Parrot Pot review: The plant pot that keeps your greens alive

I’m a killer. A stone-cold, emotionless killer. My victims are numerous and almost all of them have been accidents, cases of neglect, mistreatment and lack of care. I’ve been caught many times; chided by my ex-girlfriend for brutally destroying our leafy lovechild within weeks of receiving it.

I’m a plant killer and it’s a major problem I’m trying to overcome.

Thankfully, the Parrot Pot seems to be here to alleviate my problem. For the last month now, I’ve managed to keep Monty – a king sago palm (Cycas revoluta) – alive and healthy, ensuring he has enough sunlight, water and fertiliser to keep him going. So far, so good; he’s looking luscious, green and healthy.

You can thank Parrot Pot’s “Flower Power” companion app for my general attachment to Monty. Not only does it make you take a photo of your plant and name it, but it also sends you alerts when you need to refill the water jug for automatic watering, move it to an area with better sunlight or a cooler temperature. Suddenly, a plant isn’t some alien lifeform you have to second-guess; its wants and needs are laid bare, and all you have to do is make sure you keep it happy.

Perhaps that suggests I should never become a real parent… Still, the Parrot Pot is a welcome addition to the office and the perfect fit for anyone who struggles to either keep a houseplant alive or wants to ensure their favourite flora stays alive while they travel with work or live out their busy lives.

Parrot Pot review: How it works

Parrot may be better known for its drones than but it has made the process of looking after your leafy friend incredibly simple. The pot itself, which comes in either a black, terracotta or white finish, houses a whole host of tech to measure water-tank capacity, soil-moisture levels, fertiliser balance, sunlight and temperature.

The Flower Power companion app then lists almost every plant you could possibly think of (yes, including cannabis), and tells you everything you need to know about looking after it. Unsure if your Chinese banyan needs a lot of water or sunlight to grow? Or whether a money tree needs high temperatures to flourish? The Flower Power app puts it all at your fingertips, helping you make an informed decision about the right plant for you and how to look after it properly.

Through the app, you can monitor exactly how your pet plant is doing on a day-by-day basis, and you can even get a year-by-year view if you’re lucky enough to keep it going for that long. Sometimes it can feel that breakdown is simply statistics for the sake of statistics – an inevitable part of the proliferation of connected devices – but when you’re taking a more hands-off approach to plant care, it’s interesting to see how often your leafy buddy wants to be watered.

Parrot Pot: Verdict

For me, I’ve generally been rather trusting of the Parrot Pot. It’s been nannying Monty in “Auto” mode for most of the time I’ve had him, and it’s all going swimmingly for now.

The question is, would I pay the £130 asking price for one? It’s a great product, but probably not, mostly because having a plant in my life isn’t essential to my wellbeing – no matter how much I’ve grown to like having Monty around the office.

Still, the Parrot Pot would make the perfect gift for the plant lover with everything but time on their hands; it’s not essential, but it’s a clever product that’s eminently practical.