This Easyplant Supposedly Waters Itself, But Can It Really Help Me Keep a Plant Alive? A Test

• Ease of Use: 19/20 
• Appearance: 17/20 
• Value: 20/20
• Durability: 20/20
• Effectiveness: 17/20

Total: 93/100 

I’ll be honest: I know nothing about plants. I can’t remember to put water into my own body, let alone an inanimate object’s (Case in point: I once killed a sunflower in less than two weeks after forgetting to water it for more than ten days.) And yet, I love the look of greenery in a home. I had even been toying around with the idea of going faux until I was introduced to the Easyplant—a self-watering pot that the company claims will not only keep your plants alive, but thriving, when it’s filled just one time per month. 

It sounded too good to be true: Could it really be possible to set a reminder once a month, fill a reservoir and watch my new plant grow? With visions of lush, green decor dancing in my head, I decided to put it to the test. 

The plant is shipped fully potted to your home. Once it arrives, you open a little cap that’s built into the side of the pot and fill the reservoir with water. The pot, which took Easyplant two years to develop, takes it from there, reportedly sending water up to your plant’s roots exactly when it needs it, and not a moment before. According to the company, all you need to do is refill the reservoir in exactly one month, with periodic spot checks to ensure it still has water. 

The first part of the Easyplant process is choosing the plant that’s right for you. I selected mine—the now sold-out Golden Mosaic—based largely on its looks and pet-friendliness. I have two cats who love to chew on things, and Easyplant helpfully calls out which of its offerings will be safe for your furry friends with a little “pet-friendly” label in the upper lefthand corner (though I did make sure to do some extra research on the ASPCA website, just in case).

Unfortunately, I paid little attention to the plant’s needs for optimal surroundings (but more on that later).

Right out of the box, I fell in love with my new greenery, which I promptly named “Francis.” He was packaged nice and tightly, so the ceramic pot full of soil that it came in was neither broken nor had spilled. I also loved the vessel’s matte taupe color, which looked classy and didn’t clash with anything in my space.

I was a little dismayed to see that my plant had a singularly curled and brown leaf, however. “Great,” I thought. “He’s already dying!” as I rushed to fill his reservoir and get him situated in his new space.

The short answer? Sort of.

While I am pleased to report that Francis is still alive and kicking after three months (something I am not confident would have been the case had it been, well, any other plant), there was definitely a learning curve to the Easyplant—at least for me.

Shockingly, I did think to check in on my plant’s reservoir a few times prior to my one-month watering reminder. And by the third week or so, he was definitely due for a refill. I worry that had I not kept an eye on it, Francis might have gotten thirsty.

That said, his soil was never once dry or crumbly in any areas during my checks, leading me to believe that he was receiving his liquids properly.

As it turns out, however, water alone does not a healthy plant make. They also need sunlight—particularly when they happen to be Golden Mosaics with a nickname of the “Brazilian Sunshine.” While the Easyplant site did caution against putting my plant in spaces with low light or indirect sunlight, I wasn’t too worried—it’s not like I don’t have windows.

But that was before I experienced roughly a full month without sun in the grey, gloomy city of Muskegon, Michigan, where I’ve been spending the winter ahead of a big move to Florida.

And if I thought the dreary days affected my mood, they really did a number on Francis. Within a month, he began to go downhill, fast, first stretching himself toward the window and then beginning to droop over in a pathetic fashion. Where he once had one brown leaf, he quickly garnered others, and I began to worry that he wouldn’t make it through the end of January.

I thought about using artificial lights, but I knew nothing about how much he’d need, and I really wanted to limit my testing to the one variable and the one variable alone—the Easyplant pot.

And so, we stuck it out, Francis and I, with me leaping into action to move him into the light any time even a glimmer of sun emerged. (What can I say? We developed a bit of a bond.)

At his lowest point, I tried using a plant app called PlantIn, to diagnose his health. According to the app, my plant wasn’t thirsty for sun, but water (although to be fair, it also misidentified the plant variety).

Still, I realized this posed another problem—with a system that promised to take care of the watering entirely, I had no idea how much my plant was actually getting each day—and whether it was sufficient. Apart from the plant’s outward appearance, there was no real way of knowing: I was neither measuring out the water or counting the number of days in between the waterings. Erring on the side of caution, I gave him a little extra water, just in case, pouring a bit around his roots in addition to filling his nearly empty reservoir.

Miraculously, the following week was a sunny one, and I let Francis soak in as much of it as possible. I wouldn’t say he’s made a total recovery—he still has about five brown spots on his leaves and is a little droopier on some days than I’d like (Easyplant says it’s normal for this type of plant’s leaves to “move upwards during the night and downwards throughout the day in search of the sun”)—but he’s very much alive. In fact, he might even be growing a little bit.

All in all, you could say that Francis and I have been on a journey. But after all of that, I must say, I would still recommend Easyplant. Yes, I’m still perfecting my plant’s care: I will probably always check his water ahead of the one-month mark, and it’s clear he needs to be in a climate with more sun (hang on, little guy, we’re moving soon!). I’m also not entirely sure if there’s any truth to those underwatering claims the Plantin app made. But I have hope that his health can be recovered, and he’s alive after three months—that’s more than I can say for those sunflowers.

I think Easyplant gave me enough leeway in the watering schedule to finally allow me the chance to be a plant mom—something I never otherwise would have experienced. Who knows? Maybe I’ll even give Francis a little sister soon.

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