so, this little mechanical insect (about the size of a fat woodlice) prunes your plants when necessary. Just let it loose into the plant pot and it will automatically detect for drying/dried/dead/about to die leaves

It would do this by checking the level of chlorophyll in each leaf segment with its anntennae, and when the chlorophyll levels are considerably low it will use its razor teeth and legs to to saw off the leaf or push it off to fall into the soil. It will have the intelligence to stand on a fresh leaf and do the sawing- so it itself doesnt fall off!! Therefore, all that is required from the plant-lover human is to pick up the dried leaves from the plant pot whenever he or she desires.

As all plants are different, one would have to input the data into our little mechanical creepy crawly, to tell him/her what a fresh leaf and what a dead leaf is for that particular plant. This way, your plants are never left neglected and are always looking fresh and green! (unless you forget to water them)

The problem that I can think of at the moment is that what if the plant falls ill and drastically looses alot of greeness- would the little plant pruner go crazy and start chopping trunks off the plant? Well.....if it had a specific rota to adhere to then it wouldn't . Or it could send of a warnal signal once the levels of plant waste reached a worrying high- maybe a small buzz one might hear on passing by?

As the plant pruner is mechanical, it would need something to recharge itself on. A small bed thing wedged just above the soil next to the roots of the plant-- this mechanism will not only provide battery power to the plant pruner but also be its home-base- where the plant-loving human can locate the pruner and switch it off and on if necessary.
-- chocolateraindrops, Aug 09 2005

Pruner? Isn't this a plucker? I thought pruning involved cutting branches.

Whatever it is, it is a magical nanobot. There are a few insights into the problems involved, but the solutions for them are just as vague as the rest. Someday it may be built, but it won't be because of this posting.
-- baconbrain, Aug 11 2005


definition of 'prune' from dictionary.com

-To cut off or remove dead or living parts or branches of (a plant, for example) to improve shape or growth. -To remove or cut out as superfluous. -To reduce: prune a budget.

i dont think there is anything wrong with the word 'prune' in the context i am using it in as it is involved in removing dead parts of the plant.
-- chocolateraindrops, Aug 11 2005


//to improve shape or growth//
-- baconbrain, Aug 14 2005



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