I'm inspired by these vertical planters. It makes me want to utilize blank wall around our school to add growing plants to our space. There seem to be a few main methods for making them, seen to the left.
1. Pipes: These PVC planters are nice because they are vertical, but don't hug walls as closely as I would like. Maybe they would be cool in the right context. 2. Individual pots: In this method, you just make a holder for all your pots so that they lean forward a little bit. Some even incorporate a reservoir for water. 3. Flat/compression wall: These have the plants grown from in between layers of substrate. They have a high density of plants and are very artistic. |
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A student made this for me when they saw what I was doing. I described the idea to them and they whipped this up using leftover robotics parts. I plan to reverse engineer the design so that I can show the class how to build them.
It runs on an Arduino and constantly measures the voltage between the two probes. When the probes are in a conductive (wet) environment, it registers a voltage and converts that to an integer which is used to trigger the lights. I need to calibrate the sensor to accurately display what ideal watering conditions are but this is a great start. |
At right is my second version, which is based on the reservoir design from before. I lined the inside of this box with roofing cement to waterproof it. It has the same plastic and felt burrito inside and the reservoir holds a lot of water.
I like this idea and want to make another one with some changes. 1. I messed up the internal dimensions. I made the outside the size that the inside should have been. This box doesn't fit the pots I intended to use. 2. It's too tall, so I need to move the bottom up so that the pots sit in it just enough that the plants stick out. |