Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

SUMMARY: Pricey but effective way to grow food indoors. Lots of alternatives to buying the refills from Miracle-Gro Note that there are 3 very similar models with LED. My review is for the LED Extra. The basic version only has 20 watts of LED lighting, and the hood only extends to 12" height. The Extra and Ultra are basically identical (30 watt lights with 24" extension on hood") but the Ultra has a fancier LED screen and more customization for pumping and light times. The Ultra also comes with the seed starting tray standard. UPDATE - after about 2 months the plants are coming in strong. Cilantro never sprouted and we have lots of Chives and Dill in the garden, so I swapped these out with Lettuce, Kale, and Habanero peppers. No peppers yet but more than a few small harvests of lettuce and kale, and tons of super beautiful basil and parsley. Although they recommend lots of smaller harvests, for now I've been doing fewer, large harvests so I can let the peppers catch up. As far as plant food, I've been supplementing with just regular "Miracle Grow" plant food - I purchased a sub $20 TDS meter and try to keep the PPM between 700 and 1000. So far the plants are very happy. There's a hydroponic shop near me so will get some fertilizer with more micronutrients when I have time. There's a ton of roots underneath the deck - I try to keep the roots of the different plants from getting too tangled so I can remove/replace the plants if necessary, without doing too much damage to the other plants. Refill of water is nearly every other day. Another important point - at least once a month you should DRAIN the unit and put fresh solution in. I started to get "Nutrient Burn" where the plant edges start to turn brown. If I understand correctly, it's because the uptake of nutrients is not perfect, so as you continue to add water and plant food, some nutrients get too high while others are too low. HYDROPONICS...In case you were wondering, hydroponics is growing plants without soil. Typically a growing medium like perlite or expanded clay balls is kept wet with a special solution which allows the plant to grow more or less like normal, but with a much tighter control on the level of nutrients so the plants grow much faster than normal. A lot of systems now include built-in lighting which further improves "crop yields" LEDS PAY OFF.....I was pretty excited to have the opportunity to review the AeroGarden. In particular, this has LED Lighting. Although that costs more up front, you'll end up ahead in about a year. I tested this with a Kill-A-Watt and this (LED) version consumes 34 watts with the lights on. The regular version uses 2 or 3 26 watt bulbs, plus they recommend you replace them every 6 months. These are not your run of the mill fluorescent bulbs, so just on the bulb replacement costs you'll come out ahead within a year, even before considering the energy cost when the bulbs are running 12-24 hours a day. CUTTING THE CORD.......I have the regular herb set growing now, but I'm thinking I may want to replace the dill with some lettuce. Replacement seed and plant food kits are pretty pricey - 18 - 18 bucks for 7 plant holders with sponges and plant food.... I did a search and lots of people "reload" the plastic cages with regular kitchen sponges. In addition, lots of people are using TDS meters to judge when to add plant food - that plus all the aftermarket hydroponic plant food gives you options for "cutting the cord" ENERGY COSTS....I was afraid that it might get expensive, but even with the LEDs on 24 hours a day, 36 watts x 24 hours x 365 days = 315 kWh....Most people pay about 12 cents per, so that's $38 a year. Reading through the instructions, you don't use 24 hour light except when the plants are mature and you are harvesting, so you can probably figure that on average it's more like $25-$30 a year. SETUP....Very easy assembly, I didn't realize that the reservoir takes a gallon to fill so I ended up walking back and forth to the sink several times. You can actually lift the whole growing pod out of the base and fill it at a sink - unless you like the exercise. LOCATION....I have ours in the basement next to a window well. I will probably move it to the main floor when I have time, since the grow lights can double as a night light - I suppose that would offset the 9 watts CFL I normally leave on overnight. I do plan to continue updating this in the coming months - watch this space! If you found this review helpful or have questions or comments, please let me know!