I promise that headline isn't a Mad Libs.
The Canadian company Plantaform introduced its eponymous smart indoor garden powered by "fogponics" at CES 2025 in Las Vegas, marking its hard launch in the U.S. CEO Alberto Aguilar plugs it as a "Nespresso for your vegetables" that uses an ultra-fine vapor to hydrate plants, resulting in faster growth and 30 to 50 percent less water usage compared to standard hydroponic systems.
The Mashable team caught the Plantaform at CES' Pepcom media showcase Monday night, and it's easily one of the neatest smart home gadgets I've seen here all week. The Consumer Technology, the trade show's organizer, shares my enthusiasm: It's a 2025 CES Innovation Awards Best of Innovation winner in the Food and AgTech category.
Not too shabby for NASA leftovers, mind you. Aguilar told me that the Plantaform's fog-based watering technology was originally developed (then ditched) by the administration as a way to grow plants in space.
Design-wise, the Plantaform is a 26-inch-tall egg-shaped vessel (available in midnight black or frost white) with removable windows, full-spectrum LED lights, and a central column filled with chambers for up to 15 individual soil-free seed pods. The Plantaform tends to the plants throughout their entire growth cycles using an algorithm-determined combination of water, light, and nutrients, per the company's website.
The fog in question hits the plants right at their roots from inside the Plantaform's pod hub. Some of it inevitably leaks out and floats among their leaves, humidifiying the system's immediate surroundings while looking cool as hell.
As far as maintenance goes, users need to do little more than make sure the Plantaform is topped off with water dosed with fertilizer every two to three weeks. Its companion mobile app offers setup guidance and care reminders.
The word "disruptor" is thrown around a lot at CES, but the Plantaform really does feel like one in the indoor garden space. Not only does it clean itself — eliminating a tedious between-cycle chore — but it'll also support users' own seeds by the end of the year, Aguilar said. No need to keep buying pods in perpetuity, as required by other indoor gardens like the popular hydroponic Gardyn.
The Plantaform, while not exactly cheap, is also competitively priced: You can order one now for $499.99. Plant pod packs are $29.99 each and available in mixes of lettuces, cherry tomatoes, and cocktail herbs.
