EasyBloom Forum

Hi, I have been using my easybloom now for 4 months and I have a whole bunch of readings and learned things I had no clue about, very cool. Now here it is September in the North and everyone is rushing to get their fall perennials in the ground and what better tool to have help would be the EasyBloom, right? Well, I'm feeling a bit confused now since I have been using it for awhile and how am I certain to know that a reading I take in September is going to give me an accurate reading for important growing months May, June, July? I understand your statement about algorithms and what factors you determine readings, I get all that. I did a test and took readings of the same exact marked space in my yard for the first week of June, July and August. If your detailed algorithms and variables are working correctly why would that same spot go from PART sun in June, to FULL sun in July & Aug and then the reading I just finished for September gives me PART SHADE? Its not a hard question for anyone, the sun changes position at different times of the year! Its obvious why I got those readings. My concern is that now I don't know if I really can trust all the readings I only tested once? Are those readings accurate? The biggest problem with plants is that if you don't nail down the sun requirements they perform poorly, its just the way it is. So here we are September and I have 2 rare and very expensive plants that I need to get in the ground, but I need to be certain that I plant them in the right place so they get enough sun the first time! I do not want to have to move it, I mean that's why I bought EasyBloom in the first place, right? help!!

Hi James...My name is Robby and I am one of the on-staff plant nerds here at PlantSense, maker of EasyBloom. This is an excellent question (one that we have asked ourselves). My educational background is in mathematically modeling horticultural systems, which has played very well into my current position at PlantSense and has helped us tackle this very problem. Unfortunately, we had to accept (as every scientist does) that a set of data becomes more reliable with more repetitions. Since the sunlight profile of a certain location in your yard changes as the seasons change, you can get a better idea of what the overall sunlight status is by taking many readings at that one location. What I would do, however, is look at some of your readings during the growing season. You can even look at the monitoring readings at different times of the year to get recommendations. When you go to "My Readings" you can look at both the recommend readings and monitor readings and we now show you which plants would do best in those microclimates.

Since you mentioned that you live in the northern part of the nation, I would advise that the readings that you took in and around May would be the most pertinent for seeing an environmental snapshot that would best suit your couple of plants that you wish to get in the ground. Also, I would like to point out that you said that these plants are a bit rare. If the EasyBloom plant database does not have these plants in the database, please let me know by posting again on these forums. I would be more than happy to do the research to figure out the cultivation needs for your plants and incorporate them into the database.

We have kicked around the office the idea of mathematically predicting sunlight profiles across the different seasons. Currently we can do this for a couple of weeks, and it works rather well I don't mind saying. :) In order to predict light conditions throughout all of the seasons, we would have to know the dimensions of the structures around you yard and which way they are facing in comparison to your reading location. Also, there's the little issue with deciduous trees. A location underneath a deciduous tree might actually get more sun in winter than it would in summer because there are no leaves on the tree. As you can tell this is extremely complex and although we have not thrown this idea out, it is not currently implemented.

In conclusion, I would say that EasyBloom does a fantastic job of taking a snapshot of the microclimate for any given period of the season. Due to the near impossibility of predicting environmental factors months in advance, taking several measurements throughout the season will give the gardener the best idea of how the environment changes for a plant over time. Luckily, plants are adapted to deal with changing environments since they can't get up and walk away if it gets too hot/cold or needs more sunlight, etc. Having said that I would argue that the readings you took during spring and summer will be the most significant readings if you are concerned that one of your plants is on the cusp of its environmental limits. Generally, those seasons are the ones that will ruin a plant (especially when it comes to sunlight exposure).

If you do have any further questions, please feel free to post on these forums. I go over these forums all the time and am fairly quick to respond. I appreciate the feedback. Cheer...Robby

