The Plant Sensor That Watered Too Much

Junie shares a small dorm room with her roommate Tobin. They keep one plant on the windowsill, a little succulent named Pickle. Tobin buys a smart sensor for it before their big trip home.

Junie berbagi kamar asrama yang kecil dengan teman sekamarnya, Tobin. Mereka memelihara satu tanaman di ambang jendela, sebuah sukulen kecil bernama Pickle. Tobin membeli sensor pintar untuknya sebelum perjalanan pulang yang panjang.

"It waters Pickle for us," Tobin says. "We just set it and forget it."

"Alat ini menyiram Pickle untuk kita," kata Tobin. "Kita tinggal mengaturnya dan melupakannya."

He pushes the sensor into the soil. He taps a few buttons on his phone. A tiny light blinks green. They pack their bags and leave for the weekend.

Ia menancapkan sensor itu ke dalam tanah. Ia mengetuk beberapa tombol di ponselnya. Lampu kecil berkedip hijau. Mereka mengemas tas dan pergi untuk akhir pekan.

When they come back on Sunday night, the room smells strange. Water sits in a small pool under the plant pot. Pickle's leaves look soft and dark, not firm and green.

Saat mereka kembali pada Minggu malam, kamar itu berbau aneh. Air menggenang di bawah pot tanaman. Daun-daun Pickle tampak lunak dan gelap, tidak kencang dan hijau.

"What happened?" Junie asks. She picks up the pot and checks the soil. It is completely soaked.

"Apa yang terjadi?" tanya Junie. Ia mengangkat pot itu dan memeriksa tanahnya. Tanahnya basah kuyup.

Tobin opens the app on his phone. A long list of waterings fills the screen. The sensor gave Pickle water every hour for three days.

Tobin membuka aplikasi di ponselnya. Daftar panjang penyiraman memenuhi layar. Sensor itu menyiram Pickle setiap jam selama tiga hari.

"I think I picked the wrong plant type," Tobin says slowly. "I set it for a fern, not a succulent."

"Sepertinya aku salah memilih jenis tanamannya," kata Tobin pelan. "Aku mengaturnya untuk pakis, bukan sukulen."

Junie laughs and shakes her head. "A fern needs a lot of water. A succulent needs very little."

Junie tertawa dan menggeleng. "Pakis butuh banyak air. Sukulen butuh sangat sedikit."

Tobin finds the plant settings in the app and changes them. He picks "succulent" from a short list. The app asks for watering only once a week.

Tobin menemukan pengaturan tanaman di aplikasi dan mengubahnya. Ia memilih "sukulen" dari daftar pendek. Aplikasi itu meminta penyiraman hanya seminggu sekali.

They move Pickle to a dry spot near the open window. Junie checks on it every day after class.

Mereka memindahkan Pickle ke tempat kering di dekat jendela yang terbuka. Junie memeriksanya setiap hari sepulang kuliah.

Slowly, over the next two weeks, new green leaves appear. Pickle grows strong again, one small leaf at a time.

Perlahan-lahan, selama dua minggu berikutnya, daun-daun hijau baru bermunculan. Pickle tumbuh kuat lagi, selembar daun kecil demi selembar.