A simple, automated indoor plant care system, for beginners and serious gardeners alike.
Hydra simplifies gardening by taking the daily task of watering off your hands. Focus on your busy weekday schedule – or take a holiday without worrying about your plants.
If you have always wanted to grow plants but haven’t had the time, this is the perfect start to your hobby.
If you are a passionate plant lover with a busy schedule or a love for travel, this is what you & your plants have been waiting for!
With Hydra, plant care is now a monthly affair. Grow an indoor forest with minimal effort – or even better, start an edible garden to supply your kitchen with fresh herbs and greens :)
No frills, No nonsense. Hydra was created specifically for the indoor garden and designed with simplicity in mind. Set it up, tell it how much to water and it will do the rest:
However, the most wonderful thing is that Hydra pays for itself if used to grow an edible garden, so for you guys thinking of doing a spot of urban farming, see Hydra as an investment for better food and a greener future! We hope that Hydra will enable more city dwellers to grow their own food and make a quantum contribution towards sustainability.
We are all ready to produce Hydra – Your Plant Care Companion! Help us bring this project to life by backing & sharing it with your green fingered friends :) Like & share our Facebook page at www.facebook.com/plantcarecompanion
Early Bird Special – A $20 discount for the first 50 adopters. Help us spread this awesome campaign to your green fingered friends!
Classic Hydra – We have included a $5 discount for the rest of our first 350 backers to say thank you for helping us meet our funding goal :) The rewards are spread out over a period of time to account for a comfortable manufacturing schedule; you may receive your Hydra sooner, but never later.
Hydra will retail after this campaign for $175 (Kickstarter: $160), so get yours now!
*if you want any modifications to the device (e.g. battery/solar operated), feel free to email me at plantcarecompanion(at)gmail.com
Garden City – This support reward will see a seed of a native plant dropped in a random location around Singapore in your name. Native plants are chosen as they will contribute positively to the local biodiversity.
Mosquitoes: Gardeners in mosquito-prone areas would need to cover their water source to prevent mosquitoes from breeding. Another option would be to place fish in the water – but remember to feed them, dechlorinate any water you add and never let the water dry out!
Overwatering & Underwatering: Unlike some watering systems, Hydra is not ‘smart’ – which means that you may have to tweak the watering volume every now and then (this applies more to maturing plants). Why don’t we make Hydra smart? For that, we would need sensors for each pot, which will mean increased costs and additional wires running all over!
Waterproofing: Although Hydra will survive a splash of water every now and then, it is definitely not waterproof. If you are placing Hydra in an open area, do take steps to protect it from the elements.
Gravity Siphon: Always place the water source below the plants. If placed above, the gravity siphon created will slowly drain water from the source and create a mess on the floor!
Just a bit about me: I’m Brian and I have all sorts of hobbies; I keep plants and aquariums, play the violin and the viola and enjoy photography.
However, above all of that, I really enjoy creating and repairing things – you can view some of my work on my messy blog: laatelier.blogspot.sg
This particular project started off as my university schedule got busier and my plants started suffering as a result. Unable to find a satisfactory indoor watering solution on the market, I endeavored to make one myself:
The idea was simple: a system that draws water from a bucket and delivers it to surrounding plants via tubes – something that can be easily installed in any indoor garden. One thing led to another and the project found its way onto Kickstarter. If you wish to find out more about how Hydra was developed, visit my blog :D
The creators of Hydra will not be responsible for the health and survival of the plants cared for using Hydra.
It is the owner’s responsibility to check that Hydra is working (a glance at your plants every two days to make sure they are not wilting should do it) and to adjust the watering volumes according to the plant’s requirements as and when necessary.
Although this is the first time we are developing a product for the market, trust me when I say that we have done most of our homework.
From the point of time this campaign is launched, we would have locked in all our component suppliers and stress tested a prototype using samples obtained from them.
The only major thing we have yet to do is to make the injection moulds for the case (the prototype’s case is 3D printed). This is because injection moulds are expensive to make and we need YOUR support to ensure that a minimum number of parts are produced from the mould for this project to be financially viable.