Your soil test kit, finally understood.
Snap a photo or enter your soil test kit results, and EcoSentry returns a clear, easy-to-follow plan in seconds. No mail-in lab, no waiting, and no guesswork.
What’s on this page.
Jump to any section to learn more.
If your soil test kit has been sitting in a drawer, we wrote this for you.
EcoSentry was built to help our neighbors, protect our watersheds and bays, and care for the soil under our feet.
How it works.
Four simple steps take you from your test kit to a clear recommendation in under a minute.
Choose from 18 supported soil test kits, including Rapitest, LaMotte, MySoil, and more.
Use the kit’s standard instructions, the same way you always have.
Take a photo of the color result, or enter your values manually.
Soil Intelligence analyzes your results and returns a recommendation in seconds.
What you actually get.
Every soil test gives you concrete, actionable information. Color charts are translated into plain English, and vague terms like “moderate” are replaced with clear next steps.
You learn what your pH reading means for the specific plants you are growing.
Nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium levels are translated into language you can actually understand.
You learn what to add, in what amounts, and where you can find it locally.
EcoSentry also tells you which amendments you do not need, and why, so you save real money.
A retest timeline is tailored to your soil and what you are growing.
Vegetables, lawn, fruit trees, and pollinator forage each get their own plan.
See every test, amendment, and forecast for each location in one connected timeline.
See what your soil values are projected to look like in the months ahead, based on amendments you have logged.
Track how much nitrogen and phosphorus you have diverted from your local waterway, or over-applied to it.
Save and share a professional report of your results with a single tap.
See the right time of year to test, amend, and plant based on your climate zone.
Get notified when a location is due for retesting or when an amendment needs follow-up.
Works with the kit you already own.
EcoSentry supports 18 of the most common consumer soil test kits. You do not need to buy new hardware or subscribe to your hardware store.
Simple pricing. Cancel anytime.
Two paid tiers with no hidden fees and no long-term contracts. Every new account also includes a 14-day Pro trial so you can experience every feature before deciding.
For home gardeners
- Unlimited soil tests
- 3 saved locations
- Full Soil Intelligence recommendations
- Unlimited amendment logging
- Soil Amendment Forecast
- Impacted Watershed tracking
- Trend charts and PDF export
- 5 photo scans per month
For serious growers
- Everything in Starter, plus:
- Unlimited saved locations
- Unlimited photo scans
- Priority support
The Free plan includes one test per month, one saved location, your top recommendation, the seasonal calendar, and one amendment log so you can see your watershed impact.
Built for our growers, keepers, and watershed stewards.
EcoSentry serves a community of gardeners, beekeepers, and conservation-minded people who want to grow better, waste less, and protect the water that runs through their communities.
Home gardeners
Anyone tired of guessing at fertilizer and over-buying amendments.
Beekeepers
Keepers managing forage soil for stronger nectar flow and healthier colonies.
Lifelong learners and volunteers
People studying soil science, sustainable gardening, or extension-based horticulture.
Community gardens
Volunteer-run plots that need accurate soil data without the cost of mail-in labs.
Watershed conscious homeowners
People doing their part to reduce runoff into their local watersheds and waterways.
Schools and conservation groups
Educators teaching soil science with real, hands-on data.
Built for our watersheds.
EcoSentry started in Maryland, where we grew up watching the Chesapeake carry the weight of every over-fertilized lawn for miles around. Yet this problem is not unique to the Bay. Every watershed in the country, from the Great Lakes to the Gulf, suffers when we apply more than the soil needs.
Every gardener who tests their soil and applies only what is needed is helping. Soil testing is one of the simplest and most direct things any homeowner can do to protect the water that flows through their community. EcoSentry makes it easy enough that anyone can do it right.
Data for Good.
A transparent look at EcoSentry’s environmental footprint, the responsible AI choices behind it, and the honest tradeoffs we live with.
How soil intelligence actually works.
When you submit a soil test in EcoSentry, your results are sent to a large language model from Anthropic called Claude, which interprets your numbers and returns a recommendation. Every Claude request consumes a small amount of electricity in a data center, which produces a small amount of carbon emissions depending on the local power grid. Anthropic runs Claude on Amazon Web Services infrastructure with a Power Usage Effectiveness of approximately 1.14 and a carbon intensity factor of roughly 0.287 kgCO₂e per kilowatt-hour.1
Independent benchmarks place a typical Claude Sonnet query at about 0.8 to 5.5 watt-hours of electricity, roughly equivalent to running a microwave for one to five seconds.2 In a study of 30 leading AI models, Claude Sonnet ranked highest in eco-efficiency, meaning it delivers strong reasoning performance at one of the lowest environmental costs among major models available today.3 We chose it deliberately for that reason.
| Method | Energy or material cost | Approximate CO₂e per test |
|---|---|---|
| Mail-in lab | Envelope, paper packaging, ground or air shipping, chromium-based reagents, lab processing, return mail | ~50 to 200 grams4 |
| EcoSentry (photo scan) | One AI inference query plus minimal cloud database storage | ~1 to 3 grams2 |
| EcoSentry (manual entry) | Smaller AI inference query, no image processing | ~0.5 to 1.5 grams2 |
Beyond direct emissions, mail-in chemistry labs commonly rely on chromium-based reagents and strong acids that create hazardous waste. Some compounds contain chromium(VI), a substance linked to lung cancer that requires careful handling and disposal.5 Digital colorimetric analysis avoids those chemicals entirely.
