Chili-Gation

Science never ceases to surprise me. Just when you think every single thing on this planet has been figured out, some genius will come up with something even more bizarre and wonderful. Just like ‘Chili-Gation’. It is exactly what you think it is. An automated irrigation system for your beloved chilies.

This irrigation system was developed Dave Smith, who loves chilies, quite evidently; his chilies were dying in the Texas heat due to lack of regular watering. He created this simple DIY appliance which watered his plants for up to 5 days without refills do that the chillies would not die out in his absence or due to negligence.

To create this project, you need MSP 430 MCU which is a low power microcontroller, a LaunchPad development kit, Sharp Memory LCD BoosterPack, 6-volt pump, a relay control board, a large soda bottle to hold the water and a lot of creativity. You can get the exact code and step by step instruction from the blog.

While Dave showed his love for home grown chilies, I don’t see a reason why you can’t do it for other vegetables. So if you are traveling, love home grown vegetables in all seasons or simply don’t have time for gardening, leave your plants in safe hands of err… Vege-Gator.