It’s about time to bring outdoor plants inside to save them from freezing winter weather. Since rain clouds can’t water the plants inside a home, plant parents are tasked with serving as a makeshift Mother Nature until spring arrives.
Living in an apartment, I only have houseplants year-round, but I often struggle to decipher how frequently to water them and how much water I should use. Joanna Gaines has proven to have a green thumb with her expansive outdoor gardens and large collection of indoor plants, and she just shared her genius helper for taking the guesswork out of watering day — a soil moisture meter.
Xlux Soil Moisture Meter, $11 with coupon
Amazon
In a recent episode of Magnolia Table, Gaines reaches for her moisture meter, which appears to be this Amazon best-seller. She let fans in on her watering day hack on Instagram, too. “Today is watering day, and let me show you how I know that,” she said in the clip. “Come look, my moisture meter is letting me know that Mister Fiddle is dry.”.
Gaines inserts the tool’s probe into the soil of her potted plants, which reveals how wet the soil is. The easy-to-read meter is color-coded into three categories: red for dry, green for moist, and blue for wet.
On the 10-point scale, numbers one through three alert users that the plant needs to be watered, four through seven indicate that the plant can be left alone, while numbers eight through 10 show that the plant has been overwatered. This means the tool can not only help you determine when to water your plant, but it can also tell you how much water to use if you check the moisture level as you water.
The tool provides an immediate reading as you insert it into the soil, and the small single-point probe is minimally invasive to protect the delicate roots of your plants. More than 10,000 Amazon shoppers have bought this handy gardening tool in the past month alone.
“I’m a newbie plant mom, and before I got this, I was killing every plant I brought in my house,” one shopper shared. “I haven’t killed a plant since I bought it, and I definitely feel more confident in caring for my buddies.” They added that it’s “quick and easy to measure” and eliminates “guesswork.”
Grab this Xlux Soil Moisture Meter on sale for $11 today at Amazon. Then keep scrolling to shop more indoor gardening essentials.
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