Ahopegarden Hydroponics Growing System Indoor Garden, 44 Pods Plant Herb Garden Germination Kit with LED Grow Light, 20L Double-Layer Large Capacity Hydrophonic Planter Grower for Vegetable Fruit

So far it is going really well. It's day 3 and we see growth in multiple pods! I will update my post to share our progress. I will be honest and adjust my review if necessary, but we are feeling eager and confident. Being our first experience, we started with light research from multiple outlets like Amazon, Pinterest and YouTube, to determine if this experiment is practical for our busy lifestyle. After seeing so much success, we really relied on the products and reviews on Amazon. AHopeGarden offered a $30 coupon the day we were ready to purchase, and we were intrigued by the product. The thought was to start small, but.. we felt the 60 pod would work best for our family of five. Waiting for the product to arrive on Saturday was no simple task. We were so enthusiastic about creating nourishment as a family. Anytime we can get the teenagers/young adult children engaged is an epic win. Upon arrival, we commented on the strength and care for supportive packaging. We notice these details that set companies apart! The instructions were seamless, but my contractor husband thought of some adaptations to complete the set up. It was erect in under 30 minutes. The pieces fit together so well, and the construction is stable. Pump and lights work and adjust as they promise. The App allows you to turn the lights on and off, remotely. This is important depending on your light schedule and lifestyle. The separate pod pieces are high quality and visually appealing, with a sticker that reflects the led lights so beautifully. The wheels and sturdy handles make moving this hydro unit easy. Seriously, AHopeGarden set this kit up in a user friendly way that makes us feel confident! *we ordered seed kits from another company, labeled for hydroponic set ups, as well as pod set ups from a third company. I will honestly say, the products that arrived with our 60 pod AHopeGarden set up are superior in quality to the other companies. However, we are trying them all in the experiment, and not anticipating poor results from any of the products purchased. *updates to follow. We're doing our best to follow grow instructions as well as looking for helpful tips. Day 3 and our seeds are thriving. The lights are bright, but it can add to the decor aesthetic. This has been a rewarding experience so far!

I bought this system a little over a month ago and I’m really enjoying it. I initially had a problem with a part and the customer service was wonderful - VERY quick, no hassle, eager to help. At this point I have an awesome planter that looks like something out of Scandinavian Design and I’m so happy that I went with the company that backs their product, provides replacement parts and answers e-mails. It’s not the cheapest planter out there but you often get what you pay for… like a 2 year warranty, quality craftsmanship and timely support. For something this large (you don’t want to have to send it back), this is very important!! Life is not perfect and I can’t stress this enough. These people will take care of you. I own 5 other hydroponic setups. It’s a hobby as well as a way to grow inexpensive, healthy, fresh food. This planter is sweet. I only need to worry about water chemistry for one big tank and the lighting clearance and deck space is fairly massive. I can plant starters in every single pod or space them out with the intent to keep the plants in water for a longer time (or indefinitely). The physical pods/baskets are compatible with everything else I own, which is great. Sound is comparable to other hydroponic systems. The lighting is ultra lightweight and easy to move as plants grow. It’s not the most intense light and also, it will not burn your leaves (as has happened to me numerous times) - so follow the directions for placement and you’ll do great. I prefer lower light for longer timeframes than something that burns. I like that it’s not the “smartest” system and it requires some manual input, as smart stuff eventually breaks. The planter has great instructions for assembly and use, but it lacks much detail in the way of cleaning and maintenance. Thus far, I estimate my time cleaning this and performing water chemistry at approximately 1 hour every 3 weeks (it’ll get quicker as you go). Too me, this is a great trade off for such fresh produce. The tank should be cleaned with some regularity however, as a lapse in tank upkeep risks a large number of plants in this setup. I would like to see more information for beginners on how to clean the planter and prevent any problems. This is a wonderful planter than performs as expected. If you are ready to add something cool to your hydroponic arsenal, it’d strongly consider this option. I’m already growing my entire collection of fall seedlings for the garden!

