I’ve just finished a write up for an ESPHome powered house plant watering system. It is designed to deliver customised water payloads to multiple plants, on different schedules for each plant. Take a look:
Lots of learning outcomes here but I liked the centralised approach and also the lack of sensors, which I think is best left to other solutions - there are plenty of nice self-contained plant monitoring devices already, so I just wanted to solve the problem of delivering water - the right amount at the right frequency for each plant.
I also don’t want to have to go fill up a tank for each plant (that’s just like having to water the plants in the first place!) and don’t want to have to buy and flash a microcontroller for each plant either (I don’t think plants need IP addresses). So I ended up pumping water from a central tank to all my plants, and aside from requiring a lot of piping, I think this approach is fab.
Let me know what you think and what I should change next time I iterate it!
Very nice. I have a simpler setup for outdoor plants in pots. Solar powered so using as little as possible power. I gave up on relays very early on as they consume even when not on. I went for Mosfets to switch on the pumps.
I found these submersable pumps didn’t last very long (rusted). So far mostly going with self priming diaphram pumps at 5 volts. I don’t mind if it takes 2-3 mins to drip water.
I use black pipes to avoid algae build up. My water source is similar level to plant pots but get caught out from time to time with that siphon effect. Water overflow isn’t a big as problem outside as in a house but i set a max turn on time in esphome in case HA looses connection.
I prefer to press a button to water my plants rather than set a schedule. That’s the gardener in me.
Mahko_Mahko uses a more horizontal water storage in his popular thread.
You get an A+ for effort from me and what i saw! You’re one of the very very people ive seen put more than a BS effort into really figuring some of the actual details that one should figure out and not just throwing a soil moisture sensor in the pots and add water whenever the dryness goes so low and keep watering until moisture gets so high. How Low and How high for which plants, during which seasons??? They just make it up as they go and the only thing that gets accomplished is they automate the killing of their plants…
As someone who worked in the Green industry for over 10 years. Ill give you a few tips, if you want them…
You’re probably not going to like this one but, its arguably the most important. You shouldn’t even be trying to automate any plants feeding/watering cycle until you can demonstrate that you can keep them alive and even get them to thrive by manually taking care of them.
For a vast number of plants/trees/ornamentals your better off trying a “less is more” strategy". Nearly all plants are used to periods of droubt and as long as they aren’t severely dehydrated then its easier to correct that by just adding water. Over watering though, its totally different and can kill many plants quick, fast, and in a hurry through drowning or from root-rot type fungal infections in the soil.
Just check them once a week or so and look them over visualy.
are they standing up straight and tall?
do they have a good healthy color and no yellow?
are the leaves looking healthy or drying/browning?
Last thing is take your favorite booger picking finger and stick that thing about 1 knuckle into the soil and actually check it by feeling it! If it feels moist still, leave it alone!
Make sure that your providing them with the environmental conditions they need and especially the amount of sunlight, that is very important.
It’s always seemed to me that some people are plant growers and others arent. Myself for example, im not a flower, shrubs, etc person and have no interest in it really. My real passion is for my turf/lawn and my beautiful trees!
My point is that you might try different types of plants and see if some catch your interest more than other types.
Im very much into Japanese Maples, Trident Maples, Sweet Gums, Beech, Birch trees and very much enjoy turning many of of them into Bonsai trees and i highly recommend it, especially if you could use some peace, relaxation and just mentally checking out from your phone and people for your sanity/mental health!!
Here’s a Rainbow Japanese Maple so gorgeous id be tempted to leave my wife for her if i were married!
Here’s a Amazon Photos Album of a bunch of my trees if your interested in what keeps my attention and interests. Trees are jusy way cooler IMO and especially if you train them as Bonsai trees if your limited on space. You can have lots of trees in a small space and eventually lots of things to automate! ; )
I once tried something simpler for my plants but ended up overwatering a few because I wasn’t keeping track. Having a system that delivers just the right amount on different schedules makes a lot of sense.
Also, for anyone who likes fresh greens but can’t always care for them, indoor plant delivery has been a great backup when I needed new ones quickly.
," for anyone who likes fresh greens but can’t always care for them"
I would say save yourself money and just buy your greens from the grocery store. It would save time and effort as well.
