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

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!!

I was at the nursery the other day and wanted to know if a particular plant would grow well in one of the spots I had done a reading on already. It was way too difficult to go to the website, click here , click there... then not get to the right place.. it was just a mess... It would be great to just open the app and have it say something like will this plant grow in ..... (your listed and saved locations) pop in the name of said plant and then you get a list of your saved readings with green checks for the places it will grow and red X's for the places it will not. DONE, next plant. I ended up so frustrated trying to figure it out through my browser that I must have stood there for 30 mins trying to figure out things... I ended up frustrated and just got a few unexciting things and left.

Hi There, Here are a few very effective and very cheap solutions to your problems, dont go with the lady bugs... try this first Get an empty spray bottle about the quart size 32oz, its the standard you can get them at any home depot like store. Grab like 5 of them they are less than a buck and sometimes break. Get yourself a bottle of dish soap, lemon cented if you can find it otherwise any ol cheap dish soap will work (not dish detergent!) Just straight up cheap Dawn or similar. put 2 Tbsp in the spray (32oz) botttle and slowly fill the bottle with tap water. pop the spray cap back on then your out the door. Spray all your affected plants, (more in the areas of infestation) make sure to get underneath Turn the bottle upside down a few times as you go along to create some suds. This will do 3 beneficial things for your garden 1. Kill the bugs 2. clean your plants 3. softens your soil ( to help retain water better, = less watering) Stay away from the nasty chemical crap as long as you have to. If your Roses are really bad you can treat them with the Bayer or Ortho product you feed through the roots and that will do the trick, but dahlias NO, too sensitive. The bottle of lemon soap water has been working wonders for me!! and it smells awesome! besides spraying dahlia flowers with chemicals will kill them real quick the soap water should not. When my Dahlias where infestid with those little black buggers they were gone in about 2 days... and I spray for 2 more days after that.. then just keep your eye out and use it when you need to. If you want to create a barrier around your garden get one of those hose sprayers that you can put fertilizer in and instead put 1 tbsp of the lemon dish soap and spray the lawn and everything surrounding your garden. Its also very beneficial for your lawn! good luck