Most of the plants in our house have a death wish. A palm-like thing my wife and I bought a while ago is drying up and this little ficus tree we have thrives outdoors but then dies under our care, only to be resurrected when we take it back outside. Heck, we just killed a cactus. We’re pretty bad.
That’s why I like the Thirsty Light. It’s basically a little stick you put into your plant. When the light flashes, the plant needs water. Sure, it can’t Twitter you but for $9.99 what do you expect?
We currently have the Thirsty Light in a plant in the front room. We stuffed it down about two inches into the earth and gave the plant a drink. Instead of watering on a whim, however, now we only water it when the light is flashing. The plant, it seems, is thriving.
Most interestingly, the Thirsty Light was designed by the same guy who made the PowerSquid, Christopher Hawker. Hawker actually lives in my home town, so it’s great to know that at least someone there is thinking of both our plant and power needs all from the comfort of his perch high above Columbus, Ohio.
Obviously there’s not much to review here: it lights up when the plant is dry. You can move it from plant to plant or leave it in one plant. There is even a little on/off switch on the back. Sure it’s not earth-shattering, but when your plant costs a few bucks and you have a few of them, one of these moisture sensing dippers might be just the thing to keep us from failing, again, at nurturing another living being.
Hey have you ever try those Aqua Globes?
haven’t heard of this, its actually a good idea. I dont have any plants though.
I actually made one of these as a kid in metalwork class back in 1988. Just uses the resistance of the soil to determine the water content. The price is crazy steep though – it is such a low component count I would imagine you can already get something like this from Taiwan via eBay for a dollar a piece.
The closest I could find was this rough and ready solution:
http://cgi.ebay.com/Plant-watering-soil-moisture-sensor-detector-alarm_W0QQitemZ260343436735QQcmdZViewItemQQptZHand_Tools_Gear_Equipment?hash=item260343436735&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=72:1205|66:2|65:12|39:1|240:1318|301:1|293:1|294:50#ht_500wt_746
I made one too! A few bits of plastic, basic circuit, battery and some metal prongs.
It’s a bit unattractive, no? Kinda defeats the purpose of having flowers & plants if you shove an ugly stick into it. This also applies to Aqua Globes.
Second minor note: if you’re not so good at keeping up with your plants, now your black thumb tendencies will be glowingly outed to all your friends.
Meanwhile, is there a gadget that prevents my cat from eating plants? That’s possibly the broader issue, for me at least :) Perhaps some sort of robot…
You can get this stuff called catnip – it’s generally used to keep cats off your lawn so I imagine it is safe for plants.
I have a similar problem where my dog, a huge golden retriever, takes delight in eating my cats poo. If only I can get my cat to eat my dogs poo I would have it made – no more saturday mornings picking it all up from the back yard!
Sorry if I grossed anyone out!
omnomnom
I agree on the flowers being pretty part. The thing is pretty big and not very subtle. If they make a better looking one I’d keep it.
the best gadget for keeping cats from eating your plants is probably a dog…
AquaGlobes: Yeah, what a joke. “Let’s put something ugly and larger than the plant itself right next to it.” WHO WOULD BUY IT?
As for this thing… I guess it’s OK. I think it might work about as well as a simple reminder in your calendar: “Water Plants.” But how can it account for the differences in plants? Some like things drier than others……. that is really the problem people have. Over-watering vs. under-watering. Right?
That device is such an eye sore. You would have to disguise it somehow.
Ew.
Oh, and come to think of it. There are so few products that I would actually put out in the open.
My MacBook Pro comes to mind as something that looks good on my desk regardless of whether I’m using it or if it’s open or closed. All the other products and stuff I just tuck away their ugliness.
I think many people are missing the fact that there is actually a product that twitters you when the plant is low on water.
fug award of the week.
“Heck, we just killed a cactus. We’re pretty bad.”..
Awesome line. Love the post.
Is there any way to filter this crap out of the main techcrunch page ?
Don’t plants already come with natural “thirsty lights”? Those things called “leaves”. Granted, when they go off they’re more like “dying of thirst lights”, but who really needs this ugly thing anyway?
If you’re not paying attention to your plant in the first place, you’re not going to pay more attention to it just cuz it’s got an ugly glowing screwdriver sticking out of it. Now, a “Thirsty Siren” on the other hand…
It doesn’t work well. It notifies you sporadically of the soil conditions
This reminded of an umbrella that was featured in TC that lights up if its going to rain that day… I was thinking of the odds of noticing the light and picking the umbrella.
This idea is very innovative and now when everything is going green… saving a few plants surely is a green thing. I will definitely go for it, if I have to save the orchid my wife gifted me.
Wow, I gotta say, this is the fastest I’ve ever made an impulse buy :)
Perhaps I had one drink too many tonight. Did I just read a tech blog with comments about dogs eating cat poo and umbrellas that light up when it is going to rain?
I for one would not pay $10 on such a device, especially in this economy.
Loved the comment about killing the cactus.
Can’t believe one poster referred to this as innovation. Perhaps I stumbled upon a TechCrunch imposter site.
Thanks for wasting my time with this nonsense
You don’t have to thank us, it’s our job!
please stop spamming the techcrunch RSS feed with posts from crunchgear and mobilecrunch if I wanted to read them I would have subscribed to them
So don’t read them.
if you would identify them as something other than techcrunch i would, but unfortunately I placed my trust that techcrunch wouldn’t try to force feed me content I wasn’t interested in, and now they violated that, and I’m forced to read it or unsubscribe
Neat product if it works well.
I am surprised others object to the article, as I think this is quite relevant for TechCrunch given that it is aligned with tech trends around ubiquitous computing. And yes, it would be even better if the sensor in the pot was hidden in the soil, and could communicate via Twitter. Maybe it could even help my plants become extended Facebook friends.
p.s. In the interest of full disclosure, I must admit that I am supporter of Plant Parenthood.
I think this is a brilliant idea. nice.
John,
The ficus is a sensitive little soul, less bothered by watering but changing heat and humidity.
If you change its environment it will drop leaves and take a while to stabilise, and the environment you put it in needs to be right. They hate air-con, and central heating and like humidity.
If you have it inside you need to keep away from draft, in good light, stable temperature and put it in a big bowl outside of the pot filled with water to provide humidity (don’t put the roots in the water though, as they don’t like wet feet). Regular misting also helps.
When you change the environment it will take a while to adjust – the leaves will brown and lots will drop off. But if the environment is right and when it has acclimatised it will recover.
Now if this gadget measured humidity, heat and soil moisture and was connected to a database that told you the right environmental conditions for each plant, and when to feed and with what and also sent you alerts….. then that would be useful. But I digress onto something vaguely tech related and useful!
angus
I work with a guy who has a built-id Thirsty Light. It tends to go off at around 2 in the afternoon each day, right before he disappears down to the pub.
It very nice gatget. pant can live in door.
here’s my take on the same concept: http://www.instructables.com/id/Garduino_Gardening_Arduino/ . ideas to improve?
that is some geeky gardening.
love it!
“TechCrunch, founded on June 11, 2005, is a weblog dedicated to obsessively profiling and reviewing new Internet products and companies. In addition to covering new companies, we profile existing companies that are making an impact (commercial and/or cultural) on the new web space.”
So this plant gadget thing is relevant how? Please focus!
Oh I can Twitter at you all right…
I’m relevant because I’m an innovative product, which makes some impact onto the market–all types of gardeners sure love me.
Thanks for all the kind words here on TechCrunch. I really do make your plants love you. *blink blink* *blink blink*