ARE you an ambitious green thumb or a well-intentioned but accidental plant killer?
In the age of “plant moms and dads,” many want to avoid the small dose of heartbreak that comes with watching a beloved (and likely expensive) plant turn orange and wrinkled in the sun.
Luckily, plant-loving Amazon Alexa owners have received a major free upgrade that will help them avoid killing their plants.
The tech giant is teaming up with botanist James Wong to bring some new plant expertise to its Alexa voice assistant.
Alexa can now answer more than 35 questions about plants, from how much light your Aloe Vera needs to how much you need to water your cheese plant.
“It’s easy to be put off when a plant discolors or dies,” says Wong.
“That’s why I was excited to work with Amazon to upskill Alexa on plant knowledge and develop a plant care routine to help Brits become more confident in caring for houseplants.”
There’s also a new routine available through the Alexa app, which records the optimal growing conditions for whatever potted plant you have.
The new green routine that Alexa can perform goes as follows:
- Reminder to check and/or water your plants
- Turn on the lights and set them to turn off with a timer
- Turn on the heater and set it to 20-25 degrees, and set it to go off with a timer
- Whisper a positive plant affirmation
- Play a plant-friendly music playlist
- Turn off the heating
- Turn off lights
Most read in Phones and gadgets
What is an Alexa Routine?
Routines are essentially shortcuts for Alexa.
They save users time by grouping a series of actions under one routine.
It means users don’t have to ask each one individually.
Users can activate routines by asking Alexa verbally or through the Alexa app.
Follow the steps below to access the routine:
- Open the Alexa mobile app
- Select ‘more’ from the bottom navigation menu
- Select ‘routines’ from the options
- Tap ‘featured’ in the sliding menu at the top
- Select ”Plant Whisperer”
- Select the devices you want to include in the routine
- Select ‘save’
- To get started with the routine, just say “Alexa, watch my plants!”
Alexa may not yet be skilled enough to handle the rarer species.
But it will have plenty of know-how to keep aloe vera, spider plant, Chinese money plant, moth orchid, peace lily, cheese plant, rubber plant and herbs like fickle basil alive.
Meryem Tom, Managing Director of Amazon Alexa in the UK, said: “The knowledge of Alexa meets our love for plant care.
“And with summer just around the corner, it’s the perfect time for our customers to experiment with the new Alexa routine and improve their plant care skills in the process!”
New questions to ask Alexa
Here’s the full list of plant care questions Alexa can answer now:
How much light does my aloe vera need?
What kind of compost does my aloe vera need?
How often should I water my aloe vera?
How often should I repot my Aloe vera?
Why is my aloe vera unhappy?
How much light does my spider plant need?
How often should I water my spider plant?
Why isn’t my spider plant producing babies?
Why does my spider plant have brown leaves?
What’s wrong with my Chinese money plant?
How do I propagate my spider plant?
How much light does my moth orchid need?
How much light does my peace lily need?
How often should I water my moth orchid?
How often should I repot my peace lily?
Will my moth orchid bloom again?
Why does my peace lily have brown leaves?
Why isn’t my marsh orchid blooming?
How often should I water my peace lily?
Should I cut the flowers off my moth orchid?
Why isn’t my peace lily blooming?
How much light does my cheese plant need?
How much light does my rubber plant have?
How much water does my cheese plant need?
How often should I water my rubber plant?
Why doesn’t my cheese plant have holes in its leaves?
How often should I repot my rubber plant?
Why does my cheese plant look unhappy?
Why is my rubber plant losing its leaves?
Why are the leaves of my cheese plants turning brown?
How do I clean the leaves of my rubber plant?
What are the best plants to purify the air?
How much light does my Chinese money plant need?
What is the secret of green fingers?
How often should I water my Chinese money plant?
Why did my basil plant die?
How do I propagate my Chinese money plant?
What is Alexa?
If you’ve never heard of Alexa, here’s what you need to know…
- Alexa is an ‘intelligent’ personal assistant built by Amazon.
- You can find her on a variety of devices, including Amazon’s Echo speakers.
- Alexa responds to voice commands and can talk to you.
- She can perform thousands of different tasks, including telling you about the news or the weather.
- But she can also do more complex things, such as ordering a pizza or arranging an Uber taxi.
- To activate Alexa, you need to say “Alexa” to an Amazon Echo speaker.
- Powered by artificial intelligence, Alexa is constantly getting smarter.
- Alexa will also become more accustomed to your voice and better understand what you want her to do over time.