Wow I could only imagine that uploading each 234 pictures into each app and recording the results took... actual days worth of time and attention. Great stuff! I'm somewhat surprised how well Lens did, because I have a Google phone and use Lens for a lot, but I have found it to be somewhat poor at plant ID, or at least the stuff I normally try to ID here in North Georgia. Maybe I'm just not taking great photos, or of the most identifiable parts.
The confirmed identifications on Google Lens were accurate. But it had some 'help' with the partial correct identifications - what happened was it couldn't make it's own positive ID, so it searched the web for similar photos, and some of those were my own from my website! That happened on at least 5 occasions. I still gave it credit, oh well - lesson learned!
Thanks for getting right to the results first and then going into more details. I have the one and just got the other. I subbed and belled because you gave us the results right away and that is appreciated.
You are very welcome - and I bet you will find both of those apps helpful. Inaturalist is pretty good too. Even better when you consider that the plant community will chime in with their ID results.
Honestly, this is one of the best reviews I have ever seen. You thoroughly researched the apps, quickly explained your process and the results and the bonus, you didn’t waste anyone’s time!! Equally important, the caution regarding poisonous plants and being trained if you intend to consume something. Now I am off to see what else is on your channel since this video just appeared in my feed!
I had to look up who Joey Santore was - and I am subscribed to him. I just never knew his name. Well, he definitely knows his stuff - sort of like a walking botanical database!
I've paid for PT for 3+ years now. It used to offer up to three results. However, they must have altered the program within the last year. It now only shows one result. I figured they're just that certain of the result? I've used it far more than I anticipated.
So have I, and I'm pulling it out pretty much every time I'm in the yard, or even out and about when I see something interesting. What I would love is for them to let us create zones and assign plants to them so we could create a map of our yard/garden and even have it remind us to do various things like playing seeds, pruning, etc at appropriate times. Not having a dead simple mapping and calendar setup is a large part of what keeps me out of the yard, lol. I'm a procrastinator and definitely need reminders 😂
Thanks for a great video! I have several ID Apps on my phone and always use 2 or 3 to check against each other and then, if I plan to eat it, us this info to find the plant in 2 or 3 of my foraging books, just to be on the safe side.
Absolutely the best way to be Jeff - test on multiple, verify with books or a plant key. I haven't seen any news on people who have made mistakes....but it happens. I know that Blue False Indigo (Baptisia australis) looks similar to Asparagus when emerging, and have read the case studies on people who accidentally ate it. They survived, but had a very rough time.
@growitbuildit I respect all the work you put into this. One of my volunteers replied, saying she had already seen the video and that she appreciated that you included the benefits of iNaturalist, as we use it to create projects. I use it but have also found PlantNet and Picture This most reliable.
I like inaturalist cause it gives me an opportunity to practice plant ID since it shows you things it might be, things that are known to be nearby. It also leaves the opportunity for someone to come and give their own suggestions (which you can accept or reject). It's definitely more of a communal way of documenting and IDing things. It also allows multiple photos, so I can try to take pictures of all the different parts of a plant I might use to ID it if the app or other users can't.
I'm a big fan of Inaturalist, and will keep it on my phone. Personally I like that they are 'conservative' in their identifications. While PictureThis is the most accurate, I would be afraid that someone may actually try to use an app as the sole source of info before foraging.......
@ bluefish you listed many valid benefits of iNaturalist. I’ll add that the other people confirming or correcting your ID’s can be true experts in their fields. Professional botanists in the case of plants but also entomologists and other biologists. Do any of the other apps offer that, or the ability to build a catalog or life list of observations over time? These benefits aren’t captured by the test methodology but they might have been mentioned.
@@delongdesign that the other thing I like it lets citizen scientists and scientists connect. I also like the project feature. I have a self made one to help me tell if things in my area are invasives, anything I take a picture of that is invasive automatically gets put into that project, it has been very helpful.
😊 I truly appreciate you taking the time to do this review!! I'm such a newbie to this area but I am slowly learning and having an app to at least guide me to finding more information is critical.
Definitely a god video that many gardeners would like to see. So if you folks are reading my comment here then I am asking you to please share the link to this video on your other social media profiles.
Thanks for this info, and getting right to the point. Was wondering if you’ve heard of Planta, that Ashley from Plant Life with Ashley Anita mentioned. I’m trialing it but I’m a newbie and not sure how it compares. I’m looking for plant care more than ID.
Hi - I haven't used Planta before, and hadn't really heard of it. There are a lot of different apps out there though. It looks to be like Blossom, but hopefully they can have better identifications. I may give it a shot in the future when I update this.
I uploaded a photo of a partial bud (might have been part of a black cottonwood bud?) to iNaturalist, and it came back as a beetle. I use iNaturalist a lot and I think it's very good, but the best part is the community that reviews the proposed identifications. I never trust the machine vision part on its own.