Hi Robby, Thank you so much for your detailed responses! I admire what you guys do at Easybloom and I too agree that there are so many variables that go into trying to figure out these things perfectly. As someone who purchased the product right before main growing time in my Zone of 6a and used it continuously throughout the season, I have learned how to use its information correctly. On one other occasion I forgot to mention, I wanted to trim back some overgrown tree branched that would allow for more sun in my yard. I took a reading before I did the work of tree trimming and clean up, then about a week later as soon as I was done. We were able to conclude from the readings that we were able to add just about 2 additional hours of direct sunlight to a specific region of my yard. This was fantastic and was a perfect tool to use for this project. I also find that if you want the most accurate reading at one time, wait for a day where you know the weather is going to be pretty nice. Cloudy and rainy produces a reading of just that.... low sun, high humidity and so on.... It so important for users to understand its limitations and set their expectations accordingly as your team works to make the product better and better. My main concern is for the very novice gardener who takes a reading for example now, September looking to find the perfect place for their perennial to thrive the following June here in zone 6. It is totally possible for them to get a reading of part or even full sun in their yard, when in fact the part or full sun is what is needed during the plants growing season may, June and so forth. So they plant the item and it does poorly because may and June happen to be quite shady due to something like things you mentioned like, trees, yard layout and different structures in and around your yard. This product I feel is more for the intermediate level gardener who has a better idea of how plants work and just a better overall knowledge of horticulture and gardening, the information becomes more valuable to them. I am lucky enough to fall in that level and pretty much know where I should plant things, so I use this tool to help me along.. see if I'm on the right track. I know the reading I took in September gets part shade at this time of year and more sun in June and July, that's because I garden and I pay attention to those things and know what it was like last September. The plants I have fall into the category of Inter-sectional Peonies. Hybrids that are cross Tree Peony and Herbaceous. They are outstanding performers but have very specific growing instructions. If you do not happen to have great knowledge of these plants, the history started with Toichi Itoh in Japan who was the first successful person to do this. Unfortunately he dies before his specimens bloomed and when they did 4 of them were deemed outstanding. An American went to Japan and convinced the Itoh widow to sell him the patents and so on. this was in the 1960s I believe. They came back to the US and Horticulturists Roger Anderson and Don Hollingsworth improved these hybrids and are still currently doing so. The history behind it all is great and makes obtaining one of these plants an honor. The main purpose of the crossing of peony types was to create a wonderful double yellow peony that grows more like a garden peony and not a tree peony. Well that is exactly what he did. In the early 1990s the first available sections of these hybrids hit the market, but root cutting of 2 eyes cost in the $1000s! because of Americans Don Holingsworth and Roger Anderson and many others I'm sure they have managed to get production up on these hybrids and the average price for a Yellow "Bartzella" or a yellow "Garden Treasure" are now around $150. You can get them cheaper.. you just have to do your research and have an eagles eye when out at the nurseries.. you never know what you are going to run into. I have 2 "Bartzella" peony and I know to plant them, but it would be great to see a section for them on here. They come in Yellows, Corals,and pinks... but they are spectacular. They need to be planted deep like Tree Peonies, crown 3-4" below soil line. They die back like herbaceous peonies in the fall and the spent foliage should be removed at that time, unlike the Tree peonies. Lastly, I noticed that Tulip Angelic peony flower ended up in your peony section when indeed it is a Tulip that just flowers like a peony, sorry... I just noticed it because I have planted these tulip bulbs before. You might want to move it to the tulip section. Thank you very much for all of your input, I hope to see some inter-sectional peonies in your database soon, they are getting more popular with each year. If you have any questions about them, just ask.. I've read enough about them, that if mine don't do well then I should find another hobby..seriously Cheers, James

Hey James...Your insight to the horticultural world continues to impress me. You claim to be an intermediate gardener, but I would argue that you are more advanced than you think. I appreciate the feedback. Please let me know if you have any further questions. Cheers, Robby

Hi Robby, is there anyway to try a preview of the tool to predict the sun in the different seasons? i live next to a slope with a house on top. I see that the in the summer the sun goes higher than the house so i get full sun all day long, but in the winter the sun stays behind the house and easybloom report my yard as shade. I am deciding which plants to put in my yard, but without considering the change of sun through the seasons, easybloom can suggest only plants for shade which they'll die as soon as the summer sun hits them.

Hey Davide...This is something we have definitely discussed in the past of something we would like to do. After months of kicking this idea around the office, we came to the conclusion that we would have to know the geography around every single sensor. You may have a slope with a house on top next to your yard, but the next EasyBloomer may have a completely different geography in their yard. In a sense, we decided that this idea would be extremely complex to completely master. In an effort to make the sensor and website completely straightforward in its use, we decided to put this idea on the back burners for now. I appreciate your feedback, and please keep them coming. We definitely read these posts and are very interested in what our users think. Thanks...Robby