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I have one just like that. With any of them, you have to make sure you have full contact with the soil at the sensor location. Any voids in the soil will give you erratic moisture readings.
I have one of those and don't have any problems with it. I always take into consideration that moisture isn't always evenly distributed throughout a container or garden bed due to a number of factors and it's up to me to compensate for it.
Can you explain in what ways yours doesn't seem to be working well for you, and what kinds of plants are you testing for, and what kind of growing conditions, temperatures and the types of soil you're working with?
Can you explain in what ways yours doesn't seem to be working well for you, and what kinds of plants are you testing for, and what kind of growing conditions, temperatures and the types of soil you're working with?
Using this with a palm, indoors. I put the meter in, and it's 0 moisture, I take it out and immediately reinsert it in the same general area, and it's shows full moisture. That can't be. Slightly diff here and there I can understand, but this I can't. Perhaps this one is defective?
Using this with a palm, indoors. I put the meter in, and it's 0 moisture, I take it out and immediately reinsert it in the same general area, and it's shows full moisture. That can't be. Slightly diff here and there I can understand, but this I can't. Perhaps this one is defective?
It is actually not unusual for that to happen sometimes. It does mean you may need to re-insert the probe in 2 or 3 different locations to get a reading that can be averaged out.
It might be a defective tip on the meter or it might be a peculiarity of the composition of the soil in the container. Does the palm's soil have any tiny little stone pebbles, bits of white perlite, metal, glass, plastic, styrofoam or chunks of dry wood in it that the meter tip could be coming into contact with? Those things can interfere with electrical conductivity.
If you read the above link's blog post you'll see the explanation about how moisture meters work and what kinds of things might interfere with electrical conductivity (i.e. contact with small stones in the soil just for example) - "moisture meters use the principle of electrical resistance to measure the conductivity of the soil. Simply put—because water conducts electricity well, high moisture content in the soil is measured by higher electrical currents, whereas lower electrical currents indicate drier soil. "
Whenever my moisture meter seems that it might not be working in certain spots I will give the probe tip a good wipe down with a piece of dry rough terry cloth to ensure that there is nothing adhering to the tip. Then I re-insert it back into the soil about an inch away from wherever I had previously inserted it.
If it's giving you more trouble than it seems worth then you might need to replace the meter you have with another meter of a different brand.
OP I've been using those same moisture meters for over 30 years with great success. If you're having a problem with the reading you may have inserted it into a dry spot, an open air pocket, next to a rock, wood particle or other material that interferes with a reading. I always insert the probe into at least 3 different areas around the plant to get a more accurate average reading. If you are experiencing several zero readings all at one time then you may have a defective probe which is rare. Using the palm to push down can bend the probe dislocating it inside from the sensitivity connections.
I have the same sensor as the OP posted. It was my mom's so it's old but it still works. I use it on my lemon and mandarin trees on the patio. I get various wet/dry readings, depending on where I poke it in. So I tend to always stay as close to the root system as I can. I like it. No second guessing because it's easy to over water citrus and then you don't get any fruit.
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