The apartment maintenance people came by today for some routine maintenance. While they were here, one of them noticed my Aerogarden. He asked me if it works really well. I told him that I was happy with it, and I liked being able to grow things in my apartment. He said that he’s seen the commercials several times, and was always curious about it.
Introducing the world to the Aerogarden, one person at a time. 
While the pump was out, I saw no changes in my plants, other than a little yellowing. I mean, nutrients are difficult when they come in tablet form and there isn’t a pump to cycle them throughout the water. And I imagine they got a bit less light since I was more apt to just turn it off, and also less water. The plants didn’t wilt, and their growth didn’t appear to falter- it just didn’t advance either.
It’s been such a short time since I got the pump in the mail, and I’ve already noticed a tremendous difference. Sure, some of the leaves are still yellow, and some are dead. But most are the brightest shade of green, and have already grown a noticeable amount.
It’s been proven to me yet again- the Aerogarden really does make a difference.
I got the new pump today. And true to their word, it was sent for free and they sent a salsa garden seedpack. But there was an added little surprise of some herb shears in there. Now THAT is exceptionally good customer service, and way more than I expected! Thanks Aerogrow!
My plants are a little yellow and wilted. I tried to keep them watered, but let’s be honest- it’s a lot easier when the Aerogarden handles it for you. I threw a couple of nutrient tablets in, turned it on, and it came on exactly like it was supposed to. I think the plants will easily come back and be right as rain with a few days.
Just a short, lighthearted post while I’m waiting for the new pump to get here…
I have had a visit from someone in every single state- except South Dakota. I don’t know why that is. Are Aerogardens illegal in South Dakota? Have the turned off the water and electricity to the state? Maybe they are such exceptional farmers that they don’t need gardening appliances? Or maybe everyone in the state already has one, but they don’t feel the need to talk about it.Â
Whatever the reason, I’d tell all the South Dakotans to come visit, but they’d never get the message since they aren’t visiting! Â At any rate, we love you SD, and thanks to all the people who are visiting!
Bah. My pump is completely dead. I think it’s still related to the fungus issue. It’s got a film all over the innards of the pump (there are directions on Aerogrow’s website that tell you how to take apart and clean your pump). I imagine the parts can’t move very well if they are catching on filmy, yucky stuff.
So, I wrote Aerogrow. Let them figure out how to solve this, because I sure don’t know.
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UPDATE: I got an email back from customer service already. They are sending a new pump and a salsa garden seed kit, which wasn’t necessary, but is appreciated anyway. I told my husband about it, and he said, “They really seem to take customer service seriously.” I’ll second that!
The tomatoes and peppers are doing just fine, as you can see below.
Also, there are some new updates in the Aerogrow store that I think are pretty cool. There’s one thing that really attracts my attention, and that is that you can now buy the individual pieces separately. For example, let’s say the arm that holds the light snaps. Or maybe the bowl gets a crack. You can replace any of the individual pieces. They already sold the pump, sponges, and lights. But now you can get the arm, bowl, base, and hood. Great idea, Aerogrow!!
Finally, one quick note about what I write here. Quilly once told me that it seems like I have had nothing but problems with this machine. And I see how it can come off that way. The main reason I started this blog is to talk about what you can do, might do, and shouldn’t do with an Aerogarden. I wanted to experiment, and be as transparent as possible about the results, even if it wasn’t always favorable. In other words, let me be stupid with my machine, so you don’t have to be. lol So if it seems like I’m a little down on the Aerogarden sometimes, you’ve got to remember that I’ve abused the hell out of it. I’ve switched out the seeds, the sponges, the minerals, the labels, and I know how to do the lights. I’ve poured in fish oil, fungicide, bleach, dish soap, and CLR. I’ve disintegrated the sponge, used pantyhose in place of the sponge, cooked the lettuce while it was still alive, washed the roots, taken the top apart, and generally done all manner of messed up stuff to it. And the best testament I can give is that it’s still growing plants.
