Arduino-Powered Self-Watering Plant

Energy & Sustainability
Arduino-Powered Self-Watering Plant


In a project reminiscent of Botanicalls, Randy Sarafan has created a system where a water reservoir rejuvenates his plant when it runs dry. From the maker:

Plants liven up any space by adding a sense of airiness and life. That is – of course – when you don’t forget to water them, and they shrivel up and die. I am very bad at remembering to water plants. That is why I built this self-watering plant to do it for me. Using a soil sensor, and an Arduino-controlled water pump, I have created a system that will never forget to do it. Instead of remembering to water my plants when the soil goes dry, I only have to remember to once and a while refill the water reservoir. In this way, I have decreased my obligation to these plants and put it off to a much later date. Perhaps further iterations of this device can be connected to a rain barrel so that I won’t even have to worry about refilling my reservoir, and the entire system can be fully automated.

[via Electronics-Lab Blog]

16 thoughts on “Arduino-Powered Self-Watering Plant

  1. Plant_lover says:

    um… you miss the whole point of having plants…

    1. Alexius says:

      …and you miss the whole point of playing with an arduino :)
      (no offense meant)

  2. Mein Gärtner ist ein schwarzes Kästchen | 11tech says:

    […] MAKEzine] Bewerten:Weitersagen:Gefällt mir:Gefällt mirSei der Erste dem dies gefällt. Dieser Beitrag […]

  3. beardy241 says:

    Sweet. Having scabbed a peristaltic pump from an inkjet printer I was thinking about doing this only yesterday. Ideally I’d do it for vegetables.

    @Plant_Lover: I get what you mean but I also know that my lifestyle doesn’t support a plant’s needs so a device like this makes it possible to enjoy and benefit from having plants around without them dying. Seems reasonable to me.

  4. Grüner Daumen? Das schwarze Hightech-Kästchen übernimmt die Pflanzen-Pflege | TechFieber | Smart Tech News. Hot Gadgets. says:

    […] [Link] [via] tweetmeme_style = 'compact'; tweetmeme_url = 'http://www.techfieber.de/2012/08/03/gruner-daumen-das-schwarze-hightech-kastchen-ubernimmt-die-pflanzen-pflege/'; Share […]

  5. 아두이노로 화분에 물주기 | Make: Korea says:
  6. Ian Forsey says:

    Here’s my effort – it includes arduino code and code to provide live monitoring via a web based graph:
    http://theon.github.com/plant-watering-with-arduino.html

  7. Watering your plants with Arduino | Beginning with Arduino! says:

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In addition to being an online editor for MAKE Magazine, Michael Colombo works in fabrication, electronics, sound design, music production and performance (Yes. All that.) In the past he has also been a childrens' educator and entertainer, and holds a Masters degree from NYU's Interactive Telecommunications Program.

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