Moisture meters, any good?

[Lucinda Brown]

Hi everyone, I was just wondering if anyone has tried moisture meters out for use in orchid bark mixes? Had any luck with them? I've never used them with any plants, but I'm still having problems telling for sure when to water my varied collection of orchids. Just when I thought I was getting better at telling by the weight of the pots, I almost lost another by overwatering. I would like to try a moisture meter but wanted to find out if their worth the money or not, first. Help!

[Cynthia, Prescott, AZ]

DON'T use them for orchids, wether they work or not. You will transfer virus between plants doing that. And alcohol is not a sterilent for virus. I recommend that you buy some bamboo barbeque skewers from the grocery store. Take a new skewer for each plant and push the clean unhandled end of the skewer into the pot all the way down to the bottom and leave it there. When you think it may be time to water, pull the skewer to look for color and then replace. The color will be varying shades depending on the moisture. For Catts and other orchids that should dry before watering, the color should go back to normal, for Phals, it should be changing back to normal, but not all the way. Phals, Miltonias, and Oncidiums should not dry out completely. Most Dendrobiums should get extremely dry during winter when they are not growing, but can be a little wetter while growing. Cynthia, Prescott, AZ

[jerrymeola]

I used moisture meters for tropical plants many years ago and the results were so confusing that I gave up.

I think they will be even less useful for orchids since you want to go to dry for many plants and the ones that like to remain moist do not have any standard of moisture.

Experience will solve all problems in time. I really find that a healty orchid can brush off a lot of abuse and a weak plant may not survive the best of care.

Ditto to Cynthia's excellent suggestion about the skewers. I swear by them, and have been using them for the past five years. No longer overwater a plant.