There are endless crafty ways to keep plants watered while you’re away from home: You can wick water from jugs, upend wine bottles into your planters, or simply pay the neighbor’s kid to come by. The problem is that all of these methods are imperfect, and all too often, you come home to plants that are over-watered, under-watered or neglected completely. This week at CES, LeafyPod introduced smart planters that don’t simply hold onto a month’s worth of water—they promise to take better care of your plants than a plant sitter.
Self-watering planters have been helping plants the last few years by keeping water in a reservoir at the bottom of the planter, allowing the plant to intake what it needs, but this is also limited—you usually get just a few weeks of watering. LeafyPods can hold a month of water, and rather than allowing the plant to slowly intake water on its own, the planters use sensors that monitor humidity, light, and temperature and then apply water to your plant—only as much as it needs. If you’re worried about cords, the LeafyPod is wireless and cordless. The battery promises to last for six months, and is recharged via USB-C.
Credit: LeafyPod
LeafyPod uses AI (of course it does), and will spend a few weeks learning your plant’s habits and needs, and then will take over. When home, you work in tandem with LeafyPod. The app will identify the type of plant, and then make specialized recommendations to you specifically for that plant, whether it needs more light or humidity, or is too cold.
Every single plant in my stewardship has specific needs, and they’re used to how I water. I know the signs of trouble for each of them, and I’ve never been able to find a plant sitter that replaced me. I always assume I’m coming home to a few dead plants, and I’m rarely wrong, no matter how well meaning people are. For me, LeafyPod has a lot of potential. It also has some obvious limitations.
First, there’s the price. Each LeafyPod is about $75, and you’ll need a LeafyPod Bridge (also around $75) for your flock of pods. Second, the planters only come in one size: small. The internal dimensions of LeafyPod are 5.1 inches by 4.1 inches, which means even medium-sized plants are out of luck. Lastly, LeafyPod is decidedly modern looking, so you’ll need to make these all white planters work with your aesthetic.
Still, I can see the upside of trusting LeafyPod with particularly spendy houseplants, rather than risking it with a housesitter. Even if you’re home, I like the idea of something monitoring my plants and catching things I don’t, like lighting needs and temperature issues.
LeafyPod is on pre-order sale, with plans to ship in April 2025. One planter plus the bridge is $148, two planters and the bridge is $228, and three planters plus a bridge is $308.