6 smart plant-care gadgets that will help your houseplants thrive, with minimal effort and expertise required
Not everyone is blessed with green fingers. I count myself amongst that unfortunate subset of people who love how plants brighten up a space, but just can’t manage to keep them alive for longer than a couple of weeks at a time.
Thankfully, nowadays there’s tech that might just come to the rescue — and not just for serial plant-assassins, but also for anyone who goes away regularly, or is too busy to keep up with plant care, or has a home that’s just not conducive to thriving greenery.
Go green
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This Smart Garden 3 is an indoor planter that delivers automated lighting and passive watering designed to keep whatever’s in it not just alive, but thriving. This version can hold three plants (hence the ‘3’ of the name). There’s next-to-no intervention required from you — the brand estimates your hands-on time as five minutes a month. It comes with three pesticide-free, pre-seeded, basil ‘Plant Pods’, to get you started.
The Hydrovase is a tiny smart planter from Smart Garden’s sister brand Ermonix. It’s designed to be easy to move around from your desk to your shelf or side table, with convenient USB charging. You add a Smart Garden Plant Pod, and the Hydrovase will deliver automated lighting and passive watering for healthy growth with minimal effort from you. The lamp attaches magnetically and can easily removed or adjusted without switching off.","brand":"Ermonix","price":"69.95","wasPrice":null,"currency":"GBP","review":{"rating":0,"pros":[],"cons":[]},"label":"","image":{"copyright":"","height":1200,"id":"XZfe84ekpghKqXqamhLmAA","mimeType":"image\/jpeg","mos":"https:\/\/cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net\/v2\/t:47,l:183,cw:819,ch:1092,q:80\/XZfe84ekpghKqXqamhLmAA.jpg","role":"","width":1200,"credit":"ermonix.com","alt":"Hydrovase – White","caption":"","crop":{"top":47,"left":183,"cropWidth":819,"cropHeight":1092,"quality":80}},"link":{"url":"https:\/\/www.anrdoezrs.net\/click-6361382-15214437?sid=hawk-custom-tracking&url=https:\/\/uk.clickandgrow.com\/products\/hydrovase","linkText":"","editorialMerchantName":"","merchantName":"Click & Grow","merchantId":14155,"merchantNetwork":"CJ","merchantUrl":"clickandgrow.com"},"noAffiliateTracking":false,"linkMerchant":"Click & Grow"},{"modelName":"Grow Gang Claria Full Spectrum LED Grow Light Pendant","productName":"Claria Full Spectrum LED Grow Light Pendant ","productDescription":"
If you have a home that’s lacking in natural sunlight, or want to liven up a dingy room with some plants, Grow Gang is the company for you. This brand specializes in light bulbs that mimic natural sunlight, to help plants thrive even in the darkest corners of your home. This pared-back pendant light comes with a ceiling hook and wall fixtures to get it set up and in place.
The Willow sensor slots into your plant pot and continuously monitors the moisture levels, along with ambient light, temperature and humidity. It then delivers its findings to a hub, which reports to the app on your phone. The app will alert you if something is not quite right, based on the specific needs of the plant you’re trying to grow.
The Elho Smart Pebble pokes into your plant pot and monitors the moisture, nutrition, temperature and light levels — then reports back, via a companion app, if anything is sub-optimal for that specific plant. The design is meant to blend discreetly into its surroundings, although it’s larger than you might expect.
This one isn’t for growing, but it could be a game-changer for those who love fresh herbs but just can’t seem to get through them quickly enough. It’s a canister that sits in your fridge door and extends the life of your fresh herbs for up to three weeks. All you need to do is pop open the BPA-free casing, add your herbs (chives, coriander, parsley, thyme, rosemary and sage are listed as examples) and fill the water reservoir, and you’ll have a stash of fresh herbs for weeks. ","brand":"Click & Grow","price":"23.95","wasPrice":null,"currency":"GBP","review":{"rating":0,"pros":[],"cons":[]},"label":"","image":{"copyright":"","height":1200,"id":"LybW76mXDodLJ8K4DqUC5L","mimeType":"image\/jpeg","mos":"https:\/\/cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net\/v2\/t:188,l:259,cw:646,ch:861,q:80\/LybW76mXDodLJ8K4DqUC5L.jpg","role":"","width":1200,"credit":"Click & Grow","alt":"Herb Saver – Triple the Lifespan of Your Herbs","caption":"","crop":{"top":188,"left":259,"cropWidth":646,"cropHeight":861,"quality":80}},"link":{"url":"https:\/\/www.anrdoezrs.net\/click-6361382-15214437?sid=hawk-custom-tracking&url=https:\/\/uk.clickandgrow.com\/products\/herb-saver-triple-the-lifespan-of-your-herbs","linkText":"","editorialMerchantName":"","merchantName":"Click & Grow","merchantId":14155,"merchantNetwork":"CJ","merchantUrl":"clickandgrow.com"},"noAffiliateTracking":false,"linkMerchant":"Click & Grow"}]}}” data-model-name=”Click & Grow Smart Garden 3,Ermonix Hydrovase,Grow Gang Claria Full Spectrum LED Grow Light Pendant,Willow Plant Sensor Starter Pack,Elho Smart Pebble Earthy Brown,Click & Grow Herb Saver” data-render-type=”fte” data-source-blocks=”featured-products” data-widget-type=”collection” class=”hawk-root”>
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Not everyone is blessed with green fingers. I count myself amongst that unfortunate subset of people who love how plants brighten up a space, but just can’t manage to keep them alive for longer than a couple of weeks at a time. Thankfully, nowadays there’s tech that might just come…
