general watering question

Ok so i have a dingy mositure meter.. and i was wondering how far down i need to go down to test wetness before i water again.. for example.. my big plants that are in 7 gallon bags are still showing wet near the bottom but the top half is dry or at moist (4).. does this mean its okay to water again.. or do i wait for the bottom to dry out more? thanks

Most probably your roots are not long enough, but imo you should water. Maybe just not as much. In this situation I suggest adding water in small amounts with a minute interval untill you see that it starts to drain at the bottom

Another thing is to keep in mind the kind of food you're using. (correct me some1 if i am wrong).
-If you're using organic and you can't overfeed them, it's not an issue.
-But if you are using a chemical line,the nutes at the bottom of the pot might not be absorbed by the plant(if roots are not reaching yet). And will be accumulating with every feed resulting in a big amount of nutriments concentrated at the bottom, so when your roots will start reaching that area, you could be running into issues.


I suggest lifting the pot daily, you will start to feel when your plant needs food...
Again, i am not a pro. Just assuming.

I normally let the top 2inchs dry out before watering again

I go by the first 2 inchs of topsoil. But if im doing them in pots or bags, I usually fo by the weight

You want to put the probes 3/4 of way down into your soil to the the reading. And wait till it's dry at that level before you water, this forces the roots to go searching for that moisture in their pot and grow at a faster rate. I used the meter to test my bag of unused happy frog and found that "dry" is a reading of about 4 so I chose to water when the meter gets about there.

The cheap water meters suck, and ok ones are big $$$

But If thats all you got its sure better than nothing, but watering is not complicated ,talk to a few nusery men, or even you tube video's should give you a basis , Watch the natural cycle of plant life outdoors (in a temperate climate)