ESP32 · AUTOMATED PLANT CARE

Smart Planting

Smarter irrigation. Healthier plants. Less wasted water.

PLANT MONITOR — LIVE
SOIL MOISTURE0%
TEMPERATURE0°C
AIR HUMIDITY0%
CONDITIONS NOMINAL — IRRIGATION IDLE
THE PROBLEM

Plants get watered on a schedule, not on what they actually need.

Fixed watering routines don't account for real soil conditions, so plants are often watered too much, too little, or at the wrong time. The result is wasted water and plants that are harder to keep healthy than they should be.

 

Most people can't monitor conditions closely enough to catch problems early.

Dry soil, temperature swings, and humidity drops often go unnoticed until the plant is already stressed. Smart Planting keeps watch continuously, so problems are caught before they show.

HOW IT WORKS

Four steps, running continuously on the ESP32.

01

Monitor soil

A soil moisture sensor continuously measures how much water is in the ground around the plant.

02

Monitor climate

A DHT22 sensor tracks air temperature and humidity, showing both readings live on the OLED display.

03

Irrigate automatically

When soil moisture drops below a safe threshold, the ESP32 triggers a relay to switch the water pump on.

04

Alert on risk

If temperature, humidity, or moisture move outside safe ranges, the buzzer and red LED signal the issue.

FEATURES

Everything the plant needs, watched at once.

Continuous soil monitoring

Real-time moisture readings keep watering decisions grounded in actual soil conditions, not guesswork.

Temperature & humidity tracking

A DHT22 sensor keeps a constant read on the air around the plant, catching climate stress early.

Automatic irrigation

A relay-driven water pump activates on its own the moment soil moisture falls below the safe threshold.

Emergency alerts

Safety thresholds are set in the code for temperature, humidity, and soil dryness. The moment a reading crosses one, the buzzer, red LED, and an on-screen "check plant conditions" warning all trigger together.

On-device display

An OLED screen shows live moisture, temperature, and humidity readings directly at the plant.

Manual or automatic mode

Irrigation can run fully automatically, or be triggered manually when hands-on control is preferred.

WATER CONSERVATION

Water when the soil needs it — not on a fixed schedule.

Scheduled watering treats every day the same, regardless of rainfall, heat, or how damp the soil already is. By checking actual soil moisture before activating the pump, Smart Planting avoids watering when the plant doesn't need it — cutting down on runoff and unnecessary use.

Fixed schedule
Condition-based

ILLUSTRATIVE — ACTUAL SAVINGS DEPEND ON CONDITIONS

TECHNOLOGY

The hardware behind the system.

01ESP32Main microcontroller — runs sensing logic, decision-making, and connects every component.
02DHT22Digital sensor for air temperature and humidity readings.
03Soil Moisture SensorMeasures how much moisture is present in the soil around the plant.
04OLED I2C DisplayShows live sensor readings and system status at a glance.
05Relay + Water PumpRelay switches the pump on and off to deliver water automatically.
06BuzzerSounds an emergency alert when conditions move outside safe ranges.
07Red & Green LEDsVisual status indicators — green for healthy conditions, red for an active alert.
LIVE SIMULATION

Run Smart Planting in your browser — no hardware required.

The full circuit is simulated in Wokwi: sensors, display, relay, pump, buzzer, and LEDs, all wired and working.

Smart Planting circuit running in the Wokwi simulator

SIMULATION PREVIEW — WOKWI EDITOR

Open Wokwi Simulation
FUTURE DEVELOPMENT

Where the project could go next.

PLANNED

Weather data integration

Pulling in local forecast data so irrigation decisions could account for upcoming rain or heat, not just current readings.

PLANNED

AI-assisted irrigation decisions

Using historical sensor data to help the system make smarter, more adaptive watering decisions over time.

PLANNED

Adjustable moisture threshold

A physical control to let the dryness threshold be tuned for different plant types, instead of a fixed value in code.

PLANNED

Pump protection & data logging

An automatic cutoff if the pump runs too long without a moisture change, plus a log of past readings over time.

THE PROJECT

A student-built environmental technology project.

Smart Planting was built as a hands-on exploration of embedded systems and environmental sustainability — combining sensor data, automated control, and clear on-device feedback into one self-contained plant care system.

Created by Lojain Hany — Team Smart Planting

View the code on GitHub →