Dynamic plant care with Arduino Cloud
Utilizing sensors and Cloud data, plants can trigger automations that keep them alive and healthy even when left alone for long periods.
THE CHALLENGE
House plants need extra care as they can’t expect to be sustained by rainfall or extra moisture from the ground. Left unattended, even a day or two can make the difference for a houseplant’s survival. Which is why plant monitoring and dynamic plant care are an important aspect of any home automation system.
A plant pot doesn’t hold much soil, and can easily dry out when indoors. With very little moisture in the air and no natural rainfall, they’re subject to conditions that are actually quite harsh for plantlife.
So a plant that can take care of itself quite well outdoors, in the garden, can need a lot of attention when brought inside. Houseplants that aren’t in their natural environment can also be very susceptible, and require careful monitoring to keep them alive and healthy.
It’s a common problem for people who are travelling, which is why plant monitoring has become a very popular aspect of home automation systems. Some low-tech options can be effective, such as drip-feeding water, but depending on the individual species of plant it’s not always a viable solution.
But there are few, if any, commercial options for smart plant monitoring and maintenance.
THE SOLUTION
Fortunately it’s not a difficult task to electronically monitor a plant’s wellbeing. The sensors required are simple and low cost, and a platform such as Arduino Cloud takes care of essential data processing and automation of equipment.
Sunlight is quite easily taken care of simply by placing a houseplant in the right location. But feeding them is a different matter, with just the right amount of water required at the right time. Too much water, after all, can be as harmful as too little.
As simple as a soil sensor is, there’s a lot of data that can be extracted it. The plant will use as much water as it needs, which can be monitored over various periods of time that allow an automation system to learn what’s required.
