Grow

by Pimoroni

A compact Raspberry Pi powered monitoring system designed to help you take the best possible care of your plants. It will tell you how well they're hydrated, attract your attention when they need water and, if you want to go a step further, even give them water!

Special spring deal! 🌱

While stocks last, buy a Grow Herb Kit or a Grow Chilli Kit and get an extra pack of seeds, pots and soil absolutely FREE!

Automatic, systematic and hydromatic!

The heart of this clever system is the Grow HAT Mini. This Raspberry Pi Mini HAT has a tiny screen to keep an eye on the state of the system, four tactile buttons for navigation and an on-board piezo buzzer to politely request your attention when your plants need you. There's also a light sensor, which we've used in our code example to stop the alarm from chirping away at night. We've covered the PCB in little gold flowers, because we love you. 🌻

There are three connectors on board to attach our capacitive moisture sensors, so you can measure the moisture levels in three separate pots. Because there are no exposed electrodes, capacitive sensors are a lot less vulnerable to corrosion over time than old school resistive sensors. They even have a little area so you can label them with plant names (we think 'Pete' is a great plant name).

On the back of the Grow HAT Mini there are another three connectors that will let you turn low-current 5v devices on and off, like pumps, motors, valves, solenoids or lights. There's also a set of broken out I2C connections, perfect for adding on an I2C breakout (like those in our Breakout Garden range). Being able to add on more sensors and interface with extra devices means that it's possible to level up your budding Grow system to something much more capable and sophisticated - a proper little smart greenhouse for your desktop (or your spaceship, classroom or apocalyptic bunker!)

Grow Kit Includes:

  • Grow HAT Mini
  • 3 x Moisture Sensor
  • 3 x Moisture Sensor Cable (35cm)

We also have two kits that come bundled with seed packs, herbs and chillis. Please note that some countries have customs restrictions on the import of seeds! If you're outside of the UK we'd suggest checking your local import laws before ordering a Herb or Chilli Pack, or you could always order the plain Grow Kit and source your own seeds locally.

Grow Kit + Herb Pack Includes:

  • Grow HAT Mini
  • 3 x Moisture Sensor
  • 3 x Moisture Sensor Cable (35cm).
  • 3 x Mini Terracotta Pot
  • 3 x Cocopress® "Soil" Pellets
  • 1 x Basil Seed Pack
  • 1 x Coriander Seed Pack
  • 1 x Rosemary Seed Pack

Grow Kit + Chilli Pack Includes:

  • Grow HAT Mini
  • 3 x Moisture Sensor
  • 3 x Moisture Sensor Cable (35cm).
  • 3 x Mini Terracotta Pot
  • 3 x Cocopress® "Soil" Pellets
  • 1 x Jalapeño (~3,000 Scovilles) Seed Pack
  • 1 x Serrano (~25,000 Scovilles) Seed Pack
  • 1 x Cayenne Long Slim (~45,000 Scovilles) Seed Pack

Extras

If you'd like to incorporate auto-watering into your setup, you can find teeny pumps and tubing under 'Extras'.

If you're planning on using Grow with a Raspberry Pi Zero / Zero W / Zero 2 W it will need to have a 40 pin header soldered (or hammered) on.

Grow HAT Mini specifications:

  • IPS LCD (0.96" 160x80 pixels) screen
  • Four tactile buttons
  • Piezo buzzer
  • LTR-559 light and proximity sensor (datasheet)
  • 3 x JST SH 3P connectors for capacitive moisture sensors
  • 3 x Picoblade 2P-compatible connectors with MOSFETs for turning low current 5v devices on and off.
  • Pimoroni breakout-compatible pin header
  • Mini HAT-format board
  • Fully assembled
  • Compatible with all 40-pin header Raspberry Pi models
  • Schematic
  • Pinout
  • Python library
  • Dimensions: 66mm x 31mm x 10mm (including header)

Moisture sensor specifications:

Software

As well as the usual examples in the Python library to show you how the individual bits of hardware work, we've also put together a full plant monitor application so you can start taking care of your plants straight away. We've even managed to fit a little UI in there, so you can change your settings directly from the HAT.

Check out our beginner friendly Getting Started tutorial or get going super fast with the one line installer:

curl -sSL https://get.pimoroni.com/grow | bash

You might also be interested in taking a look at our auto-watering tutorial.

Notes

  • It's possible to use Grow moisture sensors without the HAT with non-Raspberry Pi devices (like Arduino), as long as they're capable of monitoring pulses on an IO pin in the range of ~2Hz up to ~30Hz accurately.