Thank you for getting to the point. 🎉 I use Picture This. Very pleased with it overall. And you’re right…do your own research to confirm. It’s not always correct but is a great starting point. 🍃 🌿
Hi Marvin - PictureThis will do that, at least it says it will. I have not tried that part of the app. I can tell you though, for most plants, if you keep it in the kind of sunlight/moisture and soil drainage conditions that it likes, you will prevent nearly all potential diseases. For example, nearly all plant problems I've dealt with are usually related to poor draining soil.
I like iNaturalist. When/if I choose the wrong i.d., users will pile on and correct your selection. I give it a 4.7/5. (Sometimes it is adamant that the plant is from interior China, etc)
Interesting - that is an aspect I couldn't really include in the test (the users piling on). But, overall it did perform really well. And since I personally like to consider partial correct along with correct, I consider that it was the #3 (per my test of single photos).
Thanks for the analysis! I would be curious to see how the iPhone identification feature stacks up, I use it a lot because I don’t need to launch an app to use it.
I think this whole thing was greatz As far as Inaturalist goes, it was a miss to try the app “Seek” which is w/inaturalist, and is there version of the point-n-shoot identifier, with direct post onto inaturalist. It does pretty good for me in the informal field and I’m a botanist. But I rely on inat and keys mainly in the end.
I would have like to test them all, but had to be selective due to time. I will do this again, and add that one as a few other people mentioned it. I didn't include it initially because the few times I had used it the results weren't good for plants. For insects though, it seems excellent.
@@growitbuildit yay! I also should mention that inaturalist and seek are focused on wild plants while the other apps may be better at identifying garden plants. That said, this was a fantastic study, I’ve sent it to a couple of people because I found it interesting, you’re doing great work, and there’s always time to do more experiments on wildflowers vs cultivated id (although it sounded like that photo packing was a heck of a lot of work) maybe ai can help soon😌
I had picture this for awhile and ended up paying and glad I did. It lets me keep data bases for separate gardens. I also like native maps and how to take care. You can also id bugs and it is really good for caterpillars, butterflies, spiders, etc.
Great video! Would you want to make a similar test with apps that help you identify what's wrong with your house plant? As a newbie balcony gardener it would be incredibly helpful
Excellent review. I've used a couple of those online ID gadgets and always wondered how good they might be in the overall sense. When I don't know a plant, it's hard to say if the ID the system gives is accurate without then going back to the library to research through the various guides.
For me, I will try to get really good pics, and then get a hint from the apps. Then, I go to efloras or some source that has a botanical key. But nonetheless, no matter how much info you have, some plants are just really hard to ID due to natural variations that can occur. Most perennial sunflowers can be really tough, or at least have several 'cousins' that look very similar. One way that I found the apps to fail was with goldenrods. I had two different species of goldenrod in the test, and for Canadian Goldenrod (S. canadensis) versus Tall Goldenrod (S. altissima) the main difference is on the underside of the leaf, and the height of the height of the involucres. Really tough to distinguish - but most apps would confidently pic S. canadensis or S. altissima, even though I did not give them enough information.
I've used plantin and plantum apps. Both similar but I do get different results between the 2 when identifying. I don't think the plant care is that helpful as they provide very generalized plant diagnoses so it doesn't quite work as advertised where you snap a photo of your sick plant and it tells you the diagnoses and treatment plan. It's more like "here are a dozen things that could be wrong with your plant". I'll definitely give picture this a go after watching this. Thanks for doing the research for us!🎉
I'm actually a big fan of PlantIn and was using them in the study. But all of a sudden the app quit working and they weren't able to fix it. I cleared the cache, deleted and reinstalled, and it even quit working for me on desktop. I took out support tickets, sent videos/screen captures, and traded emails. So, I just took them out from it since I only got about half-way through the pictures. I agree with you regarding Plant Care. It is very generic stuff. Really, if you can keep the plant in growing conditions that it likes, you normally won't have any problems.
Here's a big THANK YOU! You're work to bring this information to us is much appreciated. I myself have not added apps for identification due to the number of misidentifications I have seen and because I have a pretty well trained eye after decades of working with plants. Im glad to see the stats and to hear the differences between the apps. This is going to help a lot of people. I'm curious, though, are these apps regionally focused? I'm in NW Oregon and too often find little offered for those of us in the west. ~Patty~
Some years ago, I was reading about plant ID apps. Some added your photos to the database and got feedback on the correct IDs, which helped grow their database and become more accurate. The idea is that it would grow larger and more accurate over time. Do any of these apps do this?
I honestly don't know. Inaturalist probably does, as the community can rate the ID's as accurate or suggest alternatives when they believe it has gotten it wrong. But I don't have any data for this as the MO of any app.
Fully agree - it was by far the best. I was really challenging it too, giving it only pictures of leaves or emerging plants. Not the easiest thing to identify.
I've been using Picture This app for about 3 months and love it! I live on 20 acres in N. MS and I have learned a lot about what we have here. I have a fairly large garden and this app has been helpful in identifying "volunteers" and "weeds". It has also been good at identifying trees just by pictures of the trunk. The only thing I think it got wrong, so far, is confusing a Japanese Holly, with a Bay Laurel. Just sharing my experience.
