Luster Leaf1820 Rapitest Soil Moisture Meter

Read the reviews where people describe how to best use this. I followed their instructions and it works fine. It's not a fancy piece of equipment, but it works fine. It saved my fern, which was in a "self-watering pot" that wasn't working, and when I used the meter it said it was completely dry. Another day or two of relying on the pot to water the plant and it probably would have died. Now I test it every day to see how much more water it needs, since a malfunctioning self-watering pot is just a stupid pot with no drainage.The meter is light-weight and seems a little flimsy, and I can't vouch for the complete accuracy or reliability, but I think for deciding whether to add more water to a plant (and approx. how much), it works well and is a good price. If I test the soil, add a little water, and retest, the meter goes up a little; if I repeat, it goes up a little more. Sensitive enough for my needs.Side note about self-watering pots for anyone who is interested: The kind with the inner unfinished terra cotta pot that is supposed to let water slowly soak through to the soil- test it before planting in it by placing the dry inner pot into the outer pot full of water and place a dry paper towel in the inner pot. If the paper towel isn't wet within an hour, the inner pot isn't letting the moisture through. I guess at this point you can try soaking it in vinegar for a couple days to remove any deposits that are blocking the water, then soak in distilled water to get the vinegar out. Or you can just return the stupid thing.

I just got this meter today, and discovered that in some of my larger pots (approx. 20 gal) I have dry and wet spots. None of the pots have drain holes. It's really going to help me to figure out which plants in each section of the large pots need more or less watering, and when it's accumulating in the bottom so needs to dry out some.We have a limited water supply to use in our greenhouse, so not wasting water is important.I tend to over water, and kill the "easy" plants. This meter - which is great because I can hold the readout part where I can see it while moving the probe around, behind, and under plants - will hopefully help me to keep things at the right moisture levels.It appears to be working very well as far as I can tell. I hope to get many years of service from it.I especially like that it doesn't need any batteries to work!If I have any issues, or more praise, I will update this.

Why did you pick this product vs others?:Doesn't work - I'd like a refund please! Registers as dry in freshly watered pots.

I'm very please with it after figuring it out, it works great - if others are having trouble, I hope they take the time to experiment a little to see if they're doing something wrong. The display is large, easy to hold and read, and you can use it on hanging baskets. or low pots, with ease.After having one of the fixed probe models, i was really frustrated trying to read their small displays at odd angles, i had been wishing for something like this for a long time. I read the reviews carefully and was hoping that I would get one that didn't have the same issues as others were describing, plus i've learned that some reviews just aren't even reading the instructions that come with products!The first couple of tries after opening the packaging, I was having the exact problems others described: never left "dry" mark, dipped it in water and it still said "dry". I was really disappointed and cleaned the probe off well, planing on returning it. Then, I read the instructions. When i stuck the probe all the way in (past 3") I started getting accurate readings! I'm wondering if cleaning the probe well also didn't hurt, but now it seems to work perfectly. I've used it a couple of weeks with accurate readings every time. The probe is a little "fatter" than my fixed probe and requires more force to get into the soil. I'm wondering if other users are not getting past the top layer of dry soil (like I was originally). Plus, when i put the probe deeper into a glass of water it does indeed read "wet".

This is a great tool for gardening. I do container gardening and I was always overwatering plants because I live in Phoenix and I'm always worried that my plant is dry. Many times the soil at the top feels dry but if the roots are wet and you keep watering, your plant will get root rot. This tool is great because you can put the probe in a hanging container and still easily read the moisture level. It works far better than the really cheap moisture meters and doesn;t cost a whole lot more. But you need to follow directions!You can't just stick it in water and say it doesn't work because the directions state clearly that it only works in soil! Also, you need to push the probe at least a couple inches into the soil, usually I put it about halfway in. I suppose if it's a really tiny pot you might not be able to get that far down but you want to test the plant roots not the topsoil!The directions tell you to submerge at least half of the probe into the soil and to get a reading from a few places - not just one. And in containers, stay away from the sides of the container. It says to keep at least a couple of inches away from the sides of a container, but if your pot is very small that may not be possible. Just try to read the moisture at the roots and I think you'll find this is a really helpful garden tool.