Spent $40 on a fancy soil thermometer for my garden and it changed everything

I was just guessing when to plant seeds based on the calendar and kept losing half my crop to cold soil. Picked up a digital soil thermometer from a local nursery for $40 and now I wait until the ground hits exactly 60 degrees before putting in beans. Has anyone else found a cheap tool that made a big difference in their garden?

2 comments

2 Comments

joelp8113d ago

Wait, is nobody else using a cheap infrared thermometer gun for this? I picked one up for like $25 on Amazon and it does the same thing without even having to poke the ground. Just point and shoot at the soil, instant reading. You can also use it to check if your compost pile is hot enough, see if your raised beds are warmer than the ground, and even find cold spots in your garden where frost settles. Way more useful than I thought it would be for the price.

derek_ramirez13d ago

The "lost half my crop to cold soil" part REALLY hit home for me. I read somewhere that soil temperature is WAY more important than air temperature for seed germination, and it stuck with me ever since. I started using a cheapo meat thermometer I had laying around, poking it into the ground, and it made a HUGE difference for my tomato starts. Now I don't even look at the calendar until the soil reads 65 for three days straight. Saved me from that sad feeling of watching seeds rot in the ground.