Great video. I find an app you didn't test is best. I use garden savvy. It doesn't have too many reviews, but appears to be pretty accurate. It also it 100% free with unlimited uses. So I like it a lot!
@@growitbuildit Let me know what you think. I know its also a community where people post gardening content. Their plant identifier is in their GardenAI part of the app located in the menu on the top left.
Excellent work. It would be interesting to know if the 20% of failures were on the SAME group of plants, and, if so, would they “pass” with better photos, or were those plants simply not in their databases? Also, COST is an important factor to mention, especially if they require a subscription. Thanks again.
I can assure you that the pictures were in focus, and represented the plant features quite well (leaves, bloom, stalk). For PictureThis, it was almost like they didn't include these specific plants in their database. As in they would mis-identify each photo of a species (Short's Aster, for example). Regarding cost, all but one app had a free version, or free way to use it (which I did). The only one app that didn't have a free option, which I did note in it's section, was Blossom (which was the worst app by far). The free version of PictureThis can be annoying as it often prompts you to sign up and pay, but you just have to click an 'x' in the top right to keep using it. So, the best accuracy for free.
I find your tests super-interesting. Even the best two apps were only right 2/3 to 3/4 of the time. So there’s a 1 in 4 chance, or better, that the app’s wrong on any given try. If I did the ranking, I might weight flower ID more than ID of other parts, because that’s what botanists do. They look at the whole plant to classify it, but the flowers (and seeds) have the final say on where a plant belongs in the taxonomy. It sounds like you didn’t test IDs of seeds or fruits (you can’t do everything), but I wonder if any of these apps could distinguish, say, a carrot seed from a dill seed. As you made clear, none of the apps can give an ID you could take to the bank, but they can point you in the right direction, which is valuable in itself.
Hi - thank you and glad you enjoyed it. I did not try to identify any seeds, and I'm not sure an app would be able to do that. But seed heads could be interesting to look at. And you are right, the blooms are the key way to distinguish a difference, possibly the only way when it comes to some species like certain types of Sunflowers.
It's scary accurate. Try it with grasses - you will be impressed. Just still be cautious though, as if it gets a plant wrong, it will be consistently wrong and you won't know.
Thank you for doing this. I have been using inaturalist and half the time it just tells me it's a dicot. Thanks.... I didn't think that tree was a grass. It gives me about 20% incorrect IDs. Granted, I ask it some weird plants... but I'll definitely try out some others. Wonderful work, thanks.
You are welcome, and I'm glad you found it helpful. If you upload your observations to inaturalist, and get the user feedback, you can often get solid ID info. But the app itself is pretty conservative in it's suggestions. But I can feel your frustration - being told it was a grass!
Great video, very helpful confirms some app suspicions I had. Do you use any apps for your garden maintenance? That gives reminders or alerts at certain times of year to perform tasks and stay on track with your specific plants? Sort of a digital garden log?
Thank you! Has this been done this in other places? A few years ago, I tried an app that was clearly trained on Asian plants, and pretty useless in the US. When traveling, I'd love an app that specialises in the plants of Korea or Brazil or Nigeria or Poland or wherever I'm going.
I don't have any data to support this, but the vibe I've gotten from iNaturalist is that it has struggled for me to ID things like ornamentals, annual garden vegetables, exotics, because it's trying to factor in things like my location and what SHOULD be around here. So it seems hard for it to be convinced that there's a monstera in northwest Wisconsin.
That is an interesting observation. My photos have no exif data, so no coordinates tied to them. So, this shouldn't have played a role in my test. But what you are describing could be a problem.
I've used Seek for identifying insects with great success. I didn't include them in the test, as I was using files rather than taking live-pictures. When I've used Seek casually for plants, my impression is that it is very conservative in it's identification similar to Inaturalist.
I've used picture this for years, lately the past few months it's been giving me the wrong information...ex. a cucumber seedling as a spruce tree and then rhubarb, a rose as a new guinea impatient!
thank you for testing. I have used a few of these and I find them tolerable but lacking. The problem is that they search using AI instead of real human experience. If your only choice is to get an ID right away on your phone, then they serve a purpose. If you can take a photo and use a garden forum with a plant identification thread, then you get answers from real people with real experience. When searching for an ID on a non native cultivated plant or a rare houseplant, I have had better results in forums. Depends upon your expectations.
Over the years I've often used FB groups to help in ID, and still do for caterpillars and some insects. But, two apps in particular (plant.net and inaturalist) will usually get you close if not exact. At least getting the correct genus, which is a great jumping off point.
Google lens allows you to upload pictures of plants, but they have so many incorrect readings that it’s a waste of time. About 3 years ago I used a plant I’d app to see if the plant was kale or collard. The app said it’s either kale or collard. 😁
I got leaf snap. I don't know where it would fit in any lists. It's just the one I picked when I was looking for a plant ID app. I take a picture and it gives me an answer or a few possibilities. It is correct most of the time, but I don't use it on the easy stuff I already grow or know. A proper test would be interesting.
I've tried a large number, and some are clearly better than others. I had tested them years ago, and found them to not perform well. But some of them have come a long way.
