Gizmodo: watering

Now Even Thirsty Houseplants Demand Attention With DIY Twitter Kit

Kit Eaton — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 06:33:00 EDT

Back in February we showed you a slightly botched-together system that lets your houseplants Twitter, but now there's a complete kit available. After soldering it together, you simply shove it deep into your plant's pot, connect it up to with an ethernet cable, and when its moisture sensors detect that you've been a bit lax in watering it'll Twitter with a "water me please” prompt. Ignoring it won't work as it'll step up the game with an urgent Tweet, and over-watering'll earn you a scolding. It's possibly the only way I'd remember to feed Reg, my sadly dessicated lemon tree...though at this rate of digitizing the average home is at risk of networking overload. Out now for $99. [ThinkGeek via OhGizmo]

Remote Plant Watering Via iPhone

Brian Lam — Mon, 05 May 2008 02:33:19 EDT

Peter set up a robotic watering can to take directions from an iPhone. When Safari's screen state goes from horizontal to vertical, it sends a status update to a webserver via javascript that sets the watering can up or down. Pretty simple but clever setup. [Maker Faire]

Botanicalls Let Your Plants Call When Thirsty

Jason Chen — Thu, 19 Jul 2007 14:50:37 EDT

Instead of having to remember to water your plants every day, how about installing a gadget that allows them to call you when they need water? Botanicalls does just that, with a soil-moisture sensor that detects whether a plan needs water and call you (on the phone that's connected to the plant) with the results whenever you want.

In version two, which they're working on now, the device will add a light sensor, a display, ambient sensor, and ability to update websites and emails and call any phone, not just the one that's connected. Definitely neat if you're the type of guy who enjoys plant watering, but doesn't quite remember to do it often enough. [Botanicalls via Treehugger]