Keeping houseplants alive can be a tiresome job. Has it had too much water? Does it need a little more? Why are some leaves brown and the others green? Well, now plants can tell you what they need using Twitter.

Botanicalls: lets your plant tell you about its water needs

Botanicalls is a gadget originally designed by researchers at New York University, but you can now buy as a kit that, once assembled, lets your Ficus, Bonsai or dying shrub tell you about its water needs using Tweets.

Two long soil-sensor probes relay moisture details to a leaf-shaped circuit board that transmits – through a cabled Ethernet connection – moisture messages to a Twitter page.

You'll have to make it yourself, but it'll be worth it

It’s unclear if you’ll be able to set your own messages, but essentially the plant will Tweet to say if it’s had too much water, needs some more or – perhaps – that it’s just in need of a little TLC.

Now there's no excuse for dead plants

Botanicalls is available now online for $99 (£69/€73).