An indoor hydroponic garden
Do you enjoy cooking with fresh herbs…
If you do then you really need to grow your own indoor herb garden in a moistenland hydroponics system…
Why do i say this…
I have been growing herbs and salad crops for over ten years hydroponically and believe me there is nothing better than picking your own herbs all year round…
The smell and fresh taste are really different from the ones you buy from the store…
So hydroponics…what’s that then…
Growing hydroponically
In your garden, if you are lucky enough to have one,you will dig the soil…
Add soil improvers like fertilizer, manure, blood, bone and other things…
You plant your seed and hope they germinate…
You watch part of your harvest go back to nature as the bugs get to them…
And once grown you get all different sizes and flavors…
Well what if you could reduce some of the stress…
I know what it is like coming out in the morning and finding most of your crop gone from slugs…
You either sigh and plant more or shout and scream and wage war…
With hydroponics you can remove that stress…
You have a lot more control over how your plants grow…
You give them the ideal nutrient…
You light them for the ideal time…
You support them with out most of the pests around….
You give them air….
So what is your plant going to do ….
Grow .…and grow up to 5 times faster
And that is the main idea behind hydroponics….
You control as much as you can and form an ideal home environment for your plants…
If it sounds complicated then please read on as nowadays it is so much easier…
Nowadays you have units to take care of most of it like the Moistenland intelligent planter….
Moistenland hydroponics growing system
I have a few Aerogarden units, they are very efficient at growing herbs and salad crops but can be on the pricey side if you want to try out indoor hydroponics…
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As the market is maturing other manufacturers are getting in on the act…
But are these clones any good…
So i bought the Moistenland hydroponics unit to see what was inside and how it compares to the Aerogarden and Click and Grow unit….
What’s in the box
When the parcel arrived i was handed a box 15.5 x 12 x 6 inches…weighing around 5 lbs…
Opening the box you are greeted with the instruction manual….
Unusual in the fact that it is in color, 32 pages long and takes you on a growing journey….
A bit of a refreshing change from the normal far east instruction manual….
Moving that to one side…
There is a well packaged unit, covered in a thin plastic cover protecting it…
Removing this from the box it appears that it it two units …
A thin one and a deeper one…
The thin one is the led grow light unit…
And the deeper one is the reservoir and grow table…
Looking at the light hood you see all the 114 leds….
Along with the fan in the middle…
Removing the larger units cover shows that the manufacturer has packaged the rest of the parts inside…
These are :
- 12 grow sponges
- 12 growing cups
- 12 greenhouse lids
- 6 blanking covers
- Mains power block
- Adjustable grow light stand
So everything you need to grow a maximum of 12 plants, bar the nutrients and seeds…
So what do you do with all these parts
Assembling the unit
Removing the power pack and confirming that it is the right plug type…
Placing this to one side for now…
Removing the grow light stand from its packaging
The t piece goes into the led grow light with the round knob to the rear…so you can adjust it with the growing plants…
The cable from the water pump goes into the slot in the housing…this is pretty tight but will squeeze in there…
The plug for the pump gets plugged into the grow light…
The adjustable stand bottom gets located in the hole in the reservoir…
I like the fact that thee is a drain plug at the rear and handles either end for easy carrying….
The grow table goes back onto the reservoir…
The mains power pack gets plugged into the other side of the grow light….
Opening the pack of grow cups you can now decide whether you will be planting the whole lot now or some and some later …
Personally for the starting grow i tend to go with some now , some later …
So you will need to open the cover pack and cover the holes not used….
The power is switched on and the fan control switch touched on the top of the grow light to switch off the pump…as you don’t want to run it dry…
The top touch controls are on/off, pump vegetables and flowers….
So for now touch the on/off button to switch it off…
And that’s it assembly is complete
Growing with the unit
Deciding what to grow first can be difficult…
You need to grow plants that are compatible with each other…
Similar grow height and lifetime or you will lose the light on one plant or one plant will finish before the others and may cause issues in the reservoir with rotting roots…
I would go with lettuce or basil and populate 3 or 4 to see how the system works…
It would be nice to see all of the places growing, but until you see how large the plants get then you may overcrowd them increasing the chances of disease…
Let’s go with lettuce…
I would grow one in each of the outside runs and in the two center runs, but not next to each other…in a zig zag sort of pattern…
So second one down left hand side then the third in the second row then the second one in the third row and third in the fourth row….
Check the lettuce seeds you have and make sure they are suitable for the temperature of your house, as this is designed as an indoor hydroponic garden…
Open the filling hole to the right hand side at the front ( there have been many reported issues with this breaking its tab, so be careful)…
Fill the reservoir with 4 litres of water….
That’s all seeds need at the start….
Ideally the water will be at room temperature as the cold water from the tap will slow growth until it has warmed up…
So it is worth remembering to have some water on hand in the future when the plants have grown some…but that is way off yet….
Activate the pump with a quick touch on the control and make sure it is pumping round the water, this movement of water oxygenates it and helps the roots to breathe….
This unit keeps the water circulating in the reservoir, unlike the aerogarden that circulates the water over the rooting medium….
