Edmonton engineer develops device that lets plants talk to their owners about watering
Kashmala Fida
© Submitted by Quench Andy Burke, founder of Quench, holds a small plant with the device inserted into the soil.
For those who may have killed one too many plants by forgetting to water them, an Edmonton engineer has created the perfect solution.
Quench is a probe that measures the moisture content of soil and emits a faint chirp to alert people when their plant needs watering.
Andy Burke, founder of Quench, set up a Kickstarter campaign on Tuesday and has since raised $30,000.
"Our goal was $12,000 ... in order to help us get just a little bit of funds to gauge the interest and to help us put in that order for production and we have blown past it," he told CBC's Edmonton AM on Thursday.
The device comes in two sizes, a small one for plants with a soil depth of less than 20 centimetres and a larger size for deeper containers.
Users can adjust the depth of the device based on the plant's watering needs. The device would be inserted deeper for a succulent than for water-loving ferns, according to details on the Quench Kickstarter campaign.
Burke said Quench is also light-sensitive, so at night time it will light up red instead of sending an audio alert.
The idea came to Burke in 2017 after killing his first houseplant, an expensive dracaena, which he bought after getting his own place.
"My life was busy. I was an engineer and I found I just kept forgetting," he said.
Burke said he bought some moisturizing systems but they weren't up to the task. That's when he decided to take matters into his own hands and started working on different prototypes.
"We made over 20 prototypes and it actually took four years of testing to finally kind of nail down exactly the materials, the dimensions and the methods for detection," he said.
The final version, completed in 2020, was sent to be tested by plant experts in Edmonton and as far away as the United States, Europe and Japan, Burke said. "To make sure we really nail down the final details and at that point to make sure it's working properly," he said.
In the next few months, the company will be working to fill the orders made on Kickstarter, he said. After the campaign ends in mid-June, Burke plans to sell it online in Canada and the U.S. as well as in stores in Edmonton.
For those who may have killed one too many plants by forgetting to water them, an Edmonton engineer has created the perfect solution.
Quench is a probe that measures the moisture content of soil and emits a faint chirp to alert people when their plant needs watering.
Andy Burke, founder of Quench, set up a Kickstarter campaign on Tuesday and has since raised $30,000.
"Our goal was $12,000 ... in order to help us get just a little bit of funds to gauge the interest and to help us put in that order for production and we have blown past it," he told CBC's Edmonton AM on Thursday.
The device comes in two sizes, a small one for plants with a soil depth of less than 20 centimetres and a larger size for deeper containers.
Users can adjust the depth of the device based on the plant's watering needs. The device would be inserted deeper for a succulent than for water-loving ferns, according to details on the Quench Kickstarter campaign.
Burke said Quench is also light-sensitive, so at night time it will light up red instead of sending an audio alert.
The idea came to Burke in 2017 after killing his first houseplant, an expensive dracaena, which he bought after getting his own place.
"My life was busy. I was an engineer and I found I just kept forgetting," he said.
Burke said he bought some moisturizing systems but they weren't up to the task. That's when he decided to take matters into his own hands and started working on different prototypes.
"We made over 20 prototypes and it actually took four years of testing to finally kind of nail down exactly the materials, the dimensions and the methods for detection," he said.
The final version, completed in 2020, was sent to be tested by plant experts in Edmonton and as far away as the United States, Europe and Japan, Burke said. "To make sure we really nail down the final details and at that point to make sure it's working properly," he said.
In the next few months, the company will be working to fill the orders made on Kickstarter, he said. After the campaign ends in mid-June, Burke plans to sell it online in Canada and the U.S. as well as in stores in Edmonton.
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