Effective date: April 9, 2026
Last updated: April 9, 2026
What are cookies?
This Cookie Policy explains what cookies are, how The Plant Manual (https://www.theplantmanual.com) uses them, the types of cookies we use, the information we collect using cookies, how that information is used, and how you can control your cookie preferences.
The Plant Manual is operated by Joakim Becker and Emilie, based in Aarhus, Denmark. If you have any questions about our use of cookies, please contact us at support@theplantmanual.com. This Cookie Policy should be read alongside our Privacy Policy and Terms of Service.
Cookies are small text files that are placed on your computer, tablet, or mobile device when you visit a website. They allow the website to recognise your device and store information about your preferences or past actions. Cookies help ensure that the website functions properly, enhance security, provide a better user experience, and collect analytical data to help us understand how visitors interact with our content.
Cookies can be “first-party” (set directly by theplantmanual.com) or “third-party” (set by external services such as Google Analytics or Google AdSense). Cookies can also be “session cookies” (deleted automatically when you close your browser) or “persistent cookies” (which remain on your device for a defined period or until you manually delete them).
This policy also covers similar technologies — including web beacons, pixel tags, local storage objects, and browser fingerprinting — which may be used alongside cookies to collect information about your browsing activity. We use Google Tag Manager to deploy and manage our tracking and consent management scripts.
How do we use cookies?
The Plant Manual uses cookies and similar tracking technologies for several purposes. Each cookie on our site falls into one of the following categories, and non-essential cookies are only placed on your device after you have given your explicit consent through our cookie consent banner.
Essential Operation: Certain cookies are strictly necessary for the Site to function correctly. These include cookies that maintain your browsing session, remember your cookie consent preferences, and ensure basic security. Without these cookies, the Site cannot operate as intended. These cookies are placed without requiring your prior consent, as they are strictly necessary under Article 5(3) of the ePrivacy Directive.
Analytics and Performance: We use Google Analytics 4 to understand how visitors interact with our content — including which pages are visited most often, how long visitors spend on each page, how visitors navigate through the Site, and whether any errors occur. This data helps us improve our plant care guides and overall user experience. IP anonymisation is enabled in our configuration, meaning your full IP address is never stored by Google. Analytics cookies are only placed with your explicit consent.
Advertising: This Site participates in the Google AdSense programme. Google AdSense and its certified advertising partners use cookies to serve advertisements and to make those advertisements more relevant to your interests. These cookies may track your browsing behaviour across multiple websites to build an interest-based profile. Advertising cookies are only placed with your explicit consent. When consent is not granted, ads may still appear but they will not be personalised.
Affiliate Tracking: When you click an affiliate link on this Site — for example, a link to a product on Amazon — the destination website may place its own cookies on your device to track the referral and attribute any resulting purchase to us. We participate in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Programme and other third-party affiliate networks. We do not control cookies set by third-party affiliate retailers.
Consent Management: Our Consent Management Platform (Silktide) sets cookies to remember your consent preferences so that you are not asked to make the same choice on every page or visit. These cookies are classified as strictly necessary.
Types of cookies we use
Necessary
Necessary cookies are required to enable the basic features of this site, such as providing secure log-in or adjusting your consent preferences. These cookies do not store any personally identifiable data.
| Cookie | Duration | Description |
|---|---|---|
| silktideCookieBanner_InitialChoice | 1 year | Silktide sets this local storage key to remember whether the user has interacted with the cookie consent banner. |
| silktideCookieChoice_analytics | 1 year | Silktide sets this local storage key to remember the user’s consent preference for analytics cookies. |
| silktideCookieChoice_advertising | 1 year | Silktide sets this local storage key to remember the user’s consent preference for advertising cookies. |
| et_bloom_optin_optin_1_164653888028280022_imp | 1 year | Used to manage the display of opt-in popups. |
| __cf_bm | 1 hour | This cookie, set by Cloudflare, is used to support Cloudflare Bot Management. |
| wp_consent_preferences | 1 month | WP Consent API sets this cookie to save users’ consent choices for different types of cookies on the website. |
| wp_consent_statistics | 1 month | WP Consent API sets this cookie to record user consent choices for statistics cookies. |
| wp_consent_statistics-anonymous | 1 month | WP Consent API sets this cookie to understand anonymous tracking preferences. |
| wp_consent_functional | 1 month | WP Consent API sets this cookie to remember user preferences for essential website functionalities. |
| wp_consent_marketing | 1 month | WP Consent API sets this cookie to record user consent choices for marketing/advertising cookies. |
| cookietest | session | The cookietest cookie is typically used to determine whether the user’s browser accepts cookies. |
| csrftoken | 1 year | Used to help protect the website against Cross-Site Request Forgery attacks. |
Functional
Functional cookies help perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collecting feedback, and other third-party features.
