GrowSphere: Intelligent Hydroponic System for Effortless Cultivation of Leafy Vegetables

The rising global population and rapid urbanization have increased the demand for food, with many people now living in apartments and leading busy lifestyles that limit their ability to grow plants. Indoor hydroponic cultivation has emerged as a promising solution, offering higher productivity and more efficient use of resources. However, growing and maintaining plants indoors can still be challenging. To address this, we designed and implemented a self-maintaining, IoT-enabled smart pot called &#x201C;GrowSphere&#x201D; for the indoor cultivation of peppermint, aimed at minimizing human intervention and optimizing growth conditions. The system architecture integrates an Arduino microcontroller with multiple sensors, and environmental data are continuously collected through pH, electrical conductivity, and water-level sensors. The system automatically regulates nutrient levels, water supply, and LED light spectra to maintain optimal growth conditions. In addition, GrowSphere supports remote monitoring, data analysis, and prediction of growth patterns. Compared to traditional soil and Deep Water Culture (DWC) hydroponic methods, the proposed approach demonstrates enhanced plant growth rates and yield quality, while reducing labor, water, and energy requirements. Plants grown in the GrowSphere achieved the highest fresh weight (<inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$11.0~\pm ~1.5$ </tex-math></inline-formula> g), with some reaching up to 12.5 g. In contrast, DWC hydroponics (<inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$1.2~\pm ~0.3$ </tex-math></inline-formula> g) and soil cultivation (<inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$0.9~\pm ~0.4$ </tex-math></inline-formula> g) produced significantly lower weights. The proposed system was developed at a cost of approximately USD 268 and built using open-source software, offering a low-cost, sustainable, and high-performance solution for urban plant cultivation.