Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I just ordered my third unit. I have no experience gardening, and I am learning as I go along. The unit quality is excellent, and they have recently started to upgrade some of the components like the pump. The only part of the unit I didn't like is the timer that comes with it. I had issues with my first two units and replaced both the pump and light timers with KASA plugs you can buy on Amazon. These are great units and managed properly you can produce an abundance of home produce. I would recommend these to anyone. I live in a colder climate, which is the reason I opted for the indoor versions of these. Not only do they make the kitchen smell great (basil, mint, greens) but they give me the opportunity for garden-fresh produce year-round. here is the advice I was having a hard time finding that I wish had come with the instructions 1. Certain types of plants grow better together. Leafy Greens (all types of lettuce, spinach, kale) grow better when together and without any other plants. Generally, I can go from a seed to a fully grown edible plant in 30-35 days when they are on their own. if you add a tomato or pepper plant in the same unit, its now 40-45 days to get the same sized greens. which is why I have a few units. 2. Herbs get really big really fast. we have basil plants the size of shrubs growing right now, and every time we see our friends we drop some off. you won't need to plant multiples of herbs unless you really eat a lot of them. 3. Seeds Matter. We had small Japanese eggplants and cucumbers growing. they looked amazing and they flowered beautifully but produced no fruit. we tried hand pollination with very little success. they sell self germinating plants, if you use the indoor unit, and want fruiting plants, you need to look for those type of seeds. 4. Technique matters - we love Shishito peppers. I have three plants currently growing. we had hundreds of flowers and very few peppers the first few months. then we learned you have to gently shake the plants to get them to self pollinate. when we started that, we went from 5 peppers a week to 30-40 peppers per day. In the first few months, we had over a thousand. (considering 20-25 at the store is around $8, it made us really happy) 5. Even the indoor unit is affected by your local climate. In the summer I water approx 5 minutes per hour and the plants thrive. as soon as it began getting colder, and less humid, my plants started wilting, and I had to change the settings to 10 minutes per hour. you don't need to water these that much, but in a dry winter climate, you'll have to water them longer. You will also have to make sure the tanks stay filled. 6. PH matters. we are city water and its PH is high around 8.5 I noticed many of the plants looked anemic when I first got the unit. I started testing PH weekly and using PH down to compensate. with the PH around 6.5, the greens are much darker, and the plants are much healthier. it's very inexpensive and easy to test PH. I can't recommend this enough 7. Plants thrive in these units. Large plants like tomatoes can take over quickly. Don't be afraid to trim these down weekly to keep them in check. we have found that doing this also tends to produce more fruit.