Anyone use vegetronix soil moisture probes?

[JimS]

I recently put in a "Missouri gravel bed" for some bare root trees. You can look it up if you are interested in all the details but basically it is a bed of small gravel with some sand mixed in that allows trees to grow thick roots and be easily transplanted. It needs very small additions of water several times a day because the water drains out fairly easily. I tried a cheap moisture meter and did not get a wet indication even though the gravel/sand was wet so I am looking for a better solution.

I want to avoid exposed electrodes because first, they corrode, and second, they don't seem to work well in this mixture.

I found one web page on a diy system that used one but it apparently failed toward the end of the first season and they were looking for something better.

This may be used to tell when I need to water but most importantly it will be used to send an alert if the level gets too low to tell me something in the watering system has failed.

 

[Michael McSharry]

The technology is different than standard moisture measuring devices. I am not certain how well it will perform in what appears to be a loose contact with moisture unless the sand is dominant over the gravel. I have found the unit to be very effective in measuring desert soil where there is a dramatic change in moisture content due to loss from the sun intensity. I found it to be useless in the Northern climate because only surface moisture is lost and the deeper soils remain relatively moist.

If I had to characterize it overall I think it should do well were the total volume of moisture changes, but will do poorly for specific moisture points. Given this characterization it seems like it might fit you situation.

I have not had any issues associated with long term effects of being embedded in the ground and have data collected using WebControl for a few years now for the one applied in the desert.