If someone comes looking here for info about white, fuzzy stuff growing on their plants, they’ll know what didn’t work for me. If someone is curious why the last two spouts aren’t pouring water, they’ll find out. If someone wants to know whether they can put it next to the stove, I answer that.  Transparent isn’t usually very pretty. So if you are thinking it sounds like a lot of trouble, trust me, it’s not. Provided you follow the instructions, and don’t try to find out what happens when you submerge the part it says not to submerge.Â
As promised, although they are a little late, here are the pics of the tomatoes. I’ve also got a jalapeno that is *just* starting to come up. I don’t know if you’ll be able to make it out or not, but it’s there. The labels on these say “Salad Greens”. Don’t be fooled. As I mentioned before, I ordered some of the seed pod sponge inserts, and I’m reusing the plastic pods. The sponges came with labels, but these were firmly attached and clean, so I’m reusing them.
Also, no sign of the fungus problems from the last batch. I’m keeping a pretty close eye on it, but so far, so good.
I’ve got the first sprouting from my tomato plants. I tried getting a pic, but it was hiding behind the label. I’ll try again tomorrow.
Tonight, I had a minor catastrophe happen. One of the spots (where a tomato plant is going to grow) was not sending out water. The sponge was wet, but there was only a slight drip every now and then, and not the steady stream that is usually there. I tried to clean it with a Q-tip, but that didn’t work. So, I moved on to the screwdriver.
On the bottom of the Aerogrow, there are a bunch of little screws. I expected a network of tubes to be running through here, but surprisingly, when I did surgery on my machine, I found out there wasn’t. The top and bottom piece are made from molded plastic, and form a wide open area where water can run through. Each spot for a plant has a ridge where that water gets in, travels around the plant in a trough, and then out through the hole. Honestly, when you look at the bottom of your machine, it’s exactly like that, but about 1/8th of an inch deep.
There was a little gunk on there, probably from hard water. Not too much, but I wouldn’t want to eat supper off of it or anything. ;) I cleaned this up, and used a Q-tip in the trough area, right before the water goes through the hole and into the plant.  After cleaning it, I put it back together and put it in. This was a false start because I forgot to screw everything back in place, so I took it out and put the screws in this time. But because it was so late at night and I wasn’t thinking clearly enough to realize that I forgot the screws, I figured out what happened. I think, anyway.
When the screws were out, it was leaking water from all the screw holes, and the normal holes in the middle spots. But it didn’t have enough pressure to get to either of the end spots. What I think happened was that with all the cleaning and scrubbing, a screw on one side came a little loose. And water being water, it took the path of least resistance and never got to that hole sufficiently enough to come out. After tightening the screws, it seemed to help. Now, even though I don’t think the gunk was a problem, cleaning it certainly didn’t hurt.
So there you go. If you’ve got water coming out properly on all the holes except one, I’ll bet it’s an end one. And if it is, try tightening the screw before you take everything apart. I bet that will fix it.
Finally, and just so you can amuse yourself at my expense, I scrambled to figure out why it wasn’t working, and just grabbed the pods and set them to the side. When it came time to put them back in, it took me a minute to figure out which was which.Â
Today I planted a new crop. I decided to go with tomatoes and jalapenos because I wanted to do another test. The first time I tried growing things on my own with a hack of the Aerogarden, I did tomatoes, jalapenos, and cilantro. This time, I wanted to stick with something similar so I could compare results.
I am using the sponges and nutrients that come directly from Aerogrow. If you remember, last time I experimented with using my own sponges (fair results) and my own nutrients (utter disaster). The only thing unofficial this time is the seeds, and Aerogrow is very big on saying that you can use your own seeds.  So, I want to give it a shot. Results and updates will be posted as they happen.
My arrangement is jalapenos in the middle front, and tomatoes on each of the back sides.
For those curious about the fungus situation, I ran a very strong bleach solution through for two-three days. After this, I dumped and rinsed it, and ran water + fungicide solution for a day. I rinsed that out, and now it’s just the water and nutrients. If this doesn’t take care of it, I will submit my Aerogarden device to the nearest laboratory, where they can use it to create a horrible agricultural weapon. (Just kidding, Mr. Government man!!) I’m telling you, if it survives 2-3 days in bleach, that’s one mean fungus.Â
