“It is a serious problem for us that we have already received too many orders before production has started,” the head of a private limited company Click&Grow, Mr Mattias Lepp, said. The Click&Grow product is an electronic flowerpot – more precisely an electronic pot meant for growing any plant under indoor conditions. The pot is made of plastic and its design is reminiscent of the Apple Mac Cube.

As the name (Click&Grow) suggests, it means that you switch the button on the pot and the plant begins growing itself. The computer programme accompanying the pot adjusts the environment, if necessary, and adds fertiliser and water. A specific regime naturally depends on the plant, but in some cases pressing a button is enough – the user himself does not even have to add water because the pot collects moisture from the surrounding air. Some pot versions have a small spark attached, which starts flashing to tell the user to pour in more water.

The pot is accompanied by a plant cassette with seeds and a computer programme. Installation is easy. The electronic pot can be connected to a computer through a USB-socket to download additional programmes, in case you should need some special programmes for specific plants. With the computer programme, you can observe what is going on in the pot, monitor the moisture level, examine activity around the roots, and determine the level of nutrients.

Click&Grow electronic pots do not use soil for growing. The plant hang on a unique net with roots through the net. It could be even said that the plant hangs in the air and the automatic functions operated by a computer programme spray nutrients and moisture on the roots of the plant, when necessary. Such a growing system is not unique, but such a complete electronic pot system, however, is. The head of the company, Mattias Lepp, says they have no direct competitor in the world.

This story is not about a theory or a beautiful business idea. It is a functioning product. The prototypes exist. Several of the world’s leading publications on electronic gadgets and innovation, such as Wired, wrote about the invention of Click&Grow at the beginning of March this year.

The electronic pot will primarily be sold online at Amazon and BestBuy. “Reaching an agreement with them required work, but there was nothing overwhelmingly complicated in it,” Lepp added. With the support of an innovation share from Enterprise Estonia, Click&Grow has secured the necessary patents for its product.

The electronic pot should reach stores this August or September. For the time being, production will take place in Estonia. According to Lepp, the company will not deal with the production itself. Their area of expertise will be the design, brand development, and product development; production will be organised by subcontractors and partners.