@@growitbuildit Oh cool, I've been using plantnet, but since that's the case, I might give it a whirl, thanks for all your videos, looking forward to more. Have a good one.
Thank you for getting straight to the point, and not dragging the video out like most TH-camrs!!!
You are very welcome - I prefer straight-to-the-point videos too
Gotta pad the watch time
Ikr, my pet peeve about many TH-camers. ❤
@growitbuildit Finally someone being thorough about this dilemma big thanks buddy. Subscribing now. ❤😂
@hilohahoma thank you!
Wow I could only imagine that uploading each 234 pictures into each app and recording the results took... actual days worth of time and attention. Great stuff! I'm somewhat surprised how well Lens did, because I have a Google phone and use Lens for a lot, but I have found it to be somewhat poor at plant ID, or at least the stuff I normally try to ID here in North Georgia. Maybe I'm just not taking great photos, or of the most identifiable parts.
The confirmed identifications on Google Lens were accurate. But it had some 'help' with the partial correct identifications - what happened was it couldn't make it's own positive ID, so it searched the web for similar photos, and some of those were my own from my website! That happened on at least 5 occasions. I still gave it credit, oh well - lesson learned!
Thanks for getting right to the results first and then going into more details. I have the one and just got the other. I subbed and belled because you gave us the results right away and that is appreciated.
You are very welcome - and I bet you will find both of those apps helpful. Inaturalist is pretty good too. Even better when you consider that the plant community will chime in with their ID results.
This is fantastic research for the community. Also, "you are responsible for your own actions" is something I think the world needs to hear more of.
Thank you! And I fully agree - the world needs to hear more of that
Wow! I can’t imagine how long this took to do this! Thank you so much!!
You are very welcome - I'm glad you found it helpful!
I didn't even get past the first five minutes of the video before I knew this channel was a keeper.
Thank you Dave
Honestly, this is one of the best reviews I have ever seen. You thoroughly researched the apps, quickly explained your process and the results and the bonus, you didn’t waste anyone’s time!! Equally important, the caution regarding poisonous plants and being trained if you intend to consume something. Now I am off to see what else is on your channel since this video just appeared in my feed!
Thank you so much -and I hope you enjoy my other videos!
@@growitbuildit I subscribed!! 😎
You are a wonderful teacher. Thank you. 🌼🌱🌿🎋🌸🌾
Thank you so much Gin! It means a lot.
Picture this was recommended to me by Joey Santore, I knew it would be #1
I had to look up who Joey Santore was - and I am subscribed to him. I just never knew his name. Well, he definitely knows his stuff - sort of like a walking botanical database!
Joe, you're the GOAT! Thank you!
Thank you so much Glenn!
I've paid for PT for 3+ years now. It used to offer up to three results. However, they must have altered the program within the last year. It now only shows one result. I figured they're just that certain of the result? I've used it far more than I anticipated.
So have I, and I'm pulling it out pretty much every time I'm in the yard, or even out and about when I see something interesting.
What I would love is for them to let us create zones and assign plants to them so we could create a map of our yard/garden and even have it remind us to do various things like playing seeds, pruning, etc at appropriate times.
Not having a dead simple mapping and calendar setup is a large part of what keeps me out of the yard, lol.
I'm a procrastinator and definitely need reminders 😂
Thank you for sharing that - they must be very confident. And I guess it shows, as they were clearly the winners in the test.
I've got the free version and it still gives me multiple options. Maybe I'm just overdue to update the app.
Thank you for this info. It confirms what I thought about the app on my phone, in a negative way. I will give the two Apps you suggest a try.
You are welcome. And I hope you find similar results with the two apps. Some plant id apps are just....bad.
The "ProjectFarm" of plant-id-apps.. love you diving into the per-category information. Thank you!
Thank you Noah! That is quite the compliment as I love ProjectFarm.
Thanks! Appreciate getting the results first. So impressed, I actually stayed for the whole thing!
Thank you so much Jon! Glad you enjoyed it, and a big Thank YOU for the super thanks!
Thanks for a great video! I have several ID Apps on my phone and always use 2 or 3 to check against each other and then, if I plan to eat it, us this info to find the plant in 2 or 3 of my foraging books, just to be on the safe side.
Absolutely the best way to be Jeff - test on multiple, verify with books or a plant key. I haven't seen any news on people who have made mistakes....but it happens. I know that Blue False Indigo (Baptisia australis) looks similar to Asparagus when emerging, and have read the case studies on people who accidentally ate it. They survived, but had a very rough time.
Fascinating, thanks for your diligence with this project!
You are very welcome! And thank you for the kind words
I’ve used Picture this for a few years now. Frequently use the plant diagnostics. Thank you for the wonderful video great work😊🌿☮️
Thank you so much Stacey! Glad you found it helpful.
This is wonderful. Im sharing it with our volunteers who rely on these apps for plant I D in the field!!
Oh that is awesome - thank you so much!
@growitbuildit I respect all the work you put into this. One of my volunteers replied, saying she had already seen the video and that she appreciated that you included the benefits of iNaturalist, as we use it to create projects. I use it but have also found PlantNet and Picture This most reliable.
