Skip to main content

The SproutsIO soil-free smart garden is looking to turn everyone's thumb green

As the 21st century moves forward, many traditional ways of getting things done have been supplanted by the recent surge in on-demand solutions. Uber and Lyft are challenging the taxi industry, Apple Music and Spotify are disrupting the music industry, and now, SproutsIO has its sights set on revolutionizing the gardening industry.

Recently launched via the popular crowdfunding site Kickstarter, SproutsIO reimagines the at-home garden by ditching soil while still offering owners the ability to grow fresh fruits and vegetables year-round. Even better, those without a particularly green thumb won’t find it difficult to produce fresh greens as SproutsIO is built for anyone to use.

Related Videos

Originally developed by Jennifer Broutin Farah at MIT’s Media Lab back in 2011, the team behind SproutsIO (including Farah, who is the company’s founder and CEO) decided to refine the initial concept prior to seeking crowdfunding support. Operating with a focus on connecting people with the food they consume, and connecting them to the place where it’s produced, the brand wanted to find a way to allow people to enjoy growing their own fruits and vegetables and to make it easy. After years of research, the company developed an intelligent hybrid hydroculture gardening system that literally just needs to be plugged in to start working.

“We’ve been growing food for thousands of years, it’s part of what makes us human,” said Farah. “When cities were built, we became more industrialized. When we put growing in the hands of others, we lose transparency. We no longer know where our food is coming from. SproutsIO is a smart microgarden that makes it effortless to grow indoors, year-round, and soil-free.”

So what can you grow? According to the Kickstarter campaign, SproutsIO lets anyone grow basil, Lacinato kale, parsley and cilantro, arugula, Tiny Tim tomatoes, and much more. In just three weeks, the device allows users to grow roughly 18 servings of leafy greens wherever the machine is set up. Furthermore, maintenance of the produce requires watering just once a month and is ready to eat as soon as it is harvested — no rinsing necessary.

As of this writing, early bird versions of the SproutIO are available to early adopters at a special price of just $559, while it figures to retail for around $799 once the campaign concludes. With 28 crowdfunding days remaining, the innovative device had already raised $23,282 of its $100,000 goal.

Editors' Recommendations

Garden indoors when it's wintertime with these new smart gardens
smart indoor garden opcomlink ces 2017 growframe 01

Winter weather is no excuse for you to stop gardening. That is most certainly the case if you become the proud owner of OPCOMLink USA's new product line, which includes two smart gardening systems that allow you to bring your green thumb indoors. Meet the OPCOM FarmGrowBox and GrowWall indoor gardening systems, both of which allow anyone and everyone to grow vegetables, herbs, sprouts, and fruits inside their homes, any time of year.

Thanks to the company's soil-free, one-touch hydroponic growing technology with proprietary color LED lighting tuned for optimal plant growth, the FarmGrowBox and GrowWall promise 25 percent faster growth cycles and none of the typical challenges associated with gardening. Say goodbye to weeding, pests, and fickle weather -- instead, you'll be able to control your environment, and as a result, your crops as well.

Read more
This smart garden can give you organic produce year-round
nectar smart garden 13641138 548197132049781 5770623469106868218 o

For those concrete jungle dwellers looking to bring a little bit of the real jungle into your lives, technology has an answer for you. Meet the Nectar by Hummingbird, a system that helps you garden regardless of where you are. The St. Louis based team of three have been working on their technology for over a year, and now, the fruits of their labor have taken life. The Nectar is a box measuring 4 feet tall, 18 inches wide, and 20 inches long, and boasts a suite of sensors and microcontrollers that detect what your plants need to adjust the environment accordingly.

There's no soil involved, nor is there water, but there is life. Thanks to a nutrient solution that you can buy online or in gardening shops, you can do your gardening from within your studio apartment. Supposedly, there's no mess involved and you'll still be able to work on your green thumb. And of course, because this is the 21st century and we're inseparable from our smartphones, the Nectar is controlled by a companion app that gives you the power to adjust the humidity, pH levels, temperature, and lighting of the enclosure.

Read more
The OaSense smart shower head uses presence-sensing detectors to conserve water
oasense smart shower head launches on kickstarter oasense4

If you've ever felt the sting of guilt over the amount of water you waste while showering each morning, then a small startup from Oakland, California, has you covered. Launched last week via the popular crowdfunding site Kickstarter, the OaSense smart shower head lets you shower comfortably while actively conserving water. How does it accomplish this, you might ask? By utilizing a presence-sensing detector that pauses the flow of water when someone steps away from underneath the shower head. Step back under and the OaSense continues to douse the shower-taker with a quality stream of water. Considering millions of Americans are mired in drought-like conditions, this innovative smart shower head couldn't have come along at a better time.

Unsurprisingly, the idea for OaSense came to creator Evan Schneider in the shower. After figuring out he didn't always need to the water on during times in the shower, Schneider decided he would try his hand at manually turning it on and off as he saw fit. However, after painstakingly turning both knobs off, then on, then off, then on again, he knew there had to be a better way — and one that didn't douse him in cold water each time he turned it on. Born from this revelation was the OaSense, a smart shower head that senses exactly when a shower-taker needs (comfortably warm) water.

Read more