5.05.2025 Soggy bottom.

 ~o~

  Monday 5th 41F/5C. Cold overnight and cooler today despite bright sunshine. 

  Up at 7am after being awake in the night reliving the past.

  8.10 Wanderlust. I feel the need for a ride. Walk first. 

 9.00 I was entertained by numerous warblers again. Despite stopping to listen I saw only one small, brown and buff bird. As it moved out of cover to cross the road. Only walkers and cyclists hear the beautiful voice of the roadside birds. It's no wonder car drivers speed and cut corners to get the journey over with. It offers them nothing but isolation and comfort. While they are ensconced in total isolation. Watching other road users through the colour TV of the windscreen.

 A huge crop sprayer, based on the largest combine harvester chassis, was racing back and forth across the prairie. Fortunately it was never near enough to risk my health. The ground it could cover at that speed was incredible. GPS guidance to keep it on the spray tracks ensures minimum damage to the soil from the great weight.

 It's going to be a busy week. Ears, physio, cooking and ...? 

 I think I'll go in the car. To save time.

 12.45 Back from the city. Where I bought a number of soil hygrometers. Moisture meters is a more common term. The green examples were under £4 equivalent so I bought 5. The silver units were about £8 equivalent. So I bought only two. Professional soil hygrometers can run to over £500!

 The logic in my own, spendthrift ways was to ascertain variations in readings. If I bought one meter I would have to trust it implicitly that it was accurate. Two meters, with the same reading, increases the chance of accuracy. Three, four and five in agreement suggest any outliers are wrong. Or, that the manufacturer's reference is wrong. This seems unlikely.

 At first, only one of the two, silver examples agreed with my average of four green meters. One silver and one green meter both read too high by 1.5 units. My test compost was taken straight from a bag of potting compost stored outside in the shade for ages. It felt damp and cool.

 My average of five units read 3 after time to settle. The two odd meters read 4.5 but steadily reduced over time. There are no dial markings indicating percentages. They are merely arbitrary units of moisture from 0-10. One might surmise that the units are tens of %. 10x10% =100% or saturation. After a still greater lapse of time most of the meter readings had dropped to 2-2.5. 

 The close agreement between readings is truly astonishing given the low cost per meter. One just has to be patient in waiting for a final reading. They all read high on first insertion of the probes into the soil. This is not a true indication of moisture content. Patience will eventually be rewarded with a more accurate reading.

 14.10 Next I shall add enough water to saturate the lower soil. This will require more time to settle on a final moisture reading. I am avoiding sunshine in case it affects the results. 

 I added 250mls of cold tapwater slowly to the top of the compost to ensure good mixing. Then was rewarded with a clear wet margin near the bottom of the beaker. This is tragically commonplace when plants are over-watered. All the meters now read over 10 units. Time will tell if there are any changes.

 14.25 The average readings have already dropped to 8. All probes are inserted to the bottom of the beaker. Saturation may have been temporary. Until the wet "sump" could spread moisture upwards into the bulk of the soil. The ~20mm bottom margin has indeed spread upwards to ~40mm. Lifting the beaker to examine the soil caused all the meters to increase their readings. Movement of the probes in the damp/wet soil seems to cause an increase in the reading. Regardless of moisture content. They must be left to settle all over again. 

 Now I have enough meters to probe all my downstairs houseplants. They won't be contaminated from moving the meters from pot to pot. Several were showing as dust dry. Even after watering there was no change. Not even when water was filling the saucer. So I lifted the probes slightly. Which increased the reading. 

 This anomaly was no doubt due to my having a layer of clay balls in the bottoms of those I re-potted. One YT plant influencer advised against such practices. Oh dear. It seems these meters are not meant to be left in the soil or water. They rely on measuring resistance and continuous immersion can ruin the probe.  

 Dinner was a salmon pasty, pasta, peas and tinned, hacked tomatoes.

 

 

 ~o~