A new device could finally make it easier to keep your houseplants alive

Depending on who you ask, the answer to the question, “How hard is it to keep houseplants alive?” can vary. Well, this new device seems to take a lot of the guesswork out of it, and it’s already garnered a lot of support on Kickstarter. The device is called Smartyplants, and it’s essentially a sensor that can send all sorts of information about your plant directly to your smartphone.

The idea came from Ben Beavers. Basically, you take a sensor, stick it in the soil of your houseplant, and it can tell you all sorts of things, like how healthy the soil is, how moist it is, light levels, temperature, humidity, and more. It sounds like a great way to keep up with your plant—even if you don’t really know what you’re doing.

But why do we need devices like Smartyplants to help us keep our houseplants alive? While some of us may be plant-loving – and very good at keeping our leafy friends alive – others simply aren’t so lucky. In fact, the company mentions that over 38 million houseplants die every year in the UK alone. That’s a crazy number of houseplants, and it seems Smartyplants wants to make it easier for people to keep them alive.

The company says the sensor should help solve problems like over- and under-watering — both of which can damage or even kill a plant. But with the sensor unveiled on the company’s Kickstarter — which has already raised more than $100,000 of its $6,343 goal — it should be relatively easy to keep track of how much moisture your houseplant’s soil has and when you need to worry about re-watering it or adding nutrients.

Smartyplants says that in addition to checking on the health of your plants, the app will let you connect with friends, integrate with your smart home system, and learn more about basic plant care. It will even help you — at least supposedly — find plants that will work best in your home. Considering that we’re already seeing genetically modified houseplants that can help purify the air in your home, adding a houseplant to your home could make the air cleaner and clearer without having to buy an air purifier.

Smartyplants is currently offering a range of “early bird” prices on its Kickstarter campaign, which is set to run for about 15 days at the time of writing. The campaign will end on July 19th, though, so if you want to get in early and support what the company is trying to do, you should head over and check out the Kickstarter before it ends.