This Self-Watering Pot Keeps Plants Alive While You're on Vacation

Having plants in your home is good for your mental and physical health—assuming you can keep them alive. As many aspiring plant parents have discovered, providing plants with everything they need to grow and watching them flourish isn't as easy as it sounds. The Gala smart pot is an indoor plant container currently raising money on Kickstarter that uses smart design to keep your plant hydrated and oxygenated even when you're not home.

The Gala pot, designed by the Spanish gardening design company NIMA Barcelona, owes its effectiveness to its dual-compartment system called WATAIR. The upper pot holds the plant and the soil. When you water your plant, the excess moisture drains through the filter in the bottom of the pot and collects in the container beneath it. This lower compartment acts as a miniature water tank. Cotton capillaries that thread through the filter absorb just enough water to keep the plant properly hydrated without drowning it. The two-level irrigation system also encourages air to circulate through the soil, making for healthy, well-oxygenated plants.

The innovative planter is designed to be as hands off as possible. With the WATAIR irrigation system, certain types of plants only need to be watered by hand once every three weeks, which means if you're going on vacation—or don't have time in your schedule for regular plant care—you can walk away from your pot knowing it will do the hard work for you. And while you devote energy to other things, your plants can act as natural air purifiers for your home.

Gala smart pots, available in terracotta and white clay, can be reserved from Kickstarter for a pledge of $77 or more. If the campaign meets its $22,330 funding goal by June 28, products are estimated to ship in November of this year. Each pledge also gets you four free months of plant support service, making the system even more foolproof.

If you can't wait until November, check out a few of our other favorite foolproof planter products here.

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