• Published on

    There's an app for that...

    Warm weather is on the way and we're hearing it could be almost 80 degrees by late next week! Whether you are a small farm or home gardener, here is a list of apps to help with your summer projects. 
    Pocket Rain Gauge
    Apple App Store FREE
    A rain gauge right in your pocket! The app delivers highly accurate rainfall measurement based on your location. Or log in with your free Morning Farm Report account to get rainfall totals for all of the fields tied to your account. Pocket Rain Gauge is a universal rain gauge that's with you whenever and wherever you need it. It's the perfect app for farmers, home gardeners, hikers, golfers, or just plain weather geeks!

    GRO
    Apple App Store FREE
    Finally, dirt meets data with Gro, an app that will help you turn inspiration into action. Gro will be with you every inch of the way. Gro knows what to grow in your yard and tells you how to grow it. It also connects you to the info you need for the success in gardening you desire. Block-by-block weather, precision-made recommendations, and simple steps all without breaking your back!

    Grow&Tell
    Apple App Store FREE
    Find what crops grow best in your geography or what doesn't grow so well before you purchase seeds. Sign up to rate which vegetable varieties grow best where you live. 

    ID Weeds
    Apple App Store FREE
    Produced by the University of Missouri's College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources' Division of Plant Science. ID Weeds allows you to search for weeds by their common or latin name, view a list of weeds, or identify weeds based upon a number of different characteristics. Details about each weed are presented, along with photograph(s) of the weed specified.

    Garden Answers
    Apple App Store FREE
    Have you ever wanted to easily identify a flower or plant? Now you can with my Garden Answers Plant Identification app. Just snap a picture, tap submit and instantly you will get the accurate identity of the plant and detailed information about it by garden and horticulture experts! The advanced image recognition technology can instantly identify over 20,000 plants. And if you're concerned about a plant disease or insect infestation, you can use the keyword search feature within Garden Answers. It contains answers to over 200,000 commonly asked plant questions.

    AgSquared
    Agsquared.com $100 to $300 per year
    Get your season started on the right foot with crop planning tools that help you plan your planting schedule, calculate your seed order, and map your field layouts. Stay on top of your farming tasks all season long with a calendar smart enough to keep
    your production plans on schedule - even when things don't go exactly as planned.

    SmartyPlants
    Apple App Store FREE
    Simply add a plant by entering its name & taking its photo. SmartyPlants will automatically detect if the plant is part of our growing botanical database and suggest a few typical care reminders for that particular species. You can also create your own reminders in just a few taps. Once you've added your plants, SmartyPlants will notify you when each one needs to be watered, fertilized, pruned, repotted, rotated, weeded, misted, mulched, flushed, propagated.

    Canopeo
    Canopeoapp.com FREE
    Canopeo is a rapid and accurate green canopy cover measurement tool. Use this app to quantify the percent canopy cover of live green vegetation for any agricultural crop, turf, or grassland based on downward-facing photos taken with your mobile device.

    Toggl
    Toggl.com $9 to $49 per month 
    Toggl is made for general labor management needs, and can be a big help when it comes to organization of the various projects on a farm.

    SmartPlant
    Apple App Store FREE
    By scanning the barcode of your plant, this neat app will give you all the personal care instructions you need to make gardening easy. Along with a cool plant identification feature, if you choose to upgrade to a monthly subscription, you can make great use out of their Digital Care Calendar which gives you access to over 50 leading global horticulturists and the ability to digitize your entire garden.

    BeetClock
    Beetclock.com $7
    BeetClock was conceived by a small-scale, diversified vegetable farmer to help manage time and labor on the farm. It is a better way for farmers to track the labor and equipment hours that go into every crop. Accurate record keeping from seeding to sale is essential in order to know which crops are truly profitable. Were all the hours spent hand-harvesting snap peas really worth it? Now there’s an easy way to find out. You can also make detailed records of your work from the field with just a few taps of your smartphone. Plus, all BeetClock users have the option to seamlessly integrate their data with the NOFA Enterprise Analysis Workbook, a powerful whole-farm record keeping system.

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  • Published on

    Cool Gardening Tech

    It's almost time to get out there and landscape, plant your vegetable gardens, and flower beds. As you begin to plan your garden adventures, check out these cool and innovative gadgets to help you along!

    Netatmo Weather Station

    Amazon.com $149
    You'll have all the information you need to maintain your garden based on the weather with a Netatmo Weather Station. Receive a notification on your smartphone when it rains in your garden and water your plants when they need it.

    Features include temperature, humidity, barometric pressure, indoor CO2 concentration and sound meter, real-time notifications and graphs for data history. Connect multiple stations to your smartphone and multiple smartphones to a station. It has a lifetime free personal account for your data and fully weatherproof.
    Netatmo supports iPhone iOS, Android and Windows, access your detailed data from anywhere, at any time. It's also compatible with Amazon Alexa.

    Garden Cam
    Amazon.com $230
    See how your flowers grow or see what critters may be causing them not to with the Brinno GardenWatchCam. This 1.3 megapixel time-lapse digital camera can be set to snap photos at intervals from 1 minute to every 24 hours. Just stick the camera in your garden and watch your garden grow!
    Picture

    Edyn Wi-Fi Gardening Sensor | Edyn tracks light, humidity, temperature, soil nutrition and moisture. Wi-Fi connected so you can monitor your garden from anywhere!

    Edyn Wi-Fi Garden Sensor
    Amazon.com $75
    Edyn’s Garden Sensor and Water Valve is a wifi-based app with a valve set-up that waters your plants, tracks light, humidity, temperature, soil nutrition and moisture. It even also gives you advice about what plants might do well in your garden.

    Garden Plan Pro iPad
    Gardenplanpro.com $8
    Having trouble planning your vegetable garden? The Garden Plan Pro app is as a visual aid in laying out your rows and beds before you pick up a shovel. It also provides weather station data, gives advice on the best plants for your region, and offers information on more than 140 different species of flowers and vegetables. 

    Plantlink Basestation
    Amazon.com $65
    Basestation is one of the best options out there to monitor the soil humidity of your plants, and let you know when you need to get watering. The Plantlink Basestation and app can manage up to 64 separate sensors. The starter package includes one and additional units can be purchased for $35.

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