Hell yeah I was already using picturethis as my main. I love proving my preconceived biases correct
Haha - you're welcome!
I like inaturalist cause it gives me an opportunity to practice plant ID since it shows you things it might be, things that are known to be nearby. It also leaves the opportunity for someone to come and give their own suggestions (which you can accept or reject). It's definitely more of a communal way of documenting and IDing things.
It also allows multiple photos, so I can try to take pictures of all the different parts of a plant I might use to ID it if the app or other users can't.
I'm a big fan of Inaturalist, and will keep it on my phone. Personally I like that they are 'conservative' in their identifications. While PictureThis is the most accurate, I would be afraid that someone may actually try to use an app as the sole source of info before foraging.......
@ bluefish you listed many valid benefits of iNaturalist. I’ll add that the other people confirming or correcting your ID’s can be true experts in their fields. Professional botanists in the case of plants but also entomologists and other biologists. Do any of the other apps offer that, or the ability to build a catalog or life list of observations over time? These benefits aren’t captured by the test methodology but they might have been mentioned.
@@delongdesign that the other thing I like it lets citizen scientists and scientists connect.
I also like the project feature. I have a self made one to help me tell if things in my area are invasives, anything I take a picture of that is invasive automatically gets put into that project, it has been very helpful.
😊 I truly appreciate you taking the time to do this review!! I'm such a newbie to this area but I am slowly learning and having an app to at least guide me to finding more information is critical.
You are very welcome! I'm glad I could help you out.
Definitely a god video that many gardeners would like to see. So if you folks are reading my comment here then I am asking you to please share the link to this video on your other social media profiles.
Thank you!!!!! Very much appreciated.
Thanks for this info, and getting right to the point. Was wondering if you’ve heard of Planta, that Ashley from Plant Life with Ashley Anita mentioned. I’m trialing it but I’m a newbie and not sure how it compares. I’m looking for plant care more than ID.
Hi - I haven't used Planta before, and hadn't really heard of it. There are a lot of different apps out there though. It looks to be like Blossom, but hopefully they can have better identifications. I may give it a shot in the future when I update this.
Timely and helpful! Thank you!🙏🏾🌿💖🌱🌺💖
You are welcome, and I'm very glad I could help you out.
Thank you for sharing the list first!
You are very welcome! No sense making you sit through 10 minutes to say which was the best.
Thank you for another informative video! Big plus, you have a good voice I could listen to you on repeat.
You are very welcome, and thank YOU for the kind words!
I took a picture of a black wooly catapiller and Plantnet identified it as a plant!!
Sometimes it's the thought that counts....I guess
I uploaded a photo of a partial bud (might have been part of a black cottonwood bud?) to iNaturalist, and it came back as a beetle.
I use iNaturalist a lot and I think it's very good, but the best part is the community that reviews the proposed identifications. I never trust the machine vision part on its own.
So many opinions out there about plant apps! Thanks for sorting it all out. A lot of work!!!
You are very welcome! I'm glad you found it helpful!
Thank you for getting to the point. 🎉 I use Picture This. Very pleased with it overall. And you’re right…do your own research to confirm. It’s not always correct but is a great starting point. 🍃 🌿
You are very welcome, and I'm glad to hear you find the same results as I do with Picture This.
I would love to see Google lens included in a follow up video. It has worked for me in the past.
Hi - it was in the test! Results are shown a couple minutes in.
Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!
You are very welcome!
Thank you for all of the time you took to test and put this together. I can't imagine the amount of coffee it would take. Thanks Joe.
You are welcome, and yes, much coffee was involved! Some apps were definitely slower than others...........
Excellent information. Do the top 2 apps identify what the plant or tree needs if unhealthy? Thanks, Mary
Hi Marvin - PictureThis will do that, at least it says it will. I have not tried that part of the app. I can tell you though, for most plants, if you keep it in the kind of sunlight/moisture and soil drainage conditions that it likes, you will prevent nearly all potential diseases. For example, nearly all plant problems I've dealt with are usually related to poor draining soil.
you are a plant scientist
source: ill have my phd in 3 months
Thank you! That means a lot to me.
I have found LeafSnap to be fairly accurate. It gives a few options of what it thinks your plant might be.
Thank you for this - I will download it and check it out.
I like iNaturalist. When/if I choose the wrong i.d., users will pile on and correct your selection.
I give it a 4.7/5.
(Sometimes it is adamant that the plant is from interior China, etc)
Interesting - that is an aspect I couldn't really include in the test (the users piling on). But, overall it did perform really well. And since I personally like to consider partial correct along with correct, I consider that it was the #3 (per my test of single photos).
Thanks for the analysis! I would be curious to see how the iPhone identification feature stacks up, I use it a lot because I don’t need to launch an app to use it.
I'll have to try that. I have an iphone for my job, but almost never use it outside of work.
@@growitbuildit I have a feeling it will not perform well… It works pretty good for wildlife though.