| Cookie | Duration | Description |
|---|---|---|
| _pinterest_sess | 1 year | This cookie is set by Pinterest that collects statistical details to track the use of its services. |
| _auth | 1 year | This cookie is set by Pinterest that collects statistical details to track the use of its services. |
| _routing_id | session | This cookie is set by Pinterest that collects statistical details to track the use of its services. |
Analytics
Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. These cookies help provide information on metrics such as the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc.
| Cookie | Duration | Description |
|---|---|---|
| _ga_* | 1 year 1 month 4 days | Google Analytics sets this cookie to store and count page views. |
| _ga | 1 year 1 month 4 days | Google Analytics sets this cookie to calculate visitor, session and campaign data and track site usage for the site’s analytics report. The cookie stores information anonymously and assigns a randomly generated number to recognise unique visitors. |
| tk_ai_explat | 1 year 1 month 4 days | Jetpack/Automattic sets this cookie to analyze usage and behavior. |
| tk_ai | 1 year 1 month 4 days | Jetpack sets this cookie to store a randomly-generated anonymous ID used only within the admin area and for general analytics tracking. |
Manage cookie preferences
You can modify your cookie settings anytime by clicking the consent widget or preference button on our Site. This will allow you to revisit the cookie consent banner and update your preferences or withdraw your consent immediately.
Additionally, different browsers offer various methods to block and delete cookies used by websites. You can adjust your browser settings to block or delete cookies. Below are links to support documents on how to manage and delete cookies in major web browsers.
Chrome: https://support.google.com/accounts/answer/32050
Safari: https://support.apple.com/en-in/guide/safari/sfri11471/mac
Internet Explorer: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/topic/how-to-delete-cookie-files-in-internet-explorer-bca9446f-d873-78de-77ba-d42645fa52fc
If you are using a different web browser, please refer to its official support documentation.
Advertising Cookies
This Site participates in the Google AdSense programme. When ads are active on the Site, Google AdSense and its certified advertising partners will use cookies to serve advertisements and to make those advertisements more relevant to your interests. These cookies may track your browsing behaviour across multiple websites to build an interest-based profile. Advertising cookies are only placed with your explicit consent.
Common advertising cookies associated with Google AdSense include cookies set from the domains doubleclick.net, googlesyndication.com, and google.com. These cookies serve purposes such as ad frequency capping, aggregated ad reporting, fraud prevention, and interest-based ad personalisation. Durations vary from session-length to 13 months for visitors in the EEA/UK and up to 24 months elsewhere.
When consent is not granted for advertising cookies, ads may still appear on the Site but they will not be personalised. For detailed information about Google’s advertising cookies, visit Google’s official advertising cookie reference.
Affiliate Cookies
When you click an affiliate link on this Site — for example, a link to a product on Amazon — the destination website may place its own cookies on your device to track the referral and attribute any resulting purchase to us. We participate in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Programme and other third-party affiliate networks. We do not control cookies set by third-party affiliate retailers, and they are governed by the privacy and cookie policies of their respective providers.
Google Consent Mode v2
This Site implements Google Consent Mode v2, which allows Google’s advertising and analytics tags to dynamically adjust their behaviour based on your consent choices. The following consent parameters are controlled by your preferences:
- ad_storage — controls whether advertising cookies can be stored on your device.
- ad_user_data — controls whether your data can be sent to Google for advertising purposes.
- ad_personalization — controls whether your data can be used for personalised advertising.
- analytics_storage — controls whether analytics cookies can be stored on your device.
When you accept cookies, all parameters are set to “granted” and Google tags operate fully. When you decline non-essential cookies, these parameters are set to “denied” and Google tags operate in a limited, cookieless mode — contextual ads may still appear but they will not be personalised, and analytics data will be modelled rather than directly measured.
Third-Party Privacy Policies
Some cookies on this Site are set by third-party services. We do not control these cookies and encourage you to review the relevant privacy policies:
Relationship to Other Legal Pages
This Cookie Policy is one of several legal documents governing your use of The Plant Manual. Please also review:
- Terms of Service — the full terms governing your use of the Site, including advertising, affiliate, and liability disclosures.
- Privacy Policy — how we collect, use, store, and protect your personal data, including your rights under the GDPR and CCPA.
- Disclaimer — important disclaimers about the informational nature of our content.
In the event of any conflict between this Cookie Policy and the Terms of Service, the Terms of Service shall prevail.
Changes to This Cookie Policy
We may update this Cookie Policy at any time to reflect changes in our practices, the services we use, or applicable law. Changes will be posted on this page with an updated “Last Updated” date. We encourage you to review this page periodically.
Contact Information
If you have any questions about this Cookie Policy or our use of cookies, please contact us at:
The Plant Manual
Operated by Joakim Becker and Emilie
Aarhus, Denmark
Email: support@theplantmanual.com
Website: https://www.theplantmanual.com
