AeroGarden Vs. DIY StyroGarden

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

I just picked up an Aerogarden 3, and the Cherry Tomato kit, I’ve always been curious about hydroponic gardening, and I figured this would be a good way to get into it

Once I got the device unpacked, it amazed me how simple (and OVERPRICED!) it was, it’s basically nothing more than a shallow plastic bowl with a built in aquarium air pump and airstone and a Compact Flourescent growlite hood and timer for the light, setup is simple, snap the unit together, fill the bowl, drop in a nutrient tab and the seed pods (which are proprietary), plug it in and wait…

So, I decided to emulate the AeroGarden on a smaller scale with stuff I already have

a McDonalds Sweet Tea styrofoam cup and lid were the perfect size to support the seed pod once I cut a hole around the straw hole, and bored a small hole in the upper back of the cup for the aquarium tubing
I already have a CF desk lamp with a daylight-balanced grow bulb in it, so the light angle is covered
I have airline tubing and a nice limewood airstone for an air diffuser
the only out-of-pocket expense I had was a Tetra Whisper 10 air pump ($14), which is both more powerful than the Aerogarden’s pump, AND easily twice as quiet, it’s sitting the same distance away from me that the AeroGarden was (moved it into the kitchen) and all I can hear is the faint hiss of the limewood airstone, the pump is silent

I dosed the water in the StyroGarden with some of my aquarium ferts (Seachem Flourish and Nitrogen) dropped in my surplus Stock flower seed pod, and the StyroGarden is now running

hmm, wonder which one will produce first, the Styro or the Aero, call me crazy, but I’m rooting for the StyroGarden, even though the Aero cost me a lot more, and is more advanced, there’s something to be said for DIY

AeroGarden 3; $99, cherry tomato kit; $20 (Damn, those are going to be some frakkin’ expensive lil’ 'maters…)

StyroGarden;
Cup and lid; Free
Airline hose; Free
Airstone; Free
Air pump; $14
CF desklamp; Free

2

Looks like the styro cup’s not going to work, it was slowly “weeping” water, so I grabbed a small Sterlite container instead, cut some holes in the lid, and dropped in the Stock pod, a petunia pod, and I’m trying a salad greens lettuce pod, which will supposedly germinate in 1-2 days (AeroGrow’s fastest germinating plant)

as an added advantage, I can have up to 10 pods in place, right now, I have just the three

3

You can definitely rig up equivalent set-ups for less money. I think the appeal of the AeroGarden is that it is compact, stylish, and is basically idiot-proof. People who wouldn’t have thought of setting up a hydroponic setup themselves will see it in the store and decide to give it a whirl. I think that is a good thing.

4

AeroGarden attraction for me = idiot-proof. And I have the basil to prove it. Let us know how the experiment goes!

5

If you decide to kick it up a bit, this site has plans for what’s basically a ginormous AeroGarden, with a fish tank thrown in as a bonus.

6

The homebrew rig’s the early winner here, two of the Stock flower seeds have put down taproots, the tomato seeds in the AG3 have only swelled a little

7

Oh absolutely, as with many DIY things, you can create cheaper on your own. What are you doing for nutrients for your DIT kit? That’s the main appeal to the Aerogarden for me (well, after “compact, cute and idiotproof”) - I don’t need to break out the chemistry books and buy bags of various chemicals to feed the things. The tablets that come with the seed pod kits aren’t messy, complicated or require much in the way of storage space.

8

Dude, I refuse to have house plants in my house because they’re too much work, but I have an Aerogarden. I don’t even have to think about the thing. The light comes on & off on its own, and it tells me when it wants water or nutrients.

I think you overestimate the number of people who will easily trade money for idiot-proof and never-have-to-remember-anything.

Still, I hope your styrogarden works out! Neat idea, even if it’s far too much work for me to do it myself.

9

You can diy a bigger hydroponic garden with one of those long, flat boxes for storing stuff under your bed. There are instructions in the last issue of Craft, if I can remember where I left the damn thing.

As I recall, though, you just put in a drip regulator, which you can apparently get at a home improvement store that sells koi pond kits and such. Then you put seeds in peat pods and put those in those trays like you buy bedding plants in. Put your fertilizer in a gallon bucket of water, and pour the water over your plants however often they need it (a couple times a day in hot weather, I think), then put the bucket under the drip regulator.

10

Latest update;

AG3; the yellow cherry tomatoes are putting out taproots, one of the red cherry tomato pods has the taproot just barely breaching the end of the seed, another one shows no activity

Homebrew rig; the Stock plant taproots are well defined and digging into the grow media, the salad greens (lettuce) have put down taproots, no activity on the petunia pod, the sugar peas in the aquarium filter pad clipping have become unwrinkled, and the sugar peas in the AquaClear sponge fragment have also become unwrinkled

11

Today’s update;

AG3; the seeds in all three tomato pods have put down taproots, the goldens are the most well developed

Homebrew;
Stock flowers; taproots are good and strong, digging into the grow media, all seeds have a pair of vestigal leaves and the seed pods have fallen off
Lettuce; taproots have formed, and it looks like the seed hull is getting ready to fall off
Petunias; no growth, no sign of any activity or even seeds, petunia pod has been repurposed to a sugar snap pea pod (placed a single pea seed in the petunia growth medium)
Sugar snap peas; all four seeds have put down taproots