The Easy Bloom Plant Sensor

Dec. 3, 2008— -- Who says you need a green thumb to make your garden grow? The Easy Bloom Plant Sensor takes the guesswork out of planning and maintaining a perfect garden.

The device, which looks like a tall, thin plastic flower, can also help diagnose why a plant is not doing well, or tell you how much water is needed in a certain area. So, if your roses suffer from root rot, or your Christmas cactus isn't blooming in that kitchen window, you'll soon find out why.

You plant the sensor anywhere in your yard where you would like to grow a plant, and let it soak up the environmental data: soil moisture, sunlight, drainage, etc., over a 24-hour period. Then pull it apart and plug the USB end into your computer's USB port (I'd probably clean it off first) where the sensor data is uploaded to the EasyBloom Web site.

Soon, a list of potential flowers, shrubs and trees blossoms before your eyes. You can narrow the list by specifying plant height, desired bloom season, and other features.

If you set the sensor to Monitor mode and leave it near a troubled plant, say, a Susie with a Black Eye, it will make recommendations for what might be wrong with the plant and how to fix it. Water mode tells you if a location is getting the right amount or needs more water for happier plants.

The EasyBloom Web site currently has a database of 5,000 plants and is compatible with Windows Vista/XP and Mac OS 10.5 (effective 1/09)