Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Smart Home
  3. News

Grow your crops indoors with the Grobo automated garden — now shipping

By

The local food movement is in full swing in urban environments across the country, and what could be more local than the food that comes from your own home? We know, we know — not everyone has the luxury of living on a farm or tending to an expansive garden, but now you don’t need to. Meet Grobo, a home growing system that promises to “take the guesswork out of successfully growing small crops of high-quality food.” And Grobo One has now begun shipping to its customers.

While you can’t exactly control the conditions of a traditional garden, with the Grobo, you become somewhat omnipotent. Customize your growing environment by using your smartphone and Grobo’s app to set the wavelength and spectrum (which is to say, color and intensity) of the 53 LED lights within the enclosure. The autonomous system will let you set and forget a watering schedule — up to eight times a day. And everything about the Grobo is eco-friendly, including its low energy consumption. In fact, running this indoor gardening system requires about the same amount of electricity as a ceiling fan.

Recommended Videos

“Hydroponics allows you to achieve larger yields in less time,” Grobo’s founders told Digital Trends, “With hydroponics, the nutrients are added to water so that the plant can easily absorb them rather than having to extract each nutrient from the soil.”

Related

There’s no limit to the types of fruits, vegetables, and herbs you can grow with the Grobo. From your favorite salad greens to calming teas to seasonal fruits, Grobo invites its users to get creative with the system’s uses. And regardless of what you’re growing, the app will take care of all the heavy lifting for you. Simply select the plant you want to grow, and the Grobo system will run a preloaded and optimized grow recipe. And if you’re curious as to how your plants are doing during their growth cycle, you can check the Grobo app for variables like plant height, nutrient consumption, and more.

And although you can indeed grow any crop (Grobo told us that the product is “truly crop agnostic”), cannabis appears to be a particularly compelling choice — we hope only for legal growers although of course this home-based solution may attract non-legal growers as well.

“Cannabis currently provides the best ROI for customers,” Grobo’s founders told us. “With cannabis you can pay for a Grobo One within one year which is significantly faster than any other crop.” And for medicinal cannabis patients, Grobo can help automate the home growing process, saving folks many hours every week.

With regard to the eventual legalization of cannabis, Grobo seems optimistic for the future. “Over the next five to ten years as more producers become licensed and competition increases, cannabis quality will slowly improve and prices will slowly decrease,” the founders said. “By this point in time, however, we aim to have decreased the cost and increased the production of new Grobo systems enough that people will be growing cannabis alongside high quality fruits and vegetables in their homes.”

Article originally published in August 2016. Updated on 04-20-2017 by Lulu Chang: Added news that Grobo has begun shipping. 

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
Lulu Chang
Lulu Chang
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Fascinated by the effects of technology on human interaction, Lulu believes that if her parents can use your new app…
Best Dyson deals: Cordless vacuums, purifying fans, and beauty
The Dyson V15 Detect cordless vacuum with its laser.

You're probably familiar with Dyson from it's bladeless fans, but its got its fingers in a lot of areas of the home, from hair dryers to vacuums, all working on the same or similar principle to it's original gan design. Unfortunately, it is considered a luxury brand, and buying it comes with quite a price, like a hair straightener that costs $400-$500 and is often outside what most people are willing to pay. Luckily, there are some great Dyson deals to take advantage of, and if you don't quite find what you want, you can always check out some other great deals, like these cordless vacuum deals and air purifier deals.
Best Dyson fan deals

Dyson's bladeless fans can do just about anything -- not only can they heat up or cool down a room, but they can also purify the air by trapping pollutants. Dyson's Air Multiplier technology amplifies surrounding air to create uninterrupted streams of air, while LED screens show the status of the devices. They're fairly expensive though, which is why Dyson fan deals are always in high demand.

Read more
Best Google Nest deals: Save on Nest Thermostat, Hubs, and Doorbell
Google Nest Home devices.

Google is a massive conglomerate, and it has a huge ecosystem for you to expand into to while also competing with some of the other big players like Amazon and Samsung. In fact, Google makes some of the best home security cameras, best thermostats, and even the best video doorbells, so regardless of how you want to upgrade your smart home, there's likely a Google device for you. Of course, making some of the best products does mean that they are expensive, which is why we've gone out searching for our favorite Google Nest deals, although it's worth noting that there aren't a ton of deals right now. So, if you're looking for some alternatives, be sure to check out these security camera deals and Ring doorbell deals.

Google Nest Hub Deals

Read more
Best Roomba deals: Top robot vacuums from as little as $160
iRobot Roomba 692 Robot Vacuum.

If you picture robot vacuums in your head, then you're probably thinking of the iRobot Roomba, one of the most well-known and first brands of robot vacuums on the market. If you've always wanted to pick one up, then you'll be happy to know that iRobot has a very wide selection of Roombas, from the very budget-friendly to the higher-end bundles that include two Roombas and a self-cleaning base station. Regardless, we've gone out and collected our favorite Roomba deals for you below so that you don't have to.
iRobot Roomba 694 -- $180, was $275

The iRobot Roomba 694 is an entry-level model for the brand's robot vacuums, but it won't fall short in keeping your floors clean with its three-stage cleaning system that loosens, lifts, and suctions dirt and debris, and dual multi-surface brushes that work on all floor types. You can schedule when you want the robot vacuum to clean through the iRobot Home app or your preferred voice assistant, and once it's done, it will return to its charging station where it will wait for the next session.

Read more