Thirstystick measures your botanical negligence
When the triffid-like plant revolution comes, my potted palms and spider plants will crawl like fat-bottomed arachnids across the room, tie me with their shed fronds to the posts of my bed and then totally dehydrate me, like that living mummy from Se7en. And I'll deserve it: I'm terrible at watering them. It's not out of spite or maliciousness, I just can't quite into my head how often and when a plant needs to be watered: unlike my parakeet, they make no outraged squawks to alert me of their cottonmouth.
John Biggs over at Crunchgear seems to have a similar problem, and his solution — buying a Thirstystick, which is a $10 device to alert you via series of LED flashes when your plant is getting parches — seems to be working swimmingly for him. It's a simple device: all it does is use the a basic circuit and pattery to measure the resistance of the soil, thus determining its water content. But it's still nice to see an elementary school science project mass produced and marketed to the botanically negligent like me.
Thirstylight [Official Site via Crunchgear]
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Buy a plant that wilts drastically when it's low on water. When the plant wilts, water all your plants. Hooray, you've accomplished the same thing, and you have an extra plant.
My folks had one of these when I was a kid...30 years ago or so, and I have seen various versions over the years. I admit they do two things very well...Tell you that your plant needs water, but more importantly, confirm that your plant is actually dead.
Well, there are a couple of plants that do not need water as frequently as others. Indeed, they can only handle so much water in a specific time, creating the risk of "overhydration", which is equally damaging as its counterpart. That, in fact, is my problem: I can't quite remember which plants wants how much water how frequently.
What happens when the batteries run out and someone as negligent as I am assumes all is hunky-dory?
Battery (and pattery) free analog devices have been available for decades.
Fun experiment: Check the calibration by putting one in a glass of fresh tap water. The needle probably won't even twitch. Now sprinkle just a few grains of salt into the water. The instant the salt hits the water, the needle will peg the meter.
I want an insect robot that lives in the flower pot and then comes and gets me when the soil is too dry.
Man, I could use some of those. I'd love to live in a flat surrounded by plants but for some reason it's as if my hands are coated in herbicide. Plants rarely live longer than a week if I'm around so maybe this would help.