Recently I've been working on automating my indoor basil plant.
Herbs are very expensive in the Netherlands and are rarely fresh.
We have the option to buy pre-packaged basil or buy a very densely sown basil plant at the supermarket which is impossible to keep alive for longer than 2 weeks (Trust me, I've tried too many times).
Last year I decided to grow my own basil plants, but as soon as I went on a vacation for a week the plant unfortunately died. With no prior experience in programming I had two options:
- Take the easy route and ask someone to water the plants next time
- Overcomplicate things and take the hard route: Build an automated machine which could water my basil plants anytime.
Less work in the long run, seemed advantageous to me. Especially since I already wanted to learn some new skills and not being able to write/read code means missing a lot in this world.
I ordered the parts from AliExpress and started building this device step by step.
First I managed to get an e-mail whenever the plant needed water based on a threshold I'd set.
(English: The plant just got watered. The moisture percentage was 44)
Secondly, I managed to turn on a pump whenever the plant needed water based on a threshold.
I combined the two features and adapted a pot to fit the pump. This is the result:
- The water is stored in the compartment below the white line. There are small holes in the bottom of the top part, which make sure that excess water is dripping in the storing part. Any minerals and nutrients won't be washed away but will stay in the cycle since this water will be pumped up again.
Interestingly enough, the basil which I kept indoors in this automated pot has grown much faster than the basil which I had sown a month earlier and put outside whenever it was sunny, thus getting much more light. Same seeds, same ground, worse sunlight and still a better yield.
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If enough of you guys like this and are interested, I will create a post with all the parts you need to build this yourself and the code which I use to run this basil farm.