This is a decent sized circulating deep water culture hydroponics system with a couple of unexpected and beneficial features worth noting. First and foremost among them is a low water audible alarm built into the system that works. This is incredibly useful, pretty much guaranteed to reduce your harvest losses due to not realizing you need to add water to the system. Next is the plant site spacing on the deck which is better than that provided on the Aerogarden Farm which I both own and love. Here the spacing is 3 and 3/8ths of an inch on center within and between rows of planting sites and 4 and 7/8thd of an inch on center on the diagonal. So you can plant 60 plants 3 and 3/8ths of an inch apart; zigzag along the decks skipping every other planting site to grow 30 plants 4 and 7/8ths of an inch apart ; or use none of the sites in the middle row and skip every other planting site in the outer two rows to grow 20 plants 6.75 inches apart on center. That is the perfect distance for growing lettuce to maturity. The same dimensions on the Farm are 3 inches between sites within and between rows with larger spacings of 4.25 inches and 6 inches acheived by skipping more planting sites. This limits the AG Farm 24 to 8 plantings at these larger spacings and 24 grow sites at the smaller 3 inch spacing. So this one wins with respect to the size of the growing area and spacing between grow sites. The lights and their mountings appear to be the weakest spots of this system but are bearable as provided and a light upgrade is both very doable and relatively cheap. As supplied this system came with four 12W LED lights for a total of 48W spread across approx. twice the grow site area of a AG Farm. For comparison the AG Farm 24 has two 60W LED lights to illuminate a grow deck that is about half the size. This means the plants on a AG Farm will experience approx. 5 times more light intensity from the lighting than the plants on this HopeGarden. Everything else being equal they're going to grow faster on the AG Farm. But you're getting twice the grow deck area with this HopeGarden. To upgrade the HopeGarden to three 30W LED lights per deck for a total of 180W currently costs $90. With this mod the light intensity acheived by the HopeGarden rises to 75% of that provided on the AG Farm. This mod will not be needed to be successful growing Basil, lettuce and herbs on a HopeGarden but if you are in a mind to maximize its' productivity at a later date this one is a no brainer. The picture is of the HopeGarden as provided without any modifications. It is a very nice addition to our collection of hydroponic systems used to provide fresh fruit and veg through our long. cold winters. These include Aerogardens, an Aerospring, an ebb and flow flood table and an eight site WaterFarm system. Based on my initial impressions I'm rating the HopeGarden as the most lightly built of these but it provides one of the highest bangs per square foot of all of them. So we'll be using it heavilly but handling it carefully. Will provide an update in 6 months or so but feel free to reach out to me if you have questions in the meantime. Update July 26, 2024. We're just wrapping up our 7th month of growing with the aHopeGarden with the original lights and overall have been pleased with the results. Various forms of lettuce and herbs have grown well including various varieties of basil, chives and sage. If you want to be able to make pesto all year round one aHopeGarden maybe all you'll need. Naturally compact growth habit varieties did better, retaining their dense foliage while less compact varieties grew "leggier" than normal, likely due to the relatively low wattage of the 12W bulbs. Peppers and tomatoes did not do well on this system, very likely because of the limited light intensity. Would we buy one of these again if we needed to expand or replace? Yes, very likely. However we've only had it for 7 months and the longevity of the product remains to be determined..

This hydroponic growing system is easy to set up and works wonderfully. The plants germinated quickly, and I've been impressed with how fast herbs and vegetables grow compared to traditional planting. The 44-pod capacity provides plenty of space for a variety of plants, and the system is simple to maintain. It's a great way to enjoy fresh herbs year-round right in the kitchen. Excellent quality and great value!

I like the way this system assembles and operates. I only have two minor issues with it. The first could turn into a major problem - the labels on the control panels are peeling off the front of the plastic light. The attached picture shows both ends of that label coming off, and the springs inside the two outside switches sticking out. I am afraid the springs inside that actuate the control buttons will eventually get lost as a result. That would render this device impossible to control and make it worthless. The second is less of an issue but still important. The lights raise to provide just over 14” of clearance for plants to grow. Unfortunately many of the pepper plants I planted in this area a bit taller than that, and the leaves that touch the lighting do not appear healthy. I have been trimming the tops of those plants to prevent them from touching the lighting the lights. I wish these would lift to 18” or so. That would require longer tubes to separate the levels and a taller extention mount for the lights, but would improve the devices. However - this is wonderful for growing herbs. I get basil, lettuce, oregano, chives, and parsley from it. Just add a couple liters of water every 3 or 4 days to keep it filled up and things grow. Not sure yet how often I have to add the nutrient fertilizer. Also cannot figure out how to get cilantro to grow in this - the seeds never start.

