Dr.meter S10 Soil Moisture Sensor Meter Hygrometer-Garden,Farm,Lawn,Plants,Indoor&Outdoor(No Battery Needed), 1 Pack, Green

I am very pleased and pleasantly surprised with this Dr Meter Soil Moisture Meter. It works well and is exactly what's needed to tell if the soil is still damp enough lower down in the plant pot, or if the plant needs watering.Over watering can be a problem, because the soil can look or appear to be dry on top, whilst still actually being damp further down (especially in larger pots), meaning one thinks the plant needs watering when it's actually still ok.To help to ensure that plants are watered correctly, this is ideal. It's could not be easier to use and I am happy to recommend it. I shall be ordering another, so I have one to use in the greenhouse, as well as one indoors for the house plants.

Very easy to use. Very accurate. Helping me keep my plants alive as I was over watering! Lent to a friend to use and she loved it. Very useful guide on the back to help tell you scale for different plants.

Does what it says on the box

Very good and worked well. Saves overwatering the houseplants.

Excellent for testing the soil on my allotment. 100% recommend.

This is pretty much useless in anything with a good mix of pearlite, pumice, etc. Virtually all my recently watered houseplants register as dry. However, the annuals outside in pots, which utilize a 100% compost, do get the correct readout. But anything with a lot of air in the mix gets at best a brief spike of the needle to moist.

I now can check my indoor plants so I don’t over water/them as well as checking if two dry. Great gadget certainly worth the money.

Do NOT under any circumstances submerge the probe in water, especially to test if it "works" as so MANY reviewers have done. It'll just stop working.I have over 100 plants. I use my moisture meter consistently with pretty good success and it's never failed me. Moisture meters are designed to work in soil ONLY and will not provide a reading in water. Leave it in the soil between 30-60 seconds, not longer and NEVER more than 5 minutes as this can corrode the probe, which is sensitive.One thing to keep in mind is the reading will depend on the depth and location of the probe in the soil. Soil might be very moist towards the bottom and dry in the first couple inches. Dry on one side and wet on the other. It all depends on how evenly you water your plants. A lot of the complaints are by people who are not aware of these factors.Different plants have different root systems. Some naturally have shallow roots, while others head straight to the bottom of the pot. So how deep you place the probe is very important.Under normal conditions—and this is likely the problem many are having—mineral salts, coming from fertiliser and tap water tend to build up in potting soil over time. So, unless you re-pot annually, changing the old soil for fresh soil, readings will gradually become less and less accurate. If the soil is heavily contaminated with mineral salts, the meter will always read moist or wet, even when the soil is obviously dry.Also, over time, often in as little as a year, mineral salts slowly penetrate the probe itself, or it may begin to rust and, again, both situations can lead to inaccurate results. Always dry off the probe immediately after use!Moisture meters actually read electrical conductance, not the amount of water present. Water is a good conductor, but air (which is abundant in dry soil) is not. That’s the basics of how a meter works. Remember how air is a poor conductor? Freshly potted plants have fluffy airy soil compared to old pots with compacted soil. That’s going to skew your readings.It's also important to know that because moisture meters work by measuring electrical currents within the soil, soil that has a high salt content will result in inaccurate readings.The numbers given are usually just a scale, not an actual measurement. So you should be checking the output against a specific plant’s water needs, because not all plants need the same amount of moisture. Sometimes a 7 means water, sometimes a 7 means wait.If the needle in the display window is bouncing around and does not settle, the probe could be touching a small rock or piece of metal in the soil. Remove the probe and try again in a different location.