Most states with medical marijuana laws have provisions for growin’ yer own. Corsica Innovations has an app for that.
They’ve developed a “plug ‘n plant” grow house called Leaf. Leaf is a box about the size of a mini fridge that fully automates the weed-growing process. Each unit can fit two plants, which yield about five ounces of pot.
The system will control all aspects of marijuana farming, including making sure the pH level of the soil stays optimum. It’s ventilated, has its own specialized LED light, developed by NASA researchers, and you can run the whole thing from the Leaf iPhone app.
So, if you don’t have much of a green thumb, or that thumb has arthritis, the solution for your troubles is this robotic pot garden. Leaf senses when there’s not enough nutrients, and will correct that with the single-serving nutrient pods that load in it like a Keurig coffee maker. They’re made just for Leaf by Advanced Nutrients, and allegedly are as easy to change as a printer cartridge.
Even if you know what you’re doing, the device can be manually controlled for customized “recipes.” There’s even a built-in HD camera so you can monitor things from a live-stream inside the box, in case you don’t have any paint to watch dry.
Currently, the major downside (other than marijuana being totally illegal in 11 states) is the price. Each Leaf system retails for $1,499, and the nutrient cartridges and filters are about $150 to replace. This makes the whole thing more expensive than planting your weed in the back garden.
The company claims the cost of five ounces of weed is around $1,200 (I’m sure I wouldn’t know, my Drug-Free Employer), so the expense ends up justifying itself after one grow cycle. Eventually, they hope to drop the price of the unit, and make most of their money from the nutrient refills.
Leaf is pre-ordering to people with a medicinal marijuana use card for a $100 deposit. It’ll ship next summer.
via TechCrunch