Abstract: An apparatus is described for assessing plant status remotely sensed by the invention thereby allowing selective monitoring or treatment of individual plants. Additionally, the apparatus may be utilized for measuring the reflectance characteristics of soil or of objects in general. The apparatus utilizes a solid state light source to illuminate a plant canopy or object under investigation. An array of spectrally sensitive photosensors are incorporated into the apparatus to detect light reflected from a plant or object resulting from the integral light source. The instrument may be mounted to a vehicle, mounted to a tripod or held in the hand of an operator for use. A controller can be used in conjunction with the invention to analyze measured reflectance signals and can respond by activating a device to take some action with respect to the plant and/or object or store the analyzed signals with corresponding DGPS position in the controller's memory for later analysis.