The Easy and Inexpensive Trick that Gives You Better Cannabis Plant Health and Yields

Are you using the right inexpensive tools to guide your cannabis grow? Did you know there is a tool that can help you save money and grow more successfully, and it costs less than $100? It’s also easy to use. The tool is a tensiometer, and it’s a must for every cannabis grow operation.

What is a Tensiometer?

A tensiometer is a tool used to measure how much water your cannabis plants can actually access from your substrate, which could be very different from the volume of water in the substrate at any given time. Overwatering or under-watering is by far the most common thing that can go wrong for a cultivator. The consequences of overwatering or under-watering cannabis plants are far reaching.

For example, the wrong amount of water stunts the growth of your plants. The roots won’t develop properly, and then everything starts to grow wrong. The health and quality of the plants degrades, and you won’t get optimal yields.

When you use a tensiometer, you won’t make mistakes with over- or under-watering, because you’ll always know if your plants truly need water or not.

Why Use a Tensiometer vs. a Soil Moisture Meter?

Efficient irrigation improves yields, promotes plant health, and reduces costs. There are two ways to measure the water in your substrate: with a soil moisture meter or with a tensiometer.

Soil Moisture Meter

Using a soil moisture meter, you can measure the percentage of water by volume in your substrate. This is the most common way to measure water, but it’s not the best way. The reason is simple. Just because water is in your substrate doesn’t meant it’s actually available to the plant. Alternately, just because it looks like the water quantity in your substrate is running low doesn’t mean that the plant’s roots aren’t able to access water.

Bottom-line, a soil moisture meter or sensor doesn’t really tell you if your plants need water or not. You’ll still have to guess because the data is imprecise. This leads to overwatering or under-watering your plants as well as all of the problems that come with not giving your plants the right amount of water when they need it.

Tensiometer

On the other hand, a tensiometer is a smart and effective way to understand your plants’ needs, grow a better crop, save money, and prevent problems that could stunt plant growth. A tensiometer acts like an artificial root by mimicking the root in the plant and measuring if there is water available to the plant – and how much – right now.

The amount of water (i.e., the volume) in the substrate is less important than how easy or difficult it is for the plant to extract that water. You can measure the ease or difficulty for the plant to access water based on root tension. The tensiometer reads how much tension the plant root has to use to suck water from the substrate, and it’s the most accurate way to tell whether or not your cannabis plants need water.

A tensiometer is an inexpensive but very accurate tool. You can buy a tensiometer for less than $100, and you can gauge what’s happening in an entire grow room with just a few tensiometers. It’s a far less expensive solution than pricey sensors and water meters that are less accurate. If you want to officially know when to water your cannabis plants, use a tensiometer.

How to Use a Tensiometer in Your Cannabis Cultivation Facility

Tensiometers are normally calibrated in kilopascals using a scale that ranges from 0 to 100 kPa (also sometimes rendered as “cbar”). Higher numbers mean the soil is drier and holding less water. Placement of the tensiometers matters to ensure you’re getting accurate and reliable readings.

At bio365, we’ve thoroughly tested the Irrometer Tensiometer and know it’s accurate and effective, but there are many brands to choose from. If you use a substrate from bio365 in your cultivation facility, our soil experts will train you to use your tensiometer and hook it into your existing systems. We’ll also tell you exactly what tensiometer readings should be in the bio365 soils you’re using in your facility.

Key Takeaways about Using Tensiometers for Better Cannabis Yields and Plant Health

Tensiometers are easy to use and integrate into your current growing system. They’re also inexpensive and accurate, so you’ll not only get better yields and healthier plants when you use them to measure water in your cannabis plants’ substrate, but you’ll also save money.

At bio365, we always recommend using a tensiometer instead of moisture meters or sensors whenever possible. If you’d like to learn more about tensiometers and measuring accessible water in your cannabis plants, contact us and talk to a soil expert.