I dropped $80 on a 'smart' plant sensor and it's been a total letdown

Everyone seems to love these gadgets that tell you when to water, but mine has been wrong more than right. I stuck it in the pot with my fiddle leaf fig, and for two weeks it kept saying the soil was dry. I watered it a little, then it said it was soaked for days after. The thing is, the plant itself was fine, not showing any signs of thirst or rot. I checked the soil with my finger, and it felt nothing like what the app said. I feel like I paid for a fancy guessing game. It just made me second-guess myself instead of trusting what I see. Has anyone else had a bad run with these sensors and gone back to the old finger test?

2 comments

2 Comments

lunaw7218d ago

My friend's sensor killed her peace lily by saying it was bone dry for a week straight. She watered it on the app's advice and it rotted.

emmasmith18d ago

That "bone dry for a week" reading is the key thing, lunaw72. Most people don't realize those sensors measure electrical conductivity, not actual water. If the soil pulls away from the pot sides, the sensor can't make good contact. It reads air instead of damp soil deep down. So the app screams to water a plant that's actually still wet in the root ball. It's a design flaw they never warn you about.