Thoughts on the Miracle-Gro AeroGarden?

[SweetMamaKaty]

I just came across this really cool looking indoor planting kit. It comes with a light, and supposedly grows herbs and other plants five times faster - with no soil. This is really interesting to me! It sounds great of course, but I'm curious if anyone here has any experience with it, or opinions on it. It does get good reviews, but costs quite a bit to buy on a whim...

Miracle-Gro AeroGarden EXTRA LED Indoor Garden with Gourmet Herb Seed Kit

I think it's fun to learn about new things like this. I had no idea such a thing existed before today!

 

[PrideKidd]

Hi There Mama:

My ex and I used to have an AreoGarden. When it came, we were both like kids at a candy store. I mostly wanted to try it because for so many months out of the year its winter here, and come lets face it grocery store produce is generally garbage, and we only really have a few options for " Real " Fresh Produce but its going to cost ya so we thought lets try it ourselves.

Its Ingenious! goes to gether easily, the set-up instructions are so easy to read even my Ex understood it. ( Thats not a bash, he could never follow instructions lol ) It is almost ready to go by the time your done laying out the parts and briefly looking at the instructions.

That was the good side of the review...

The only major problem we had with it was after a month or so it starts to make a rather irritating humming. I called customer service and they were so polite about it, shipped me a new pump that day.

The Pump comes rather quickly which in turn make us happy so we can get back to growing. Once again all goes well for about 2..2 1/2 months then the evil humming noise begins again. I gotta be honest about the noise it got to the point I had to turn it off or go crazy and tweeze my hair out ( yes, that was a bit dramatic but atleast you understand how bad that noise is )

I called back to customer service and this Rep. was very down to Earth and just flat out admitted that the pump in the model I had was a P.O.S. and would continue to just keep breaking...best of all...the pumps were on backlog, go figure huh?

All in all, I would have to say if you can find a model where the pump stays good then you will be hooked to that gadget the rest of your life.

 

[InvasiveCreeper]

From what I've heard, you have to add a chemical sprouting tablet to the water, then there are fruiting tablets you put in every 2 weeks. You have to keep buying these products from the manufacturer for this contraption to work. Why not try real gardening, it's free.

You can also make your own “indoor planting kit” without the mechanized pump and chemicals. Just get some nice grow lights and make some good soil and you won’t have to have the aerator and all the tablets.

 

[snuffy]

The aero garden is a very good tool for someone who needs plants around during the winter months. I hate the cold months here in Wis., can't wait til spring. Looking out a window to see piles of snow, then looking at my aerogarden with fresh spices kills cabin fever.

My areo garden is 15 months old, it has the led light hood and 7 holes for plant plugs. The spice kit it came with gave me a bunch of Italian spices which all grew very fast. I could take cuttings in just 35 days. I planted one Chadwick cherry plant that grew so big it reached the ceiling in my living room, some limbs were over 8 feet long!

The fertilizer is a liquid in a small bottle that last for at least 6 months. I'm sure it is a form of miracle grow. The only sound it makes is a slight gurgling sound when the pump runs to push the water up to each grow plug. That's the hydroponics part of how it works. It pumps water directly to each plant plug every 12 hours. You can change that by programing the control, selecting different growing plans. The nutrient is poured incorrectly into the base which has about 1.5 gallons of water in it. The pump and automatic low water indictaror are in the base.

The pump is piped to direct water and nutrients to each grow pod. This makes sure each plant has water AND oxygen. Hydroponics AND air.

 

[belowthelight]

I had an AeroGarden when I was younger. I didn't know too much about the mechanics of the machine but I know I got some great basil out of it!

It was very easy to maintain. I do recall a slight humming noise but we kept away from the normally inhabited areas of the house and it didn't bother us.