Soil moisture progress bar

Who it’s for

Agronomists, precision farmers, and irrigation managers ask “exactly where in the 0–100% range is the field sitting right now?” They want a visual bar that makes it immediately obvious how far the current reading is from Optimal or how close it is to a stress threshold.

What it does

A sensor reading 52% fills the bar just past the halfway point and lands in the blue Optimal segment, confirming the zone is adequately watered. At 12% the bar sits in the red Dry segment; at 75% it reaches the dark-blue Saturated segment.

• Horizontal progress bar spanning 0–100% with color-coded segments matching the four soil-moisture bands
• Current value label displayed alongside the bar
• Shows one sensor’s data; it does not chart trends over time

How to set up

Data keys

Key	Role	Type	Description
soilMoisture	Bar value	Timeseries	Volumetric water content in %; change the key name to match your device’s telemetry key

The widget ships with a simulated function datasource key labeled Soil Moisture, so it draws random values until you point the datasource at a device and rename the key.

To point it at your own device: open the dashboard in edit mode, open the widget’s Datasources, pick the entity or entity alias, and replace the function key with the key your device reports.

If the key has never reported, the bar renders empty.

Value ranges

Range (%)	Level	Color
0–20	Dry	Red
20–40	Low	Orange
40–60	Optimal	Blue
60–100	Saturated	Dark Blue

How to customize

• To narrow the displayed range — lower Tick max or raise Tick min in the widget settings; this spreads the bar over a tighter window and makes small differences more visible.
• To use your own soil-moisture thresholds — edit the Value color ranges; adjust the four default bands to match your soil type and crop requirements.
• To change the bar label or units — edit the data key label and unit settings.
• To match your dashboard’s fonts — set the font options in the widget appearance settings.

Tips

• The 0–100% scale is the natural output of most volumetric soil-moisture sensors, so the default Tick min/max require no adjustment — unlike air-pressure or illuminance bars where the physically meaningful range is much narrower.
• The optimal range (40–60%) reflects typical field capacity for loamy soils; sandy soils drain faster and may need a lower Optimal ceiling, while clay soils retain water longer.
• Use this bar alongside a rainfall card and ground temperature card on an irrigation decision dashboard — together they show whether soil is benefiting from rain or losing moisture to evapotranspiration.