AeroGrow AeroGarden Garden Kit Review
This hydroponic indoor container gardening kit seems to have hit a real nerve, as it has become a quite popular choice for indoor container gardening. Many of them were sold at Christmas time in 2006, and I think the AeroGarden was even featured on QVC. As of this review there are over 35 customer reviews at Amazon, so you can get a pretty good cross section of customer reactions.
Most of the reviews are favorable, and several people have bought more than one.
The AeroGrow Garden kit’s attractive features include
Totally self contained, includes an adjustable height grow light.
It’s hydroponic, so you don’t mess with soil, or worry about soil borne diseases.
Because it’s hydroponic, the AeroGarden waters itself (it’s has a microprocessor to handle that chore) and you don’t have to worry about monitoring moisture levels like most container gardens.
The claim is that you can leave it unattended for up to two weeks, but that likely varies with what’s being grown. Like most indoor artificial lighting systems, it works better if it’s close to the plants, but needs to be raised as the plants grow.
Here is one of their promotional videos, which shows how quickly the plants grow. While I’m not sure how comparable the “soil” results are, the impressive part is how quickly you can get your salad fixings to grow in the Aerogarden.
Maintenance takes about 5 minutes a month, you need to occasionally add water, dropping in two nutrient tablets, and provide minimal tending to your plants. (The Aerogarden has a light that comes on to tell your that maintenance is needed.)
You use preseeded biopod seed domes, so the germination rate is high, and usually fast.
They sell separate seed kits for vegetables other than the salad vegetables that comes with the starter kit. For example, you can grow lettuce, cherry tomatoes, herbs, chili peppers, and edible flowers.
Cons: The biggest complaint in the reviews is the customer service. Apparently if anything breaks, it seems to be the pump on the unit, and there are a few complaints about trying to call the support line and get that resolved.
It comes in either black or white, and is usually discounted fairly heavily from the $200 list price. Amazon usually has the AeroGarden with Salad Greens Seed Kit
It comes in white or black, and is available from Amazon among other vendors. If your are looking to start indoor container gardening, or looking for a low hassle way to start your outdoor seedlings, this unit can get you started with out a lot of work. Check out the comments on Amazon
Aerogrow Aerogarden Supplies and Seed Kits: Over at Amazon you can buy Aerogrow Supplies
Filed under Indoor Gardening, Videos by John
Comments on AeroGrow AeroGarden Garden Kit Review »
Samantha Drab @ 8:19 am
I was delighted to receive an AeroGarden as a birthday gift in early December 2008, & set it up with the accompanying herbs, which quickly began to grow. In mid-December, the lights started to switch on at 5 a.m. instead of the 6 a.m. for which I had programmed them; they refused to be reset, so I called the customer support line for a resolution–& waited on “hold” for 75 minutes: yes, that’s right, one hour & fifteen minutes! No-one answered the phone, & no-one has answered the phone on my subsequent eight calls. I emailed their customer service department three times, & each time received a computer-generated response totally unrelated to the subject of my email. My husband & I are enjoying a delicious herb harvest almost daily, but three days ago, having added the required nutrients & water refill at the appropriate time, I noticed that the “Reset” light did not go out after the button was pressed, & that it is, in fact, still flashing. If anyone has any suggestions on how to correct this, I would appreciate it, as there would seem to be little point in my calling the company, since they are apparently in such dire economic straits that they have laid off all their telephone operators & customer service staff. To add to my growing doubts regarding the company, I have yet to receive their catalog, for which I placed a telephone request on December 15.
Dennis Strube @ 9:00 pm
Hi! I have an aerogarden 3 and LOVE it. Question Do i have to keep the aero lite on for 17 hrs or can I shut it off before bed (about 11:30pm - comes on at 7:15 am ).THANKS Dennis. Didn’t know where to ask, what E Mail please foward if need be for answer. Thanks again.
John @ 9:16 pm
My understanding is they were swamped around the holidays, but have added staff and it’s getting back to normal. You can get questions answered at
http://www.aerogrow.com/community
or by calling 1-800-GROW-NOW
As of 1-25, this message is on the web site
“If you choose to call us, please call 1-800-476-9669 and press 2 for Customer Service. If you decide to wait on hold for us, you can expect hold times that are averaging around 15 to 20 minutes, with slightly longer hold times on Mondays.”