How to make your plants WiFi ready.
November 27, 2012 
It launched overseas and now the Koubachi Wi-Fi Plant Sensor is now available in the U.S. market, just in time for the Holiday Season 2012. So what is this thing? When I spoke to David Kurmann, one of the inventors, he said his Koubachi device connects your plant to the Internet, and uses the web (via a free app) to give you regular readings of soil moisture, ambient temperature and light levels. It’s a way you can easily monitor your plant’s health from afar. David told me set-up is easy. Insert the two AA batteries that ship with the unit, then go to the web and let the Koubachi site walk you through the connection and registration process. After that, you insert the Koubachi sensor into the soil of your favorite potted plant, and select that plant within the app. You can do it by name, or even by picture. Their database covers more than 500 types of plants. At first Koubachi needs to know when you water the plant so it can measure how long it takes to dry out. David said it takes several days, or two complete watering cycles before Koubachi learns to accurately measure moisture of that particular plant. Once it learns, the sensor can send you a ‘health report’ from the plant via the app. I asked David if you needed to buy a Koubachi for every plant you owned, because that could really expensive! David said once his device learns a plant, you can move to another plant and start the learning process over. The sensor is capable of keeping track of up to 27 different plants. The Koubachi WiFi Plant Sensor for indoor plants is $99, and the outdoor version is $129. So to have a green thumb, you need to start with some greenbacks! ($$)
Here’s the Giz Wiz video with the co-founder of Koubachi:
It’s available on Amazon here. I haven’t shopped here:
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