I think this whole thing was greatz As far as Inaturalist goes, it was a miss to try the app “Seek” which is w/inaturalist, and is there version of the point-n-shoot identifier, with direct post onto inaturalist. It does pretty good for me in the informal field and I’m a botanist. But I rely on inat and keys mainly in the end.
I would have like to test them all, but had to be selective due to time. I will do this again, and add that one as a few other people mentioned it. I didn't include it initially because the few times I had used it the results weren't good for plants. For insects though, it seems excellent.
@@growitbuildit yay! I also should mention that inaturalist and seek are focused on wild plants while the other apps may be better at identifying garden plants. That said, this was a fantastic study, I’ve sent it to a couple of people because I found it interesting, you’re doing great work, and there’s always time to do more experiments on wildflowers vs cultivated id (although it sounded like that photo packing was a heck of a lot of work) maybe ai can help soon😌
Adding more thanks for this fantastic video.
Hi Annie - thank you very much for the kind words.
I had picture this for awhile and ended up paying and glad I did.
It lets me keep data bases for separate gardens.
I also like native maps and how to take care.
You can also id bugs and it is really good for caterpillars, butterflies, spiders, etc.
For the paid apps, Picture This seemed to be head and shoulders above everything else.
Great video! Would you want to make a similar test with apps that help you identify what's wrong with your house plant? As a newbie balcony gardener it would be incredibly helpful
Hi - I probably couldn't do it because we actually have very few houseplants! Plus I would have to get them infected with specific diseases
Excellent review. I've used a couple of those online ID gadgets and always wondered how good they might be in the overall sense. When I don't know a plant, it's hard to say if the ID the system gives is accurate without then going back to the library to research through the various guides.
For me, I will try to get really good pics, and then get a hint from the apps. Then, I go to efloras or some source that has a botanical key. But nonetheless, no matter how much info you have, some plants are just really hard to ID due to natural variations that can occur. Most perennial sunflowers can be really tough, or at least have several 'cousins' that look very similar.
One way that I found the apps to fail was with goldenrods. I had two different species of goldenrod in the test, and for Canadian Goldenrod (S. canadensis) versus Tall Goldenrod (S. altissima) the main difference is on the underside of the leaf, and the height of the height of the involucres. Really tough to distinguish - but most apps would confidently pic S. canadensis or S. altissima, even though I did not give them enough information.
The best is a lot less than I would like. Thank you for doing this.
You are very welcome Patty
Wonderful job! And I'm happy to note that Picture This is the winner because that's what I've also found.
Thank you - and I agree. Picture this just seems to be more accurate!
Wow! Thank you for going through all that testing, this is super helpful!
You are very welcome! It was a lot of work, but I felt it was worth it.
I've used plantin and plantum apps. Both similar but I do get different results between the 2 when identifying. I don't think the plant care is that helpful as they provide very generalized plant diagnoses so it doesn't quite work as advertised where you snap a photo of your sick plant and it tells you the diagnoses and treatment plan. It's more like "here are a dozen things that could be wrong with your plant". I'll definitely give picture this a go after watching this. Thanks for doing the research for us!🎉
I'm actually a big fan of PlantIn and was using them in the study. But all of a sudden the app quit working and they weren't able to fix it. I cleared the cache, deleted and reinstalled, and it even quit working for me on desktop. I took out support tickets, sent videos/screen captures, and traded emails. So, I just took them out from it since I only got about half-way through the pictures.
I agree with you regarding Plant Care. It is very generic stuff. Really, if you can keep the plant in growing conditions that it likes, you normally won't have any problems.
This is so helpful! You really went above and beyond. Thank you.
Thank you - I'm glad you enjoyed it!
Here's a big THANK YOU! You're work to bring this information to us is much appreciated.
I myself have not added apps for identification due to the number of misidentifications I have seen and because I have a pretty well trained eye after decades of working with plants. Im glad to see the stats and to hear the differences between the apps. This is going to help a lot of people. I'm curious, though, are these apps regionally focused? I'm in NW Oregon and too often find little offered for those of us in the west.
~Patty~
Hi - they are not regional in my experience. They are generally drawing on a global database from what I can tell.
Great video! Valuable information. Great methodology! Fantastic stuff!
Thank you Nathan! I'm very happy you found it helpful.
Hey, great video. You saved me a lot of time! I used Flora incognita and leafsnap before. Maybe you will review them at some point
Since you said so, I will download them. I may not do an update for a long time, but they are on the list!
Some years ago, I was reading about plant ID apps. Some added your photos to the database and got feedback on the correct IDs, which helped grow their database and become more accurate. The idea is that it would grow larger and more accurate over time. Do any of these apps do this?
I honestly don't know. Inaturalist probably does, as the community can rate the ID's as accurate or suggest alternatives when they believe it has gotten it wrong. But I don't have any data for this as the MO of any app.
@@growitbuildit Thank You.
If I can find the info, I will pass it back to you.
I would appreciate that. Thank you
I think I Picture This picture is fantastic ! Hadsyingyingloads of different elements to it as well as identity!
Fully agree - it was by far the best. I was really challenging it too, giving it only pictures of leaves or emerging plants. Not the easiest thing to identify.
