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moisture sensors

15 years ago

I have an automatic watering system for the orchids in my greenhouse which is controlled by a timer, watering once a week for 20 minutes. That works okay, but in winter I'd like better control so that watering would only occur when the pots were appropriately dry.

Since my orchids are in a bark mix, I suspect I might have a problem getting a sensor to reliably measure the actual moisture in a pot. I'm not looking for perfection, by any means, so I'm wondering if I could use, say, a small pot of sphagnum moss, or even dirt, as the medium in which I placed the sensor.

Has anyone tried something like this?

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Comment (1)

orchidnick
15 years ago
The only thing I have seen like this is a weight controlled watering system. This happened to be for Cymbidiums only but it would work for anything. A representative plant was suspended on a scale like lever. As the pot dried out it became lighter and the plant rose. when it reached a certain point it initiated the watering cycle. It got the same amount of water as all the other plants. Now heavy it sat near the bottom of it's range ready to repeat the cycle. The watering interval is not the same as for different times of the year, it takes longer to dry out. It's the closest ting to what you are talking about that I have ever seen.

Nick
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