Houseplants are healthy. Research shows they can help people recover faster from surgery and use fewer medications, improve indoor air quality, & reduce stress & improve your mood.
The popularity of house plants has grown during the pandemic, as many of us are indoors & more isolated than usual. Instagram has boosted the trend with gorgeous images of plants, with accounts like @houseplantclub & @thesill.
I’ve been curious about how tech can help us with house plants, and have seen tools that help you remember to water your lawn or analyze your soil. I even tried a self-watering pot that was supposed to capture & hold rainwater until my plant needed it, but it didn’t work out for me, maybe because DC gets too much rain?
I’ve had great luck buying plants at @ginkgogardensdc because they really know & care about plants (& plant parents). Note: I would love to use a service where someone virtually checks out your space and helps you find the right plant--or helps you diagnose a plant problem from afar and treat it--I don’t know if that service exists, but LMK. I would call it telegardening!
I’m intrigued by the smart plant pot offered on Indiegogo by Lua (pictured--with a few stylistic modifications) that makes your plant more “like a pet” by helping it communicate whether it needs to be watered or is too hot or cold via visual faces. Let your plant get too dry and it puts on its vampire face. You can customize the program based on the type of plant you have.
Do you think there’s a future in digital tech for plants? Is there a specific kind of digital plant tech you’d want?
