GrowCube: Kickstarter project waters your plants automatically

Plants are an asset to any home. If only there were not the complex care that some representatives claim for themselves to grow and thrive. Watering in particular is essential to enjoy the flora for a long time. Anyone who likes to forget this should take a closer look at Elecrow’s Kickstarter project. Namely, the young company has developed an automatic, intelligent watering kit called “GrowCube”.

Idea is already ten years old

The first idea for developing an automatic irrigation system was back in 2012, when one of Elecrow’s founders built himself the prototype of today’s GrowCube, so to speak. After he returned from vacation to his own four walls, he saw many neglected or even dead plants.

As part of a do-it-yourself project, he wanted to develop a system that would automatically and reliably provide water to plants. Then, in 2015, the GrowCube inventor managed to come up with a design that also helped the irrigation system get its eventual name. Finally, he put everything in an all-in-one kit. When the GrowCube inventor told smart engineers about his idea, they joined him without further ado.

Then in 2017, a young team was formed, which also brought the necessary technical expertise. Out came an even slimmer model of the GrowCube. Until the final model of the smart irrigation system, the team gave the GrowCube many more improvements and adapted the design. However, the basic function of watering has not changed in the final version.

Watering plants has never been this smart

Fans of smart home gadgets are likely to fall in love with the smart watering system at first sight. After all, it doesn’t just come with a smart app connection. At the heart of it all is the soil moisture sensor, which senses when the plant needs water and when it does not. In doing so, the GrowCube can anticipate when a plant will need watering next.

This is possible for a total of four different plant pots, as the watering cube has a four-channel sensor interface. On top of that, you can get exciting and important info about your domestic plants in the accompanying app. The developers promise that over 3,000 different species should be covered. But apparently it’s not just the app user who gets smarter. You can assign a plant species to each sensor of the GrowCube within the app. That way, the irrigation system knows how to deal with the plant.

If it all works like this, you don’t have to do anything as a user other than supply the GrowCube with fresh water on a regular basis. If you are on vacation for a longer period of time or if you have plants with increased water requirements, the GrowCube can probably also reach its limits from time to time. In order to avoid a water shortage, you can easily place another water source next to it. For this purpose, the GrowCube offers an external water inlet.

Different versions

Elecrow offers its GrowCube on Kickstarter in different versions. For the classic version, backers pay just under $80 for the GrowCube. This may be well worth it given a future retail price of around $120. However, you should be quick and take advantage of the Early Bird benefit. After all, according to Elecrow, the price will go up once the initial supply is used up. Since the young company has already exceeded its target of 9,986 US dollars (as of April 14, 2022: 12,430 euros), it is likely that demand will be high. We are curious to see whether the GrowCube can deliver what Elecrow promises.