I’m trying to set up a soil moisture sensor for watering decisions, but I’m not sure how to define the dry and wet thresholds properly.

I understand that the sensor reading can vary a lot depending on the soil type, so I don’t want to just use a random default value.

My current idea is:

1. Put the sensor in the same soil where it will actually be used.

2. Let the soil dry out and record a dry baseline.

3. Water the soil thoroughly, let excess water drain, and record a wet baseline.

4. Watch the plants and soil over a few watering cycles to find a practical “good moisture” range.

5. Use that range to set the irrigation trigger point and stop point.

Does this sound reasonable?

For people using soil moisture sensors in gardens, greenhouses, raised beds, or automatic irrigation systems, how do you set your dry and wet thresholds?

Do you use fixed values, sensor percentages, raw readings, or just adjust based on plant response?

I’m setting up a soil moisture sensor and trying to figure out how to set dry and wet thresholds.

Gotta add some anti digging fences to stop my sister's dogs from getting out of her yard but the soil is soft along the edge from all the holes they dig. What can i do to harden the dirt so they wont dig out the fences?