Who Needs The EasyBloom Plant Sensor
November 28th, 2009 -- Posted in Landscaping - Outdoor Decorating | No Comments »
Fast-paced technology and all-natural gardening do not have to be at odds with one another. Just ask Matt Glenn, founder of San Francisco-based PlantSense. In 2008, he developed a product called the EasyBloom Plant Sensor. “The sensor wakes up every 15 minutes, takes a snapshot of the world the way a plant would see the world, and then goes back to sleep,” he explains to ABC News. “This is actually gathering the photo-reactive radiation, or just the spectrum of light that a plant looks at. This is measuring temperature and humidity. This technology right here is the technology NASA used on the Phoenix mission; the one that discovered water on Mars recently.”
To use the EasyBloom Plant Sensor, you plug it into a computer’s USB port to register, download the necessary software program and access the online plant library. Choose a mode, such as Water, Recommend or Monitor. In “Water” mode, you’ll find out if your plants are getting too much or too little water. In “Monitor” mode, EasyBloom will tell you what’s wrong with an ailing plant and give you clues on how to fix it. With “Recommend” mode, EasyBloom will tell you the ideal plants to grow in the given conditions. Next, you place the sensor in the location where you’d like to put your garden, leaving it to analyze for at least 24 hours. As you sleep, the Plant Sensor will begin analyzing the sunlight, temperature, humidity, soil moisture and drainage, using the same technology NASA uses to measure the soil on Mars. Then you can plug your Plant Sensor back into your USB and see what this “Plant Doctor” can do!
The EasyBloom Plant Sensor is intended for beginner gardeners. “Probably the best part of the device is the web interface that provides detailed information on recommended plants,” writes one Amazon reviewer. “It is virtually an on-line encyclopedia and more expansive than the Western Garden Book,” adds another gardener. She adds, “I have never seen a plant monitor like this that is so extensive or thorough with thousands of plants and analysis. This is a must for any serious gardener.” People like being able to save their plant data, analyze their ailing plants and peruse a list of the best plants and flowers for their area. The program’s interface is reportedly “easy to use,” even for those who consider themselves “not very technologically savvy.”
There are some features of the EasyBloom Plant Sensor that could use improvement. Both Barron’s and Gear Diary reviewers complain that you can’t test your soil to see if you need fertilizer or compost, if there are missing minerals or if the soil acidity is off. Yet, according to the EasyBloom website: “While some plants will not thrive if your soil is too acidic or too alkaline, the overwhelming majority of plant failures are actually due to unsuitable light conditions, inhospitable hardiness zone, and under- or over-watering. EasyBloom accounts for all of these factors to make sure your plant is likely to thrive.” For more information, visit www.easybloom.com.
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