The tradeoffs, honestly.
Where we feel good.
- EcoSentry uses one of the most eco-efficient AI models available today.3
- One EcoSentry test produces roughly 25 to 100 times less CO₂ than a mail-in lab test.
- Every accurate recommendation prevents over-fertilization, reducing nitrogen and phosphorus runoff into watersheds.
- Healthier soil sequesters more carbon. Soil stores more carbon than all terrestrial vegetation combined.6
- Anthropic operates on cloud providers that prioritize renewable energy and carbon neutrality.1
- No hazardous chemical waste, no shipping emissions, no paper packaging.
Where we still have work to do.
- Anthropic has not yet published Scope 1, 2, or 3 emissions in any public filing.1
- Per-query carbon estimates rely on third-party benchmarks rather than first-party disclosure.
- Training a large AI model is energy-intensive, even though that cost is amortized across millions of users.
- Data center infrastructure has secondary environmental impacts beyond electricity, including water use for cooling.
- We do not yet offset the emissions from EcoSentry queries. This is something we are actively evaluating for the future.
References
- Earth911 (March 2026), “Your AI Carbon Footprint: What Every Query Really Costs,” and Cnaught (March 2026), “How to Actually Measure the Carbon Footprint of AI Code.” earth911.com · cnaught.com
- Devera (2025), “AI Water and Energy Usage: ChatGPT vs Claude vs Gemini.” devera.ai
- Jegham et al. (May 2025), “How Hungry is AI? Benchmarking Energy, Water, and Carbon Footprint of LLM Inference,” arXiv:2505.09598. arxiv.org
- Estimated from postal letter and package carbon footprint data (8 Billion Trees) plus typical lab processing emissions. Range reflects domestic ground shipping at the low end and air-freighted samples at the high end. 8billiontrees.com
- Earth.com (February 2026), “Farmers can measure soil health by analyzing its color,” and Envirotech Online (February 2026), “Can soil colour become a low-cost proxy for carbon monitoring?” earth.com
- Qualitek Labs (March 2026), “Reducing Industrial Carbon Footprint Through Soil Testing and Better Soil Health Management.” qualiteklab.com
Questions, answered.
Do I need to buy a special soil test kit?
No. EcoSentry works with kits you can buy at any garden center or hardware store, including Rapitest, LaMotte, MySoil, and 15 others. If you already own a supported kit, you are ready to start.
How accurate is EcoSentry?
EcoSentry uses Soil Intelligence to read your kit’s color result with the same care as an experienced gardener interpreting the colors by eye, paired with recommendations grounded in agricultural research. It is not a replacement for a professional lab test, but it is dramatically better than guessing, and a lot faster and cheaper.
What is included in the Free plan?
The Free plan includes one soil test per month, one saved location, a summary report with your top recommendation, the seasonal calendar, in-app alerts, and one amendment log so you can see your watershed impact. It is a good way to try EcoSentry before deciding whether to upgrade. Every new account also includes a 14-day Pro trial with all features unlocked.
What is the difference between Starter and Pro?
Starter ($4.99/month) gives you unlimited tests, three saved locations, full Soil Intelligence recommendations, unlimited amendment logging, the Soil Amendment Forecast, Impacted Watershed tracking, trend charts, PDF export, and five photo scans per month. Pro ($9.99/month) gives you everything in Starter plus unlimited saved locations, unlimited photo scans, and priority support. Most home gardeners do well on Starter, while beekeepers and people managing multiple gardens usually choose Pro.
How often should I test my soil?
Most gardeners benefit from testing in early spring before planting, and again in fall before winter. Lawn owners typically test once or twice a year. EcoSentry tracks your history so you can see how your soil changes over time, which is especially useful for spotting trends across seasons.
Can I cancel anytime?
Yes. There are no long-term contracts. You can cancel from your account page anytime, with no questions asked.
Is my data private?
Your test results and location data are yours alone. EcoSentry never sells or shares your personal information with third parties. We collect only what is necessary to deliver Soil Intelligence, forecasts, and watershed tracking. For the full details, please see the EcoSentry Privacy Policy.
I am not in Maryland. Can I still use it?
Yes. EcoSentry works anywhere in the United States. We are starting in Maryland because it is home, but the Soil Intelligence applies to gardens everywhere. Expansion to other states is happening throughout 2027.
About Foreston Honey.
The company behind EcoSentry.
Foreston Honey is a Maryland-based company dedicated to sustainable landscaping and community-focused environmental education. We are guided by formal education in Environmental Management and state Extension Office Master Gardener principles. We are committed to improving food security and creating greener spaces in our communities.
We built EcoSentry because we needed it ourselves, for our own gardens, our own bees, and our own neighbors. Learn more about Foreston Honey →
Ready to understand your soil?
Start Using EcoSentryHave questions? Email support@forestonhoney.com.