Okay, so maybe this isn’t the “#1 houseplant care must have”. I’d say that goes to proper lighting or pots with drainage. BUT, holy cow, it’s been a major game changer for me!
The Dr. meter moisture meter! *cue angels singing in the background*
It is a small device that you poke into the soil of your plants (indoor, outdoor, potted or not) that gives you a reading of the moisture level immediately. It doesn’t need a battery and is ready to use as soon as you take it out of the packaging. The back of the box includes a list of some plants and what moisture level they like to be at.
It’s obviously way more accurate (and less messy!) than poking your finger into the dirt. Previously, that’s how I’d check if my plants needed water but I quickly realized how much more of a superior method was. Not to mention, it’s small and easily fits in places my hand wouldn’t – like into the pot of a spiky cactus!
From the day I got it, I was very into it. About a week after starting to use it though? OBSESSED.
Here’s my little success story about the moisture meter: So, I have this chenille plant. This is what it looked like when I brought it home. Gorgeous, right!? The first few weeks I had it, it started dropping it’s fuzzy pink chenilles. I wasn’t too worried, figuring that maybe I bought it during its showy season and now it was going to kind of just chill for a while before blooming again in a few months. Then my leaves started to look kind of icky. I wasn’t really sure what I was doing wrong. I felt like I was following all the stuff I’d been reading online about it but still, it wasn’t improving.
The first time I used my moisture meter I poked it into my chenille plant. It read as a “1” meaning very dry which was weird because I had watered it that morning. I watered it, waited until morning and checked again. The meter yet again said “1”! It took a few days of this cycle before I realized that that plant just LOVES to drink. I don’t water anything else in my collection that often or even close to that often but the moisture meter helped me figure out that where I had my chenille plant placed made it really, really thirsty and that it was a plant that liked to be moist all the time.
It’s a been a little under two months since I’ve had the Dr. meter moisture meter. Every single one of my plants has benefited from this silly little thing. I honestly really thought I was good at knowing when to water my plants and how much moisture they liked but this has shown me otherwise.
My chenille plant still is nowhere near as fluffy pink as it was when I brought it home but each week
I use my moisture meter at least once a day on some of my more high maintenance plants. It’s a bit addicting for me to see what their moisture level is at different points in the day. It’s helped me learn a lot more about my plants which of course, helps me take better care of them.
For the price (currently under $10!) you can’t beat it! The Dr. meter moisture meter will be a staple in my plant supplies for life.
1 comment
My grandma had this exact meter when I was growing up. Wow, so random, so nostalgic. ✨