Maybe this is what we outdoor-only gardeners need — although I wonder if unsatisfactory watering methods are the sole cause of my houseplants’ untimely deaths. I guess it couldn’t be helping.
Botanicalls, a system still in the testing stage, is designed to help keep plants alive. Developed by four students at New York University’s interactive telecommunications program, Botanicalls “opens a new channel of communication between plants and humans, in an effort to promote successful inter-species understanding.” Whoa.
Or in other words, sensors in the soil “allows plants to place phone calls” when the soil is too dry, too wet, or to thank you for watering it.
According to this article, the phone messages are customized by species of plant. For example, “the scotch moss message is recorded with a Scottish accent. ‘Someone just watered me. It wasn’t enough. I don’t know what you were thinking.'”
Just what I need – guilt from my plants!
Photo of the prototype from Botanicalls.
Janet in Seattle says
I envision a whopping Qwest bill each month from all the greenhouse starts screaming at us every day from their tiny peat pots.