant death and I want to be sure I don’t have that problem. Once the roots rot away to a certain point, the plant is hard to save. It’s also critical that all your pots have drainage holes in the bottom of them to prevent the roots from sitting in water.
You can find some of my favorite moisture meters HERE and HERE on Amazon.
I live in a small town so I use Amazon…a lot. If you click on an affiliate link and later make a purchase we might receive a small commission. Clicking on an affiliate link which earns a commission does NOT result in additional charges to you or cost you anything extra. Any mentions made of associated products/services/businesses within the content of the blog may or may not be noted as an affiliate in every reference. Money earned via affiliate links helps to pay the fees to keep this site up and running. Thank you so much for shopping through our links to show your support for the brands that we love and the products that we share. xo
Recent Comments