I absolutely love my Ahopegarden hydroponic system! I honestly wasn’t sure how well everything would grow, but I have been so impressed. Everything is growing really well, and it has been so fun watching the plants get bigger every day. The setup was easy, and once I had everything going, it has been very low maintenance. I love that I can grow fresh herbs and vegetables right in my house without needing a big outdoor garden. It’s also so satisfying to walk by and see how much everything has grown! I check on it every day, and it has honestly become one of my favorite little things in the house. If you’ve been wanting to try hydroponic gardening but don’t want something complicated, I definitely recommend the Ahopegarden. I’m really happy with it and already thinking about what I want to grow next!

I will update this review as I am able. I have not received anything for this review. I bought this unit with my own money. I am a devotee of chef David Leibovitz whose description of fraises de bois sounded so delicious, I had to try some. I knew I would need a lot of hydroponic space to do so, and this was one of the cheaper and better reviewed options. I set the unit up without too much trouble- I did find the font on the booklet to be rather small, but managed by using my phone’s camera to enlarge the images. The only issue I had with the setup was the light clips and bars, but once I figured out their proper placement everything went beautifully. As the AeroGarden and AHopeGarden planting baskets are interchangeable, I plan on using my AeroGardens to sprout seedling, and transplanting them to the AHopeGarden as needed. So far I have only put water in the unit and plugged everything in to ensure it all works. I’ve not planted it yet, but hope to update as I go. Update #1 Four days after planting the bottom unit, and I have sprouts! Eight types of lettuce, and two types of spinach. I have yet to finish stratifying my Alpine strawberry seeds, but plan to give the entire top unit over to them when they are ready. I ended up disassembling the whole garden, and placing it inside a three-shelf, rolling, wire shelving unit (Amazon Basics black). I covered the shelf with plastic liners, and cut out holes for the water intake pipe, and the drain hole. I bought 1” plastic hole plugs, and covered the four holes in the bottom unit that were left after removing the silver posts. (I also put one of the hole plugs over the post holder inside the bottom unit to prevent water from collecting inside). The plugs are easy to remove, so I am able to add water without sacrificing one of the grow-spaces. I bought 1/4” plastic hole plugs to cover all of the unused plant marker holes, and brighter white, grow-space covers that are nicer and offer better coverage than the ones that came with the HopeGarden. I also got a digital BN-Link interval timer that is set to run the water pump for five minutes every hour. Apparently the pump should run all the time. There’s a lot of conflicting information, so I settled on 5m every 60m for now. Lastly, I got some black and white Velcro cable ties to keep everything neat and nice looking. I did end up spending about $100 extra for everything, but now I have a more stable unit, whose lights are able to go up as high as I need to accommodate taller plants. UPDATE #2 (last update barring any problems with the garden in the future): I am still really happy with the HopeGarden. Almost every one of my seeds sprouted after I switched to the AG Grow Anything sponges. Only two out of sixty did not, which seems reasonable. The air stones (bubblers) I added, seem to be working well, and, as shown in my photos, I have an explosion of growth in my salad greens. If you don’t care about how it looks, and only want to grow greens or strawberries (nothing too tall), do not hesitate to buy this unit.

This system is nice-looking, and feels like a logical next step up from a countertop Aerogarden-style system. But don't be fooled! This is not a good or safe product. I set up the garden, which was fairly easy, but I was a bit nervous because many of the pieces don't "click" together - you just kind of wedge things in as far as they'll go. For example, the drain pipe from the top to the bottom layer is just stuck into a hole, and could very easily fall out and cause catastrophic leaking. And sure enough, after only 48h of running the garden, one of the tubes spontaneously popped out of alignment overnight; the garden then pumped water all over my floor! Additionally, the pump makes very loud whining/vibrating sounds. I'm furious that I now have to figure out how to return this huge item, which was completely defective and caused physical damage to my home. Definitely would NOT recommend!