Okay, that makes sense. I had just watered that pot before I stuck the stick in there. This should help with things. 
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Do I just leave the stick in the soil? If so, then I basically never need to water. The sticks are still super wet after 4 days.
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I don’t use this method but my understanding is that you pull it out and dry it between checks. When you want to check the soil again, put it back in for 10 minutes or so.
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I’ve lost more plants to overwatering than anything else! finally getting the swing of it. I am also a believer in the chopstick method. the way I use mine is just leave them in, and just pull out and check before watering. I’ve never had a problem with the stick staying moist after the soil has dried. It might help to know what the chopstick is made out of since different woods would have different porosity. learning to control your urge of watering is a tough one. can. one imagine how many trees I’ve drowned with a smile on my face.
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Okay, I was starting to suspect that was the case. It just seemed like it would never dry out otherwise. Thank you!
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Ha, dang it. This is contradictory to the post before yours. 
I’m just gonna have to control my urges. Especially now that it’s starting to get a bit cooler. I’m sure the water doesn’t get taken up as quickly even if the plants are putting on vascular growth.
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Don’t take my word for it, I’m going off 2nd hand knowledge
I don’t know about your climate, but where I’m at watering basically stops in both spring and fall. In fact, I’m going to be making some rain skirts for my trees this week (hopefully) to keep the rain from overwatering my plants.
Regardless, it’s still a good idea to water throughly every so often to help refresh the oxygen in the soil.
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I like to think this isnt rocket science… I used the chopstick; was way easier to just pay attention to trees; and time of year.
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One thing to take into acount: Charleston and SC never dries out. Even the mold has mold. The moss on the old trees drip.
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Here in the Pacific NW during July, we can go 3 weeks at %10 humidity and 90F. Sucks the moisture right out of the pot. My trees go into the shade; with two waterings a a day— regardless. If the pot soil hits 90F, it gets watered to cool down (I keep a thermometer in 1 full sun larger pot…) Leave a shohin out— it is DEAD in two hours.
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Winters hit %10 humidity and 15F… Sucks the moisture out of everything through sublimation dessication. I cover my trees up compleatly. Shovel snow into the pots. Because of the North wind and temps. Leave a shohin out— it is DEAD in two hours.
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Use the chopstick, either way; to learn to read the pot by eye and touch. Your watering there will be radically different than here. Probably need more water in winter. Different survival stratigy.
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Local trees will suffer less. High mountain pines will probably not survive long. Especially fir and ponderosa.
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Get something in the swamp cypress family… they like setting in water. Try a Penjing with a water feature and tropicals.
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Bonsai on.
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Totally true about the humidity here. It’s intense. I guess I’m just going to have to figure out what works for me in my micro-climate. I just know that I was watering my crape myrtle way too much and it suffered. Coming up on my first winter and kind of freaking out. I think I’ll just put everything on the ground that still has foliage and cover the pots with pine straw. My three tropicals can come indoors as usual. It doesn’t ever get too cold here, so on the really chilly nights I’ll just put a bunch of christmas lights around the bases. Surprisingly that actually works for shrubs and stuff. Why not potted plants. Just has to be incandescent.
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Just a follow-up. The way to go, if you’re gonna use this method, is to insert the chopstick and wait 10-20 mins. I used two sticks in one pot. Left one in and inserted one for about 15 mins. Took both out and compared the two. The stick that was left in was way more moist than the other.
This is a good method…if you have that kind of time. It’s also tedious. I’ll do this with my most water sensitive plants and/or Yamadori.
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Happy to hear this. I’ll be sure to give this a go and check the difference. Funny shortly after last response to you I did the same with a couple plants. Love us all growing as a community. Would like to get to where I can look at plants and top dressing and know when the babes are thirsty.
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This board is definitely in a developmental phase. 
How did you go about making this rain skirts if I may ask?
I generally use plastic bags that akadama is packed in because it seems to be fairly UV resistant.
Cut a shape out plastic that’s roughly the size of your pot, or larger. Cut a slit in it and then cut a hole in the middle that is the size of trunk. Loosely place it on the soil (don’t make it too tight, as you want to still allow oxygen flow).
It’ll keep a vast majority of the water out, but some will still get through. You will have to remember to remove them before you water (and you will need to remember to manually water during the winter).
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Oh that makes a lot of sense, and its very simple, thank you, it will come in very handy during the monsoon season!