Gizmodo: talking plants

Plant Sensor Tells You Exactly Why You Suck At Gardening

Elaine Chow — Sun, 29 Jun 2008 15:30:00 EDT

In yet another attempt to further plant and human inter-communication, a company called PlantSense is now offering a USB stake that monitors the soil around your greens and gives you advice on how to keep them healthy. Great for people like me, who have trouble getting even herbs to grow right.

The user places the PlantSense GardenGro sensor in a spot right next to the plant, and 24 hours later, plugs the USB hub into their computer. The sensor's data will then upload to PlantSense's website, which doles out tips like “water more,” or “pile on less plant food, your peppers are getting fat.”

The service is a little expensive—$59.95 for each USB stake. But isn't that a small price to pay to be able to munch on your own home-grown Roma tomatoes, your black thumb overcome by the wonders of technology? [EverythingUSB]

New Botanicalls Lets Plants Communicate Using Twitter

Kit Eaton — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 08:07:26 EST

The new version of Botanicalls can now talk to Twitter. It uses an Arduino electronics board connected to a notebook, and some soil moisture probes crafted from a couple of galvanised nails. Your plant can then send out a Twitter alert when it's thirsty, detect when its been over- or under-watered and let you know about that, and it can even signal its thanks. So, if you're off on vacation and your office-mates have abandoned your desk greenery, your plants can now automatically point the (green) finger at them. [Botanicalls via Make]

Botanicalls Help Plants Whine to You About Needing Water

Charlie White — Mon, 19 Feb 2007 09:45:47 EST

A quartet of innovative students at NYU have given plants a way to call you when they need watering. Using moisture sensors attached to the plants, when a plant needs watering an clever chain of software is triggered, sending data to an open-source telephony application called Asterisk. Asterisk makes a call to a designated number, playing back an audio file in the "voice of the plant," describing what it needs.

If you want to find more about each one of these plants, and maybe even hear them talking to you, there's a phone number you can call: 212 202-8348. We tried to call the plants, but apparently they had just stepped out. No word yet if the plants are complaining about how you never give them bottled water, or how you never call or write. – Charlie White

Project Page [Botanicalls]