soil moisture meter?

Discussion in 'Maples' started by paxi, Mar 2, 2008.

  1. paxi

    paxi Active Member

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    Can anyone recommend a good soil moisture meter? Trying to take out some of the guess work.
     
  2. alex66

    alex66 Rising Contributor Maple Society 10 Years

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    my empiric method is with finger, i put the finger in the soil ,if the finger is dry is watering time... the garden store have the test moisture, easy to use,little price (in Italy)ciao
     
    Last edited: Mar 3, 2008
  3. richardbeasley@comcast.net

    richardbeasley@comcast.net Active Member Maple Society

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    I have one that does not have a battery and it is better then nothing. Many times I get a false reading because my planting medium is so porous. However it does to some degree of accuracy but I don't know what that is. I think mine is a brand name called rapitest, or something like that, the one before that one looked as the same but had a different brand that was lesser know, it was dispatched into a brick wall at a high velocity within seconds of opening the package. One day I will be able to afford one with a battery and a much longer probe. ciao

    abbia uno che non ha una batteria ed è migliore allora niente. Molte volte ottengo una lettura falsa perché i miei mezzi di piantatura sono quindi poroso. Tuttavia è sicuro di un grado di esattezza ma non so che che cosa quell'è. Il dispositivo che ho è marca rapitest chiamato . Ho avuto una volta oltre quello che una lo ha osservato come lo stesso non e contrassegni diffrent, esso sono stato introdotto una parete con il mattone ad un'alta velocità in quelle seconde dell'apertura del pacchetto. Un giorno verrà quando posso avere uno con una batteria. Ciao
     
    Last edited: Mar 2, 2008
  4. alex66

    alex66 Rising Contributor Maple Society 10 Years

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    merçi' tresor!!
     
  5. richardbeasley@comcast.net

    richardbeasley@comcast.net Active Member Maple Society

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    Oui, pour le meilleur choix, il aurait une batterie, Ricardo bienvenu
     
  6. paxi

    paxi Active Member

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  7. richardbeasley@comcast.net

    richardbeasley@comcast.net Active Member Maple Society

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    I don't know, I do need it, my potting mix is so full of sand and hard grit that it is very hard to get my finger into it. Plus the nerves in my hands are damaged so I can't really feel well enough to know for sure anymore. I was reading today in JM 3rd
     
    Last edited: Mar 3, 2008
  8. richardbeasley@comcast.net

    richardbeasley@comcast.net Active Member Maple Society

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    The scale is from left to right in the middle is good , two is dry, three is still good seven is wet, eight is too wet . My pottng soil is so open so it doen't go pass eight until the organic matter has broken down a bit.
    I need it because I have nerve damage in my hands and I can't really feel whether it is really all that wet or dry. This is a factor, but the main factor is my planting mix is so heavy with grit that I can't just push my into it. I have killed more trees from over watering then under watering so if the water does not got right in I ain't got enough grit in the pot. Spring has sprung in Va. I am glad to say my yard is behind many others, which is fine by me. I need another month to get ready but the soil temperature is above ten degrees. I don't like to plant when the soil is biologically active.
     
    Last edited: Mar 3, 2008
  9. paxi

    paxi Active Member

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    well for $14, I will probably just get on and try it out. Silly me but surprised how expensive they get for digital readouts (can't find anything for less than several hundred bucks).

    The learning curve with these maples can be steep. I tried transplanting a tree yesterday. I was having a tougher time than I expected until I realized that the ground was still partly frozen. thought the spring had sprung here in st. louis but lesson learned. Hope my little tree will forgive my exuberance. Patted it down and slowly walked away as if nothing had happened. Getting six inches tomorrow - I don't think spring will ever come.
     
  10. richardbeasley@comcast.net

    richardbeasley@comcast.net Active Member Maple Society

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    Did you water in good, if not get some water on it, the snow will be good for it, getting it in the ground early is always the best way but you don't want to leave any air pockets around the roots. Yes, I have seen it read two and it feels cool to the touch but when I really get down and look it is really a two. Also if anyone sees you using it they will think you are a scientist or something. I just tell them I am , collecting phytohemagglutinins
    http://www.merriam-webster.com/cgi-bin/audio.pl?phytoh01.wav=phytohemagglutinin
     
  11. lhuget

    lhuget Active Member

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    o I'm green. Richard is bilingual! I'm a slave to my moisture meter (non battery). I find its more accurate if I reposition it. I wouldn't do containers without it. It's so dry here that soil surface is pretty much a lie in both bed and container. Great tip on the "dispatch at high velocity" trick for non-user friendly devices. I may have echoed that with the "pitch over the retaining wall" method.

    Les
     
  12. richardbeasley@comcast.net

    richardbeasley@comcast.net Active Member Maple Society

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    I like to see junk pay the price for being junk. Alex just switched back on me so I had to keep up. I had French starting in the third grade. I never use it, so I have forgotten a lot but I tell you this, starting a kid with French in high school is a pure and utter joke. After the age of 13 you lose the ability to learn a different language, by in large that is. Don't you think the educators would know something about that. I wonder where they were those four years, smoking dope I guess, living on daddy's dollar. My current and X wife have multiple graduate degrees, and they didn't live on daddy's dollar, to be fair. Both had four+ years of French, neither know any more then I do. Current is always current, there is no next at my age.
     
  13. RGrandall

    RGrandall New Member

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    The simplest way is to just stick your finger, and if it comes out dry, add water. However, I kind of hate sticking my finger in dirt and then spending next 15 minutes trying to get it out of my fingernails. Call me weird, but because of it, I eventually got this soil moisture meter. It has worked pretty well for me, and unlike some of the complaints I've heard about other meters, this one seems to be remarkably accurate for the 3 years that I've had it. Anyways, that's my 2 cents. Hope this helps!
     

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