The invention relates to a true root mean square value detection-based soil moisture sensor, which comprises a power supply filter circuit, an active crystal oscillator, a Schmidt trigger, a signal attenuator, a probe and a true root mean square value detector. The Schmidt trigger shapes a high-frequency sine wave or square wave signal output by the active crystal oscillator into a standard waveform square wave signal, the amplitude of the standard waveform square wave signal is reduced by the signal attenuator, a resistor-capacitor (RC) circuit consisting of the signal attenuator and the probe is charged and discharged periodically, a periodic charging and discharging curve waveform is obtained on the probe, and the true root mean square value detector converts a waveform signal on the probe into equivalent direct current voltage serving as a sensor output signal. When soil moisture is different, the equivalent capacitance of the probe is different, the charging and discharging waveforms are different, and the final output signals are different, so that the soil moisture is measured according to the principle. The soil moisture sensor has the characteristics of simple structure, small volume, low power consumption, low cost, high soil adaptability, simple input/output interface and the like, is easy to apply and facilitates the development of secondary instruments.