If the user creates an account on a website and downloads an app they could buy a plot in a greenhouse or outdoors and choose which plant they would like to grow.

By having their plot hooked up to an automated system that could be controlled remotely the customer could pick one of two settings.

GYO (grow your own)

This would provide a true interactive growing experience, allowing the user to fail and try whatever options they want with the option for no external guidance allowing the user full customization. This would be great for pro's who know what they want or newbies who want to see how changing settings would work.

If you simply want to customize the nutrient levels, ph levels, watering schedule but maintain the convenience of automatic timers rather than having to remember to "water" your plant you would have an "expert option."

GFM (grow for me)

The recommended settings on automatic timers removing the need to manually "water" your plants or figure out any details about nutrient schedules.

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The customer would be able to view their plant real time in one of two ways:

greenhouse:

The lights would be on a motorized track with a networked gopro camera attached to the rail system. Every time the light passes over the customers individual plant a picture would be cataloged and linked to the individual account. This would provide an isolated photo (the camera would pass over your plant every 5-15 minutes depending on rail motor and length of track) that could be viewed real-time.

This would give you a good image because it would be directly under the lights, for photo/video. Ideally the system would be timed up to store realtime video for each plant separately for a "timeline" of each plant constructed of the segmented clips made from while the camera was directly above your plant.

So when the user logs into their server account they can pull up a timelapse of images/video (video rather than images would be a 'pro account' feature) taken every 5-15 minutes to create a time lapse photography timeline that the user could scrub through to see how their plant is growing over time.

OUTDOORS:

The same principal but rather than a real-time updated time lapse photography from the networked gopro in the greenhouse the photography would be taken by drones. Using a system where the drones several times a day (or maybe just once if its a pain in the ass) would fly above the user's plot and through the same system would have an isolated picture/video of their plant stored on their server account.

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So overall through a bunch of internet servers, cameras, drones, and automated watering/nutrient customization settings the user could grow a plant remotely through their computer or smartphone and then have the produce shipped to them.

This would be a useful service to people who want to garden but don't have access to the space, while allowing them the full experience of watching a plant grow and having the ability to grow it how you want (within limits obviously, cloud garden couldn't provide 1000 different nutrient plans or anything.)
-- Duck Lagrange, Apr 06 2015

Well this is better than a third floor window flower pot, that can fall on a passerby.

Our employer plowed the sod of a next door vacant lot, and gave everyone a plot for the summer. No one grew pot, but I did grow some corn.
-- popbottle, Apr 06 2015


Just like the system where one receives photos and updates from the dewy eyed Salavdoran child you are sponsoring from afar, a benefit of this system is that the same plant and plot can used for multiple customers.
-- bungston, Apr 07 2015


I think just a database of some uploaded pictures of plants would allow the developer the trouble of creating the greenhouse altogether.
-- RayfordSteele, Apr 07 2015


This is one of my favorite HB ideas. Really clever. I'm picturing getting instant messaging saying "Your string bean sprouts came up today!".

Utilizing digital comparison of pictures you could see that a patch of ground (the framed boundaries set by the user) has changed because something sprouted up.

For kids, this could be like a real life Tamagotchi where you have a flower you grow from seed to bloom that needs to be tended to.

Could also extend this to small pets as well. Kid in an apartment can't have birds or hamsters, set then up with a remote controlled fish for instance that you feed. It could have an emergency feeder if the kid forgot that sends a message saying "You forgot to feed Goldie, we had to automatically feed it for you!"

Hmm. Think I'll post that.
-- doctorremulac3, Apr 07 2015


Uploading pictures of plants would be good, if we didn't agree to mail the customer their finished produce :)

I like the pet idea, there are a lot of aquaponics systems in greenhouses, you could run two separate fish/plant cloud services at once.
-- Duck Lagrange, Apr 22 2015



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