Using accurate 8 probe to check for moisture issues

[lunarman]

I'd like to use the accurate 8 moisture meter as a tool to check moisture levels in pots full of coco. I'm getting more experience just lifting a pot and checking its weight but I have this tool sitting there that might be very useful.

I know in some pots the meter goes off the charts to the left side as if the pot is saturated with water. So that doesn't tell me much. If I change the depth of the prob and move it around I can get reading that are somewhere in the middle of the meter gauge.

Is the moisture meter on the accurate 8 really pretty much not useful for checking moisture in pots? Maybe its better at moisture readings outdoors.

 

[TheMongol]

I'd like to use the accurate 8 moisture meter as a tool to check moisture levels in pots full of coco. I'm getting more experience just lifting a pot and checking its weight but I have this tool sitting there that might be very useful.

I know in some pots the meter goes off the charts to the left side as if the pot is saturated with water. So that doesn't tell me much. If I change the depth of the prob and move it around I can get reading that are somewhere in the middle of the meter gauge.

Is the moisture meter on the accurate 8 really pretty much not useful for checking moisture in pots? Maybe its better at moisture readings outdoors.

Hey lunarman,

i use my accurate 8 since last year amd it works both fine-->ph and moisture!

Just make sure pots are not fresh watered and not overdosed with nutes and take the probe from the middle of the pot.

 

[lunarman]

Hey lunarman,

i use my accurate 8 since last year amd it works both fine-->ph and moisture!

Just make sure pots are not fresh watered and not overdosed with nutes and take the probe from the middle of the pot.

So do you look for the moisture meter indicator to be in the middle of the dial for perfect moisture? Most of the time I check its pinned all the way to the left. I am using autopots that are bottom fed so for sure the bottom of the pot is way more moist than the middle or top.

 

[TheMongol]

So do you look for the moisture meter indicator to be in the middle of the dial for perfect moisture? Most of the time I check its pinned all the way to the left. I am using autopots that are bottom fed so for sure the bottom of the pot is way more moist than the middle or top.

To be brutally honest: i use the accurate 8 only for ph meassuring, for the moisture in my pots i trust my green thumb which works better than any meter or pen, but to answer your question: if its pinned always to the left it maybe could be of the bottom fed autopots, but just to be sure a stupid question: you push the white button on the accurate to meassure moisture?

 

[lunarman]

To be brutally honest: i use the accurate 8 only for ph meassuring, for the moisture in my pots i trust my green thumb which works better than any meter or pen, but to answer your question: if its pinned always to the left it maybe could be of the bottom fed autopots, but just to be sure a stupid question: you push the white button on the accurate to meassure moisture?

Haha. Guess you had to ask! Yes, for sure I push that button. I am learning still and struggle the most with watering I'd say. Not when the autopots are fully used because that is automatic wicking. But before that when I'm using cups for seedlings and then after when I transplant to autopots but before I turn on the rest and I have to hand water. I'm learning to read the plants and lift the pots up to get their weight. And thought I'd be nice if I had a meter to help me confirm what I think the moisture levels are at.

And I just switched to AN Perfect PH nutes so I don't expect to be using the accurate 8 to check PH in the medium any more. But if i can use it for moisture I'd be happy.

 

[Waira]

Lunar'- that's expected in a saturated medium, even in soil,.. but in coco, it's worse because coco's huge water holding capacity, and it works best when always well moistened,... dry coco is TARFU! ... It's also part of the limitations of this type of mechanism,... really saturated medium acts more like a liquid to the A8 unit,... I'd say because the Autopots release solution so readily, you might experience this saturation more often vs hand watering, where you can allow a little more dry-out... You can close off the feed on them, right? As Mon' said, take reading about mid-pot....
AN or not, what's happens in-pot is no reflection of what's going on in the res'... in-pot, pH is waaaay more dynamic with all the influencing factors in there: roots, microbes, CEC affects from the coco,... AN "self-buffers" in solution only, not once in the root zone,... So, while all this will help maintain pH, stability, it's still wise to monitor in-pot pH...

 

[TheMongol]

Growing weed is a lifetime learning process,
reading plants is the key-->to know what is needed at time for your ladys! lifting pots is a good way to get a experience of handling the water thing, but as Waira said trusting AN ph perfect in the res solution is not comparable to ph inpot, are you growing coco or soil and you use tap or ro water?

 

[lunarman]

@Waira @TheMongol

Thankfully we have this place and people with the experience to give to people still learning! Thanks for the push in the right direction too.

I will check my ph in the medium with the accurate 8.

I'm using coco and I mix my tap water with bottled RO 50-50. PPM when mixed 50-50 is around 30. First thing I do is check that and then bring it up to 150 with calmag. Then I add in Tangs "easy" schedule of AN Bloom AB and flowering supplements if required. I don't check the PH of that any more since I read from so many people you don't have to. This new nute change was made while 3 plants were in bloom. I'm finishing them off with the switch to AN Perfect PH. I can already tell differences with the plants in bloom. They like this AN stuff. Now the coco PH might still be screwed up from the previous nute schedule I was using (remo) so checking the PH might be misleading. But new grows day forward, I will be checking PH in the medium because I am curious to see if the AN is make the PH in pot better than I did before.