House plants are great for your mental and physical well-being. They're wonderful because they release oxygen and absorb carbon dioxide, giving us fresh air to breathe while cleaning the air of harmful toxins.
Research by NASA has found that houseplants can eliminate up to 87% of airborne toxins in just 24 hours. Studies also show that house plants are great for productivity by improving concentration by up to 15%.
All of this sounds great in theory, but we all know that keeping houseplants alive is no easy task.
We always have big plans for our plants when we get them home from the nursery but after a few weeks, they're brown and dying from neglect. Most of the time we have no idea they're in decline 'til it's too late.
That's why a new planter from Lua is so incredible. It allows plants to communicate with us like pets. So we know how to take care of them correctly.
The Lua planter monitors your plant for different states that it indicates through human-like facial expressions, so you know how your plant is feeling 24-7.
Thirsty: When soil moisture drops under the defined threshold, you need to water your plant.
Sick: Too much water can kill your plant. Lua lets you know when it's had enough.
Vampire: After a few days Lua will turn into a vampire if it doesn't get enough light.
via Lua
Squint: Too much exposure to light can harm your plant, when Lua is squinting it's looking for shade.
Hot: You can tell Lua is too hot when it's sweating.
Lua also has motion tracking capabilities so it moves its eyes and reacts to everything happening in the room.
Setting up the Lua is pretty simple. Download the app then select the type of plant you've put inside the planter. Once it's all set up, Lua uses a water level sensor, a light sensor, a motion sensor, and a temperature sensor to monitor your plant's well-being.
The planter is a fun way to help people who don't have a green thumb learn to take care of their house plants, but it also begs the question: Will humans and plants ever be able to communicate?
Studies show that plants communicate with one another by releasing chemicals through their roots. They will even sustain weak members of their species by sending them nutrients. So, they do have a keen sense of other life forms around them.
However, Danny Chamovitz, director of the Manna Center for Plant Biosciences at Tel Aviv University in Israel, doubts whether plants will ever communicate with humans.
"All organisms, even bacteria, have to be able to find the exact niche that will enable them to survive. It's not anything that's unique to people," Chamovitz said. "Are they self-aware? No. We care about plants, do plants care about us? No."
Well, your plants may never care for you but you can show you care for them by getting them the right amount of water and sunlight. They'll repay the favor by giving you fresh, toxin-free air to breathe, which is a pretty darn good trade-off.
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