My moisture meter lied to me, so I'm going back to the finger test

I've been growing a monstera in my kitchen for about 2 years and trusted my $25 digital moisture meter every single watering day. Last month it said the soil was dry at a depth of 4 inches, so I gave it a good soak. Within 5 days the leaves started drooping and turning yellow at the edges, which is when I realized the probe was off by almost the whole range. I pulled the plant out of the pot and the roots were sitting in soggy mud at the bottom, basically drowning the whole time. Turns out I'd been overwatering for like 6 weeks because that meter kept giving me false dry readings. I've now tossed the gadget and I'm back to sticking my finger two knuckles deep, which my grandma swore by anyway. Has anyone else had a soil probe go bad on them, or is there a brand that actually stays accurate for more than a season?

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the_viola22d ago

Oh I felt this one, "soggy mud at the bottom" is exactly what happened to my pothos a few months back. Same thing, the meter said dry but the plant was basically swimming. I checked the probe against a known wet cup of soil and it was reading way off, no idea how long it had been lying to me. Fingers are free, always work, and honestly my grandma never killed a plant with a bad gadget, so she wins. These meters are great until they're not, and you have no way to know until something's already rotting. I feel like they're fine for a brand new plant but after a year or two you gotta double check them with the old school method anyway.