Slemmer wanted to make growing easy for other novices. It seems that the only thing this little garden won’t do for you is smoke its finished product. Thanks to the early fully-automated system (powered by the Hub), you’ll be able to take the guesswork out of everything from water top-off to system filling to aeration to super oxygenation. It’s powered by an embedded Linux OS on a 1GHz ARM Cortex-A8 processor that makes use of data from 10 separate remote sensors.
The Hub’s precision dosing means that you can rest assured that the pH of the water hydrating your plants is always exactly where it needs to be. Moreover, Gro.io’s smart sensors deliver users a “range of environmental data used to drive hydroponic automation and optimal growing conditions,” and finally, the garden’s ability to connect to the internet allows it to send you real-time email and text notifications about your growth and progress.
And while there’s not a whole lot that’s conventional about Gro.io, it does use the accepted 20-gallon buckets for individual plants, which are placed under arrays of either three or five 60-watt LED bulbs. That means you can grow up to six plants at the same time.
Right now, you can pre-order this delightful little system, but be warned — it’ll cost you. The smart hub on its own will set you back a cool $1,000, whereas the rest of the system can cost yet another $700 to $1,775. The price will ultimately vary based on how many plants you want to grow and how many lights you’d like to go along with it. If you’re ready to make the commitment, however, the company expects shipments to go out in August, so you won’t have to wait too long to bring the Internet of Things to the herb.
