Aerogarden for growing herbs

alanobrien

JoeyG wrote: »

I
or do you leave the lid off and suspend the bulbs across the top somehow?

That's it exactly. I originally used growlux flourescent tubes when i had fish and plants. Then used them again when i decided to try and use an old tank with plants. I just suspended the lid above the tank to create some space for air circulation.
This worked reasonably well but the tubes did not offer full spectrum lighting.
I have now replaced the lid with a couple of full spectrum spot lamps
suspended above the top of the tank which is open. This is a much brighter arrangement with more venting and the bulbs run cool so temperature control is easy.

krad

According to this aerogarden site, the crops grow about 5 times faster than normal using the kit, since hydroponics gives them all the nutrients they need. I also saw this video on youtube of someone using the aerogarden to grow an unscrupulous plant... :P

Larumbelle

krad wrote: »

According to this aerogarden site, the crops grow about 5 times faster than normal using the kit, since hydroponics gives them all the nutrients they need. I also saw this video on youtube of someone using the aerogarden to grow an unscrupulous plant... :P

Speaking of which, if you went to a shop that specialises in selling the kit to grow 'unscrupulous' herb (yeah, yeah, I know that hydroponics can be used for loads of things... but lets face it, that's a nothing more than a get-out clause for most of these places ) you could get a ton of gear for the price of one of those little aerogardens, and it would be far more flexible for growing other vegetables too. They're also a really good place to pick up cheap vermiculite etc.

mardatha

These Herbs Are Innocent ! Its The Growers That Are Unscrupulous!:)

angelavdavis

I was looking at these on ebay out of curiosity really and the thought I might start growing wheatgrass for drinking. However, I don't think I can fit any more stuff in my kitchen!

The cheapest I could see on there at the time were £114+postage. I then shopbotted them but couldn't find a cheaper deal so £100 sounds like a good deal.

alanobrien

angelavdavis wrote: »

I was looking at these on ebay out of curiosity really and the thought I might start growing wheatgrass for drinking. However, I don't think I can fit any more stuff in my kitchen!

The cheapest I could see on there at the time were £114+postage. I then shopbotted them but couldn't find a cheaper deal so £100 sounds like a good deal.

Just keep in mind if you do go for an Aerogarden that they use propriatery parts;
Bulbs have to be replaced every 6 months and growth rates are based around their own seed "pod" kits all of which are expensive. That said i like the look of them and compactness of the design. If it encourages people to grow their own, this is no bad thing.

Also worth looking at the forum here
http://www.aerogardengrowers.com/

BigDonut

I was lucky enough to get an aerogarden for xmas and along with it was a spare set of bulbs and a master growers kit (extra tablets and seed pods for you to put in your own seeds).

So I won't need to buy extra stuff for a while.
However would be interested in knowing if there was some other bulbs that I could use. I was thinking that getting another hood (like a fish tank hood) with standard fittings would be the best bet and then adapt it for the aerogarden.

I'll see how things go first but looking forward to it

Vampgirl

I've had one for 9 months now an am on my 3rd cycle and I love it! I know it was expensive but it was a birthday prezzie (£99 from Costco) and living in a flat with no garden its been great. Some things work better than others though: the herbs were fab (tho the corriander never grew - a known problem apparently) and I even managed to sucessfully transplant the parsely and basils into an indoor window box in soil and kept them going for 4 months.

I wouldn't bother with the tomatoes again: they tasted lovely but its a lot of work for a fairly small harvest - especially as they were really messy as leaves dropped. It was also difficult to keep the plants the right size so they stayed under the hood but didn't burn. Supporting them was a bit hit and miss too. I've got the chilli kit in right now - hopefully they should sprout in a week or so and I'll see how they turn out. I see it more as a fun hobby than a practical way of growing things, but I'm so glad I have one - the price did seem a bit high at first but I'm enjoying it so much that its totally worth it :-)

BigDonut

I was also given the tomato seed kit so am going to do that after the salda greens have been done.

Dissapointed to hear the yield is small though. I was hoping it owuld be fairly decent.
Still it should be better than my 7 tomatoes from two plants last year

Vampgirl

BigDonut wrote: »

Dissapointed to hear the yield is small though. I was hoping it owuld be fairly decent.
Still it should be better than my 7 tomatoes from two plants last year

Its the first time I've grown tomatoes so maybe my expectations were unrealistic, or I didn't pollinate them properly but I just felt that for the time and effort (and mess) they weren't worth it. We did actually get quite a few fruits but between the two of us they didn't go very far, with hindsight I was probably expecting too much from them to be honest. They tasted very nice tho! :T