Edmonton gardeners without a green thumb can get a helping hand from a new local company called Quench.
University of Alberta engineer and founder of Quench Andy Burke spent four years creating the device to keep the guesswork out of tending indoor plants.
“When I first moved out, my first inclination was to just buy plants for my place,” Burke says.
The first plant he bought was a Dracaena from Ellersie Gift and Garden.
“It was an expensive plant, and I knew I needed something to help prevent me from killing (it),” he said.
After searching the market, Burke found that the moisture meters available didn’t fit what he was looking for.
“Most of them gave visual cues, but still my life got really busy, (I’d) forget to even look,” Burke says.
The engineer began to research different ways to measure soil moisture and started making prototypes.
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“It was a long road,” he says.
Quench measures soil resistivity and every 10 seconds it makes a quick measurement to determine the soil’s moisture content. Once it detects a high resistivity rate, meaning the soil moisture is low, it will make a subtle tone to let users know it’s time to water.
What makes Quench different than other moisture meters is that every device plays a different sound, chosen by the user.
“Just like every plant is unique, we wanted to have every Quench play a unique sound to match the personality of your plants,” Burke says.
“We made sure to make the noise really quiet, we didn’t want it to be annoying, especially if you had multiple (plants),” Burke says. “If you bring it to a different room, you probably won’t hear it.”
The device detects the light levels that surround it. At night, if the plant needs water, instead of playing a sound it will light up red instead.
Quench works with a variety of house plants and soils that have mostly peat moss.
According to the Quench website, for dry-loving plants, insert the moisture meter deeper into the soil, and for plants that prefer moisture, insert the device shallower.
Burke says he wants to “develop a new model every year” and is excited about the feedback he’s already received from customers.
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