September 24, 2026
How to use Plant Spinner
I started this blog to talk about Plant Spinner, but so far it has mostly been about the business. I haven’t discussed the actual product yet. Whoops!
Plant Spinner spins a little each day so window plants grow straight. That's the whole pitch, and whenever I tell someone the idea, they get it immediately. More often than not, they have a window plant that is leaning hard towards the sun, and they wonder if it will work for them. Try it and let me know! I practice that first line a lot, because I know that when opportunities come up, I need to be prepared to pitch. It has to be a simple line that people get instantly, and I think I am pretty close to the right tagline. The truth is that Plant Spinner can do so much more than just spin a little each day, so... what can it do?
PARTY MODE!
The first thing to try is party mode. The very first button on Plant Spinner is the R/L or Right and Left button. This is where you decide which direction you want to spin. Press the button to start spinning in one direction, then press the button again to spin the opposite direction.
Maybe you have a tall spiraling cactus, and spinning in one direction looks better than the other:
NEXT UP, SPEED!
Woh! This thing moves! The S/R button adjusts how fast Plant Spinner rotates. I like to pretend S/R is short for Speed Racer, but I think it’s actually Speed of Rotation. There are 3 speeds. The first rotates once every 8 seconds and is the perfect speed for making social videos of your stuff (maybe to sell, maybe to show off).
Next is Medium, which rotates once every 15 seconds. I don’t know what it’s best for yet, but I like it for plants when guests come over. It really livens up the space and is a great conversation starter.
Finally we have the slowest speed, which takes 30 seconds to make a rotation. This is best for tall or heavier plants. This speed is also great for a fun centerpiece at the party.
To end the party and stop the spins, long press either the R/L or S/R buttons. Optionally, you can press the ASA button to begin auto spin mode!
WHAT IS ASA MODE?
The third button from the right is labeled ASA. On Plant Spinner stands, ASA stands for Automatic Spin Assistant. On any other display stand, it means something else. For Plant Spinner, every time you press the ASA button, the stand spins a small amount, and then sits there waiting for about 24 hours. Press it again, and the same thing:
AND I JUST FOUND A NEW THING MY PRODUCT CAN DO
Taking that video above inspired the find. I noticed a lot of plant jiggle in the video above. I also noticed one of my plant spinners spins slower than the others on ASA mode. Lightbulb! ASA mode is adjustable!
Automatic Spin Assistant also has three speeds, just like Party mode! And this is a great thing. Jiggle is stress. You can see a lot of jiggle when ASA mode is at the fastest speed. There is considerably less jiggle at the slowest speed. Medium jiggle might be acceptable. Well now we know that in ASA mode, you can press the S/R button to adjust the speed of the ASA spin. This is interesting in a few ways. - Users can dial in the perfect speed for their plant. - I need to update the Quick Start Guide again. - It makes finding out the exact degrees of spin on ASA mode even harder. - I’ll have to test all three speeds with multiple objects. - Is that 3 times harder or 9?
WHAT IS PLANT SPINNER DOING?
When you press the ASA button, Plant Spinner turns a little (exact degree TBD), and then it appears to do nothing. It is doing something. It’s sitting there waiting for the earth to rotate once, after which it will spin again just a little bit and wait, and so on again and again. Plant Spinner spends most of its time doing nothing. Because plants grow slowly. Because not every day is sunny and bright. Because I don't yet know exactly how many degrees per day is best for every type of window plant.
I’m still experimenting. I’m using the plants I have. One of the plants I have is this monster spider plant.
Spider Plants grow fast (this one is about 6 years old now) and they sprout their own little babies. I cut these and grow new plants for testing.
The spider plants are great at growing fast, but I’m trying all the plants I have. Some successes, some failures.
Not every plant wants to spin every day. Established plants may not need a daily adjustment, but perhaps would enjoy a slow continuous spin during the day. I could see office atriums adopting rotating stands to give a more active feel to a space.
That last pic was AI, but not so hard to believe. Maybe next year!