Field guides vs plant ID apps - which one actually teaches you more?

I spent 3 years using PictureThis and thought I knew my local plants, but last week I couldn't name a single sedge without my phone. My grandpa handed me his old Peterson guide and made me key out a goldenrod - took 20 minutes but I actually remember it now. Is the struggle the whole point of learning, or am I just old school?

2 comments

2 Comments

hannahw301mo ago

the_angela said it saves time but honestly my ADHD brain just uses that saved time to scroll Instagram instead of looking at more plants so that argument kinda falls apart for me personally lol. I get what you mean though, there was this one time I was so proud of identifying a "rare" plant with my app and it turned out to be a dandelion growing weirdly. The struggle is definitely part of it for me, like when you spend forever keying something out you remember every dumb detail about it because you earned that knowledge. But I also have a pile of half-used field guides in my car because I give up halfway through and whip out my phone anyway. Guess I'm just a lazy plant nerd who wants instant gratification but also feels guilty about it.

the_angela1mo ago

Hold on, those apps save time so you can actually get out there and look at more plants instead of wrestling with a book for one.