Can you plz do a video on insect identification and mushroom identification? Ty
I've been using Picture This app for about 3 months and love it! I live on 20 acres in N. MS and I have learned a lot about what we have here. I have a fairly large garden and this app has been helpful in identifying "volunteers" and "weeds". It has also been good at identifying trees just by pictures of the trunk. The only thing I think it got wrong, so far, is confusing a Japanese Holly, with a Bay Laurel. Just sharing my experience.
Thank you for sharing - good to hear you liking PictureThis too
You're amazing for doing this! Thank you!
Thank you Jennifer! I'm glad you found the info helpful.
Great video. I find an app you didn't test is best. I use garden savvy. It doesn't have too many reviews, but appears to be pretty accurate. It also it 100% free with unlimited uses. So I like it a lot!
Just downloaded it per your recommendation. I'll check it out
@@growitbuildit Let me know what you think. I know its also a community where people post gardening content. Their plant identifier is in their GardenAI part of the app located in the menu on the top left.
Will do. I plan to do an update in the future. I will put this app through the same battery of tests as the others.
@@growitbuildit Cool, I can't wait to see your review! I love your content!
Great review of apps, but would really like you to include Plant Parent in future reviews… I think it’s excellent!
And because of your comment I will do just that!
Thank you for this. Great format...no bs. Subscribed. keep em coming...
You are welcome - glad you enjoyed it
This is exactly what I have observed myself and I am very experienced at plant ID. Thanks for the data driven conclusion.
Thank you for the kind words. And it is always nice to get confirmations from those who are knowledgeable!
Excellent work. It would be interesting to know if the 20% of failures were on the SAME group of plants, and, if so, would they “pass” with better photos, or were those plants simply not in their databases? Also, COST is an important factor to mention, especially if they require a subscription. Thanks again.
I can assure you that the pictures were in focus, and represented the plant features quite well (leaves, bloom, stalk). For PictureThis, it was almost like they didn't include these specific plants in their database. As in they would mis-identify each photo of a species (Short's Aster, for example).
Regarding cost, all but one app had a free version, or free way to use it (which I did). The only one app that didn't have a free option, which I did note in it's section, was Blossom (which was the worst app by far). The free version of PictureThis can be annoying as it often prompts you to sign up and pay, but you just have to click an 'x' in the top right to keep using it. So, the best accuracy for free.
I with the disclaimer "you are responsible for your own actions" was stated on everything, people don't get that lol
Exactly - 100%.
ty for sharing and saving us the time to figure out the best! :) you're awesome!
You are quite welcome! Glad I could help you out!
I find your tests super-interesting.
Even the best two apps were only right 2/3 to 3/4 of the time. So there’s a 1 in 4 chance, or better, that the app’s wrong on any given try.
If I did the ranking, I might weight flower ID more than ID of other parts, because that’s what botanists do. They look at the whole plant to classify it, but the flowers (and seeds) have the final say on where a plant belongs in the taxonomy.
It sounds like you didn’t test IDs of seeds or fruits (you can’t do everything), but I wonder if any of these apps could distinguish, say, a carrot seed from a dill seed.
As you made clear, none of the apps can give an ID you could take to the bank, but they can point you in the right direction, which is valuable in itself.
Hi - thank you and glad you enjoyed it. I did not try to identify any seeds, and I'm not sure an app would be able to do that. But seed heads could be interesting to look at. And you are right, the blooms are the key way to distinguish a difference, possibly the only way when it comes to some species like certain types of Sunflowers.
I use Picture This. It is accurate almost always. I am amazed how quickly it can ID even the smallest plants.
It's scary accurate. Try it with grasses - you will be impressed. Just still be cautious though, as if it gets a plant wrong, it will be consistently wrong and you won't know.
Thank you for doing this. I have been using inaturalist and half the time it just tells me it's a dicot. Thanks.... I didn't think that tree was a grass. It gives me about 20% incorrect IDs. Granted, I ask it some weird plants... but I'll definitely try out some others. Wonderful work, thanks.
You are welcome, and I'm glad you found it helpful. If you upload your observations to inaturalist, and get the user feedback, you can often get solid ID info. But the app itself is pretty conservative in it's suggestions. But I can feel your frustration - being told it was a grass!
Great video, very helpful confirms some app suspicions I had. Do you use any apps for your garden maintenance? That gives reminders or alerts at certain times of year to perform tasks and stay on track with your specific plants? Sort of a digital garden log?
Hi - I have not used any for gardening maintenance. Just too busy I guess! I am kind of a lazy vegetable gardener....
Thanks so much for this! Im too reliant on Google lens
You are very welcome - hope you find PictureThis and Plant.net as helpful as I have.
Super grateful for the time and thought you put into your research and this video. Thank you so much for pointing me in the right direction.
Thank you - I'm very happy you found it helpful. Good luck!
Thank you!
Has this been done this in other places? A few years ago, I tried an app that was clearly trained on Asian plants, and pretty useless in the US. When traveling, I'd love an app that specialises in the plants of Korea or Brazil or Nigeria or Poland or wherever I'm going.