79 customer reviews

10 months ago
Oh this has been a lot of fun.. However, beware, doin't use CFLfor a grow lamp. They seem to create EMI that screws up the sensor readings.
by Arnold about Grow via REVIEWS.io
a year ago
Very high quality and hackable Raspberry Pi HAT.
by Jian about Grow via REVIEWS.io
2 years ago
The GrowHat was very easy to install. Got it up and running in no time. I'm already thinking about adding the watering kit extension to it. The software works treat and the small display is very intuative.
by Chris about Grow via REVIEWS.io
2 years ago
Theses are great, nice little project for myself and 4 year old.
by Ben about Grow via REVIEWS.io
2 years ago
Great value piece of kit, mine is hooked up to a Pi Zero W with the hamerless header (which is also very good). Using the guidance for this from Pimoroni and added MQTT to show the data in Home Assistant to provide live updates on the health of my plants.
by James about Grow via REVIEWS.io
2 years ago
great asset for a first-time coding project for a 7 y/o
by Marina about Grow via REVIEWS.io
2 years ago
This kit is fantastic, really good for starting out with smart plants. I have integrated mine into home assistant for further control and monitoring. Looking to add the pump module soon to further expand the project.
by James about Grow via REVIEWS.io
2 years ago
Excellent quality and ease of use. Highly recommended!
by Joshua about Grow via REVIEWS.io
3 years ago
This grow kit was super easy to set up and works great!
by Logan about Grow via REVIEWS.io
3 years ago
This is a very nice kit to get our kids involved in both nature and electronics at the same time. Oh, and thanks Pimoroni, for the extra included gift! Very much appreciated!
by Sander about Grow via REVIEWS.io
3 years ago
Delivery was perfect, product was conform. A delivery tracking could be a +
by Anonymous about Grow via REVIEWS.io
3 years ago
PCB is very well made and everything works great. The Grow kit is easy to setup and the documentation is super helpful. You feel like a an expert after 10min of setup and calibration.
by Andreia about Grow via REVIEWS.io
3 years ago
It is a brilliant kit and has amazing value - I have it up and running with some herbs and chilli, and it works wonderfully. Probably going to buy more.
by Paul about Grow via REVIEWS.io
3 years ago
Very easy to set up with my Raspberry Pi zero W after following instructions on the Pimoroni.com website and I'm now happily monitoring my birsdeye chilli plants growing in my home office.
by Andrew about Grow via REVIEWS.io
3 years ago
Brilliant kit with clear instructions, I had a great time setting this up with my kids. I hope the pump come back in stock so we can add that as well.
by Paul about Grow via REVIEWS.io
3 years ago
Amazing product. Super clean design well made :)
by James about Grow via REVIEWS.io
3 years ago
Excellent little kit! Arrived quickly and in good condition!
by Anonymous about Grow via REVIEWS.io
3 years ago
Great idea easy to Setup and configure. Simply attach to the pie header and connect the sensor wires.
by Ben about Grow via REVIEWS.io
3 years ago
Pretty neat little kit - I like the ability to use the I2C breakout, my only complaint is that the components don't seem to be protected in any way from humidity which may be present around many growing plant setups. I'd also like some kind of graphical display of light levels to be set up as a default view.
by Anonymous about Grow via REVIEWS.io
3 years ago
It works perfectly. It would be nice to be able to connect more sensors and pumps.
by Anonymous about Grow via REVIEWS.io
3 years ago
I absolutely love this! I'd bought a single sensor a while back on adafruit for my bonsai tree, but was hoping to find something a bit more substantial for my backyard gardens. I've found this just a few weeks ago and realized this was the product I needed. I'm waiting on an outdoor-friendly housing and a solar panel to power everything but I'm looking forward to having this in action!
by John about Grow via REVIEWS.io
3 years ago
kit sympa. il faudrait inclure les tuyaux, ça permettrait un usage 'sorti de boite'. Les cables sont un peu courts
by Manuel about Grow via REVIEWS.io
3 years ago
Arrived quickly, but included only 2 moisture sensor cables rather than 3. Will try to obtain the third from Pimoroni in a future order. Unusual for Pimoroni to make a mistake like this. The grow kit has worked well in my testing so far. The packaging is pleasingly low on disposable plastic. Came in a cardboard box packed with those expanded sugar chips that dissolve in water rather than polystyrene chips. Very nice.
by Harley about Grow via REVIEWS.io
3 years ago
Can't wait to get started!
by Anonymous about Grow via REVIEWS.io
4 years ago
Nice and simple to use. I hooked it up to my Raspberry Pi 3B and it worked like a charm. I wish the cables were a bit longer though.
by Giuseppe about Grow via REVIEWS.io
4 years ago
I will test soon. Good stuff.
by László about Grow via REVIEWS.io

6 user photos