Plant This Idea For Christmas
If you are seeking a relatively inexpensive gizmo as a Christmas gift for a green-fingered friend the Xiaomi Plant Monitor may be the thing you are looking for.
This is a device that sits in the soil of a pot tracking the condition of the plant within.
It pairs with a phone or tablet via Bluetooth and flags up when action is needed via an app called Flower Care.
Curiously the app does not carry the Xiaomi brand.
Even stranger is the brand name it does sport, which is huahuacaocao.
Once a plant is identified in the app’s database, the conditions which it needs are known and are compared with information coming from the monitor.
Sitting in the pot, the stick-like monitor with its pair of probes keeps a constant eye on the levels of sunshine, moisture and nutrient levels as well as the temperature.
If the poor plant needs a time to cool off in the shade or is gasping for a drink, the Xiaomi will send out the signal.
The app also makes daily summary reports available, with neat histograms of the levels which it monitors.
These show very clearly the immediate impact of a watering or a boost of Baby Bio.
The Plant Monitor is available from a very broad range of online sources at a surprisingly wide price spectrum of £10 to £25.
It would be a poor investment for common potted specimens that are almost impossible to kill off, like African Violets or Spider Plants.
However, for larger, more expensive and sensitive indoor exhibits it could easily save the cost of replacement in the aftermath of accidental neglect.
