Automated plant care system utilises self-watering tech

The Pico planter helps beginners by managing watering and lighting needs

Spotted: Love plants but lack a green thumb? Altifarm Enverde may have an answer with their Pico planter. The Pico is an automated plant care system that makes it easy to grow small houseplants. It is designed to do away with the biggest pitfalls in growing houseplants – forgetting to water them and making sure the plants get the right amount of light.

The Pico solves the issue with watering with the inclusion of self-watering tech, which stores water and provides on-demand watering, using capillary action and gravity to provide plants with the exact amount of water they need. To manage lighting needs, the Pico includes a stainless steel telescopic arm that’s connected to multi-spectrum LED grow lights like those used in indoor farms. The lights rise as the plants grow.

The Pico is small enough to fit almost anywhere and will stick to almost any surface, allowing you to save space by attaching the planter to a wall or refrigerator. It is powered through a USB port, and up to three Picos can be connected together using a regular phone charger. A timer allows the lighting to be automated.

Altifarm told Springwise that they began with the idea of, “bringing a farm to every home [to] get people connected to nature.” They began with two larger crowd-funded projects, Altifarm and Herbstation, and were then inspired to make, “something tiny, playful and affordable, something for first-time growers.”

The Pico was initially funded on Kickstarter and is now available via Indiegogo, and has more than 37,000 backers. It joins a number of recent innovations designed to make it easier to grow plants. These include a device that allows electric vehicles to aid in plant growth and a tomato variety designed for urban growth.

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