I've been reading alot of posts about the Aerogarden today. It seems alot of you love it and alot of you say your better off building your own system. I have never grown indoors yet, though I am interested. Would anybody recommend the AG for a start or am I truly better of with a homemade setup? I'm not looking for huge yields, just a quick grow for fun year round with a simple setup.

Also, I would prefer to hear facts (from experience or first hand knowledge) not tidbits you picked up from other posts, for I have read most likely them already.

Thanks everyone, hope to hear some feedback soon.

by no means should you take my word alone because I am a begginer myself, but I believe building your own is the way to go. I am almost finished with my system and I have found a couple advantages to building your own. First, it is after all your own and it can be made a tweaked to fit your needs. Second, I have found that there is a great sense of accomplishment when you DIY. Third, going back to the first point the system can be as elaborate as you want it. Finally this entire site is a treasure chest of knowledge and there is no reason why anyone would ever have to buy a pre-made non-custom system that is probably over priced. As far as product is concered I don't know just yet but after I produce I'll be able to say definitavely if this is the way to go.
by the way welcome

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We are not "men of knowledge" with respect to ourselves...

The AG works great, it's easy, it's a lot of fun. You will probably outgrow it if you plan to use it year round. For me, I started by adding some CFL's and an air pump, then I upgraded to a MH/HPS conversion air-cooled light, then I bought a cabinet at Wal-Mart, added a charcoal filter and exhaust fan that I routed into my attic. I am still using the Aerogarden base but I wound up with pretty much a custom system. Will I eventually replace the base? Probably. But by then I will still be using the Aerogarden for clones, sprouts and vegging.

The cool thing about the Aerogarden is that it's plug-and-play so it gets you into indoor growing immediately. I'm not patient enough to build a system from scratch. I wanted to start growing right away and add on pieces as I needed them.

So, for what it's worth, I think you'll enjoy the hell out of an AG. If you want to customize you can, if not just plug it in and grow.

Well, I need to put my 1/2 penny in.

The AG cost way to much for what you get out of it. IMHO the best product out there for the person who only wants one or two plants is the Waterfarm. I have seen the produce from the AG, and it does not match the same money spent on the waterfarm. The water farm is only $50 complete with everything but the plant and the lights. So you have $100 to spend on lights. And this can be up graded easier then the AG. I have two Waterfarms right now growing, alone with my 13"X26" Hydro system, and my 3'X3' system. Buy far I like my water farm the most. It is easy and fast to do Nut changes, and give me incredible results. I have a plant in one of my Waterfarms that I figure to get at least 3 OZ's of premo bud. I did do some tweaking to the waterfarm, but not much. Just put a air stone in the bottom, and connected a 5 gallon bucket with a valve on the hose for ease of NUT change. Now I do not have to lift that big fat bushy plant off the base with that monster root base anymore.

My Vote is for the WATERFARM!!!!!

Yeah I was checking out the Waterfarm at the local hydro shop. My problem is space. I don't think I can fit two five gallon buckets in my cabinet. You should post up a pic of your set up. I'd love to see it....

the ag is a great jump into shallow water culture for my next grow i will be making a dwc container with six spots to give my roots more than a gallon to fight over. here is my setup with the aerogarden a 40 watt red spectrum floro tube 3 extra cfls and an airstone also diy co2

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I guess I'm old school. I found it easiest to go to Walmart and buy a resevoir (read: big platic tub) and two leech trays from their garden department. Headed over to Home Depot and picked up 2 pumps. 1 to stir, one to pump up to the trays.

Throw your plants in rockwool cubes and put them in the trays. Set the timer for twice a day and in 8 weeks time I had bud!

Costs less than the waterfarm and I can grow potentially 12 plants in the thing. I guess I just don't see what the fascination is with AG and especially waterfarm buckets. Those drip systems seem to be a royal pain in the ass.

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"It picked up some dandy-lion pollen or something from your yard and popped out a bastard seed. " --Anonymous
Current Grow(s):DP White WidowFucking Incredible

My Camera is broken, but here is a picture of the waterfarm. This comes complete with nuts and all, just missing the plant and a light. This system is very, very easy to hook up and operate. If you do want to connect a second 5 gallon bucket as I did. You do not even have to have that bucket inside your closet, Just connect them with a hose, and put a valve next to the waterfarm so you can open and shut it.

The blue hose coming up the side is so you can tell when it is full, or when it needs more nuts. There is a white line out of the picture.

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Laserbrn,
I take it you have never even seen a waterfarm in action. This thing does not operate like a regular drip system, air is what feeds the water to the Halo. These Halos do not clog, unless you got leaf matter or somethng huge like that in your res. The root ball could hinder the air though. But this is why there is also a air stone in the bottom. My root ball right now is bigger then a soccer ball, and so white and healthy looking. Wish I had my camera, so I could take a picture of the Big Green Bush I have.

Myself, I never use anything other then food grade plastics. Home Made or not.

Those tubs from Home Depoe and Lowes and such are just cheap plastics, and the Nuts can react to the plastics. To each his own though.

My other system I could stick 300 plants in if I wanted to, does not mean it would produce worth a crap. I usually just stick 4-6 plants in my 4'x4' system. I think I might do nine this time though.

Thanks again for the input. I think I will try an AG, cut off the top and use a 400w HPS.

As far as light cycles go (in general), and watering settings (for the AG), what is recommended? Does the light cycle need to change when vegging to flowering?