Hi - I am unaware of it being done before. Lots of articles talking about the 'best id apps' but I don't know any that tested them.
I don't have any data to support this, but the vibe I've gotten from iNaturalist is that it has struggled for me to ID things like ornamentals, annual garden vegetables, exotics, because it's trying to factor in things like my location and what SHOULD be around here. So it seems hard for it to be convinced that there's a monstera in northwest Wisconsin.
That is an interesting observation. My photos have no exif data, so no coordinates tied to them. So, this shouldn't have played a role in my test. But what you are describing could be a problem.
Have you tried the Seek companion app for iNaturalist that uses the camera directly, and can upload to iNaturalist?
I've used Seek for identifying insects with great success. I didn't include them in the test, as I was using files rather than taking live-pictures. When I've used Seek casually for plants, my impression is that it is very conservative in it's identification similar to Inaturalist.
Thanks your info is so helpful!!!
Thank you so much Lynne! I'm very happy you found liked the test & results!
Great quality videos, no fluff and thorough research.
Thank you - glad you enjoyed it
I've used picture this for years, lately the past few months it's been giving me the wrong information...ex. a cucumber seedling as a spruce tree and then rhubarb, a rose as a new guinea impatient!
That is interesting. I've found errors, but not many. And sometimes only on emerging plants
thank you for testing. I have used a few of these and I find them tolerable but lacking. The problem is that they search using AI instead of real human experience. If your only choice is to get an ID right away on your phone, then they serve a purpose. If you can take a photo and use a garden forum with a plant identification thread, then you get answers from real people with real experience. When searching for an ID on a non native cultivated plant or a rare houseplant, I have had better results in forums. Depends upon your expectations.
Over the years I've often used FB groups to help in ID, and still do for caterpillars and some insects. But, two apps in particular (plant.net and inaturalist) will usually get you close if not exact. At least getting the correct genus, which is a great jumping off point.
I like iNaturalist's Seek app, which identifies plants, animals, insects, etc, via pictures or live via the camera.
It's a good app. It is very conservative in it's ID & suggestions, which is a good thing in my opinion.
I had an app and every time I scanned one of my plants... every time it was a " philodendron".!!!! App sux
That would be frustrating!
Google lens allows you to upload pictures of plants, but they have so many incorrect readings that it’s a waste of time. About 3 years ago I used a plant I’d app to see if the plant was kale or collard. The app said it’s either kale or collard. 😁
Hahaha - that sounds about right!
Thanks! Nice work! Appreciate you sharing this.
Thank you Karen - I'm glad you found it helpful!
I got leaf snap. I don't know where it would fit in any lists. It's just the one I picked when I was looking for a plant ID app. I take a picture and it gives me an answer or a few possibilities. It is correct most of the time, but I don't use it on the easy stuff I already grow or know. A proper test would be interesting.
I've downloaded leaf snap - a few other people mentioned it. So I will give it a try for a future update.
Thanks for this! Great timing for me. Subscribed!
You are very welcome! Glad you are enjoying it.
Ty. Subscribed and shared.
Thank you so much Joyce! I'm glad I could help you out.
Thank you. Just what I was looking for.😊
You are very welcome - glad it was helpful!
You said "you are responsible for your own actions." Isn't that heresy these days? 😂
It might be.....
Heard about the plant apps, never tried one, now I know! Thank you ✅️
I've tried a large number, and some are clearly better than others. I had tested them years ago, and found them to not perform well. But some of them have come a long way.
Thanks!
Thank you SO MUCH Patty! Much appreciated,
Excellent info 🎯Going to try your 2 top picks.... thank you!
Thank you! I hope you find them to perform as well as I have
What a great dang video. Thanks for doing all that testing and for reporting the results concisely.
You are very welcome! Glad you found it helpful.
Thank You!
You are very welcome!
Dude, you are awesome! You were super clear and helpful. 100/10
Thank you! I'm glad it could help you out!
You missed Flora Incognita! It’s free an really good,
Just downloaded it. I'll test it out in the coming months.
Question - Is there any particular plant ID app that is better for Palm trees?
Sorry but I don't know that information. I never tested on palm trees.
iNaturalist is American based, picturethis is china based...
I did not know that....Thank you
🌈😎❤️⚡🕊️
Thank you!
Thanks!
Thank you so much!
Thanks for doing all the research for us. Valuable info here.
You are very welcome - I'm glad you found it helpful
Picture this wants money, plantnet is free
This is true, although you can just close PictureThis's pop-up ad.
@@growitbuildit Oh cool, I've been using plantnet, but since that's the case, I might give it a whirl, thanks for all your videos, looking forward to more. Have a good one.
Wow, thank you! Shared :)
Thank you Jake - I appreciate that. And I'm glad you enjoyed it.
Picture this said it was free for only 7 days.
Just hit the x button on upper right hand corner, it will still give you access
Exactly what ivan11cast said. I've had it for a few years and never paid them. Although I probably should!
I'd also be curious about the results for Seek
I'll have to redo the test next year