The fan or air circulation system will come on, with the water pump, for half an hour then automatically shut off for half an hour…
It is worth switching the fan off when you retire for the night as this will switch it off for 10 hours, giving you a peaceful night…
I would soak the growing sponges for half an hour before adding them to the unit …
It is worth popping them into the grow cups, so that when they do expand at least they are inside the them…
Popping these into the holes in the grow table you can drop 3-4 seeds into each one…
Covering them with the clear grow domes…
Selecting the veg lighting and you are done…
The veg lighting selects the blue, white and red….
Going to the flower light mode will switch off the red lights …
Pressing the light switch again switches off all the lights….
What do i think of the unit
So what are my first impressions….
It is a basic unit, functional over form….
I do prefer the aerogarden or click and grow for looks….
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| Moistenland hydroponics unit | Aerogarden bounty | Click and grow 3 |
It is very simple to put together and operate, so is easy to use for beginners…
The large water tank will reduce the need for constant maintenance, but as there is no warning indicator, other than a visual check on the nearly impossible to read water level indicator ( i used a silver pen to highlight the marks) then there is a chance the plants can run out of water….
I do like the idea of a fan in the led grow lights hood, but was expecting a more powerful one….
But it is a little bit of wind and may do something to allow the plants to breathe as they are growing, we will see…
I planted lollo rosso and all year round lettuce to see how it does…
I will go on to grow fresh herbs in it in the future, but the click and grow has basil growing at the moment…
With the pump and the fan on it does make a lot more noise that the aerogarden.. but the pump is like a mini fountain, so it is to be expected….
It is a nice idea, it could maybe do with a little refinement, but this would push the price up….
The light, pump and fan operation is 16 hours on and 8 hours off for the cycle of 24 hours…
With you being able to pause the pump for 10 hours by touching the fan control on the top…
There is no reset button so you will need to switch it on first thing in the morning or remember to switch the lights off when you retire…
The red led lights are supposed to be far red and red….
Along with the blue and white do create the full spectrum needed for the plants to grow….
The other thought is that the top of the grow medium is exposed rather than covered, allowing algae to grow on the top…
This can be countered by adding a card or plastic cover to allow light to the seeds but covering the rest of the medium…it will need to allow the stem of the plant to expand as it grows or it will severely restrict its growth…
I have just cut out a circle from a glossy brochure to see if the clay content will stop it from being soaked, folding it in quarters to be able to cut the center out and make a few outward cuts for the stem…the circle diameter needs to fit nicely under the grow dome or this will not work as a greenhouse…
I do like the large size of the reservoir allowing more space between the plants, so more will grow…
I do like the idea of the fan to circulate the air…one of the mods i would like to do to an Aerogarden…
After seeing how it grows the first crop i will have a better idea of whether an airstone is needed for the reservoir to oxygenate the water…( i could use this for the click and grow as well as the Aerogarden).
Draining the nutrient will be interesting as the light stem is fitted into the reservoir, this then requires moving to somewhere to drain the liquid out…
So the process i can see in my mind is to remove the light stem as this houses the control panel and timer, and needs to be left plugged in…
Taking the reservoir to empty it and refill…
Or use a siphon and drain it in situ…i will try both…
But as it is flat bottomed unless it is fitted on a very level or slightly forward sloped surface you won’t be able to drain the reservoir completely with roots in there…time will tell…
Is it worth buying the moistenland unit
I would say if you want to grow lettuce then this is the unit for you as it gives you more room between the plants…
If you want to grow herbs, again yes this unit is for you…
If you want to be told everything, then this may not be the unit for you…
There is no app to remind you of tasks to do or lights to show when water is required…
So it is all about you making time for your new plants…
With the large reservoir it will be fairly forgiving and the led grow lights a constant reminder…
Siting it in a room where you want dim lighting may not be a wise move as the lights are fairly bright…
I would say as a starter kit or intermediate grower kit you will find this unit interesting and useful as a full cycle herb or salad crop solution…
With the fact that there is no nutrient supplied, you have the choice of them…
You could even go for the Aerogarden single pack one or the twin pack of maxigro….
Getting measuring instruments in there to check on the pH or the EC will be interesting as the filling aperture is very small…
So a small spouted filling jug will be required…
Again, as with most of the units i have bought , there are spares to be kept…
Be it grow domes, spare covers or growing pods or even light extensions, as in the case of the click and grow…
It would be a very nice feature to have a small storage box to keep everything in…
Or places to snap them into on the unit…to keep them out of the way…
But overall i would say if you have a space 10 x 14 x 19 inches looking to be made a bit greener…then this is the model for you…
If you want a cheaper start then an aerogarden or a click and grow, and to be able to grow more for the price….
So YES i do recommend it.
Thanks for reading…
I have been growing plants hydroponically since 2009. For years before that i was reading books and looking at systems and saying ...no way...
But once i had taken the plunge with the tomatoes outside, then there was no stopping me.
I tried out most of the systems and started to refine them, getting the plants to grow more efficiently.
Now I am more interested in indoor hydroponics and the challenges it presents. Being able to control the environment, feeding the correct nutrients and giving the correct length and type of lighting....