Have you looked at your Aerogarden plants and thought something doesn’t look right, and over the next few days then they have got worse and worse…
Well hopefully if you haven’t caught them this time then next time these are things you can check for and rectify to keep your plants healthy and happy…
Don’t worry we all lose plants at some point….
So what do plants need to stay happy…
I did a post on what plants need…
So it is worth reviewing that one but this post will concentrate on how to make sure your aerogarden plants stay as happy as they can….
The Aerogarden
What the Aerogarden can do is to provide most of what your plants need….
Most… you caught that…
Well the Aerogarden still needs topping up with nutrients and water…and that is down to you…
Even when you have an aerovoir, you still need to monitor the level…
Especially in the hotter weather….
So your Aerogarden will provide light from the hood….
Make sure when starting seeds that the light is put on the lowest height…this will maximize the light levels for the seeds to start germinating…
The base of the Aerogarden has various settings for different types of plants.. most will work with most plants, but to get optimum growth levels then pick the one mode suitable for what you are growing…
And before you start a grow…clean your Aerogarden….
Run a water mix through, and if you have grown basil then crush a few basil leaves and add to the water, strain to remove the leaves and run it through the Aerogarden for a few hours….
This will have a antimicrobial effect on your Aerogarden…the other ways are to use a bit of vinegar in
water or a bit of bleach…personally i prefer the more natural approach…
And a bit of bottom heat from the electronics to warm the nutrient mix for more efficient takeup…
So that’s what the aerogarden can do…
Lighting, moving the nurtrient to aerate it and a bit of heating….
What you need to monitor
For plants to grow they need food….
At the start the seeds contain all they need to start growing…
Add heat and light and they are off and growing…
With the Aerogarden don’t forget to add the little domes to keep the humidity high over the top of the seed pods at the start…
I tried without and nothing grew….
So for the first cycle of nutrient you can just use water …or if you want to use nutrient make sure it is half strength….
Keeping the substrate moist lit and warm are important at the start…
You probably won’t need to do much…
I tend to remove the domes to see whether there is any activity and to change the top air under the domes…
But other than that you wait…
It should only be a few days or max of a couple of weeks…
Any longer than that and you are starting to run the risk of algae or mold killing the seeds…
You will see the startings of life under the dome….
Herbs are the easiest to grow, and either a gourmet herb seed kit or a grow anything kit will suffice…
I tend to pick up the cheap seeds at the local supermarket in the spring and use my own seed pods…
After a couple of weeks growth the leaves will probably be almost touching the domes…
The last thing you want is water sitting on the leaves at this point.. .so be vigil and remove the domes before they get to touching the inside of the dome…
I had dill that grew tall very quickly…but was very leggy…
The slightest bit of wind and they fell over…
So i was the wind…twice a day i would blow gently to knock it over and it started to grow stronger…
This, to me, is the one thing the aerogarden lacks and is one of the causes of a few problems…
The one is as described above the weakness of the plants stems….
The other is it allows bugs to land on the plants…
With wind they don’t get a chance to land or stay….
You should be monitoring your plans for signs of distress…
Any plants that are growing very quickly towards the light may need extra lighting or they will get leggy and not be able to support themselves…
The other problems are damping off…
Where the plants get attacked in the stems with fungi and you may see a white fuzz on the surface of the substrate…
This can happen in conditions of poor air circulation and high humidity…both of which you can get with the aerogarden in the home….
Hence you lift the domes and blow gently on them daily….
Once the plants are established
Now you have grown the seeds on a bit you can look in the bowl and see the root system….
They should be a nice white color…
If they ever turn a dark brown then you may have root rot….not something you want to see…
If you do see this then see if there are any white roots left on the plant by lifting the growing plate from the bowl…
If you are suffering from root rot then washing the root system to remove as much of the brown and leaving the white roots will give your plant the best chance it has…
Replace the nutrient with fresh to remove any remaining in the water and that is the best you can do…
But at this stage of growth you will need to have the nutrient at full strength…
And be monitoring the water level…
It will only drop a bit as they start growing, but getting into the habit of having some tepid water on standby will help later on…
I have an indoor watering can which i fill up and leave on the side to come up to room temperature…
Using this to top up the bowl and then refilling the watering can allows me to have access to tepid water daily…
I have basil, mint and thyme growing, a few weeks old ( the basil has its main leaves and the mint and thyme have a few fully formed leaves and i am having to top up about 1/4″ or 3mm of water daily in the bowl…
It is suprising how much water plants will expire or use…
And it is summer, in britain, this can mean anything form 10C to 30C (50 to 86 F)….
Currently it is hovering around 20C (68F)….
But ideally you don’t want to leave the plants until the aerogarden is flashing low water…especially when they are young plants…
The recirculating method used by the aerogarden ensures that your plant has the best chance of survival….
But you can help it by keeping the water at the right level…
Make sure, if you have created your own seed pods that the water is dropping from the bottom of the seed pods…this ensure good oxygenation to help the plants take up oxygen and grow quicker…
Not having the water drop is not disastrous, but can reduce the amount of oxygen in the nutrient…
The other factor reducing the amount of oxygen in the nutrient is heat…
If the aerogarden is in direct sunlight then this can cause the nutrient to overheat and potentially cook the roots…
If this does appear to happen then the removal of some of the nutrient and addition of cooling water to cool the whole of the nutrient down in the bowl would be beneficial…
But don’t add ice as this can shock the plant and potentially kill it…
Lighting
Moving the lights to track the highest growing plant may leave some of the plants without enough light for optimum growth…
Trimming the fastest growing plants so that the light hood can be positioned about 2″ above the top growth is ideal…
But allowing the plants to grow and touch the lights will cause the leaves touching to wither and wilt.
Also maintaining your light cleanliness and replacement period is essential for correct growth…
I was really pleased when Aerogarden added the led lighting to the aerogardens as the previous cfl bulbs had to be replaced every growing season…
I tried to get two seasons and the second one you could tell the light levels were not correct with the lack of growth…
But they were expensive and an unusual lamp fitment…so not easily replaced…
The number of cfl’s that when i was taking them out i broke was frustrating…knowing that there is a small piece of mercury contained within the tubing to allow correct operation did concern me….
Check the leaves
Your plants leaves can tell you the condition of the plant…
And you need to remember that the leaves may not be able to recover form damage caused to them…
New growth will appear normal, but the older damaged growth will remain…
Until the newer leaves have grown sufficiently then the older leaves should be left on the plant…
Drooping of the leaves may indicate that your plant needs water….
It can also be a sign of root rot where the roots cannot sustain the amount of top growth….
Whichever it is you need to investigate as quickly as possible…
And either water or clean up the roots…
It can also be a symptom of high nutrient temperature or lack of oxygen in the water…
If it is lack of oxygen or high temperatures then cooling the water as described above will help…
So if you see drooping leaves then it is a matter of investigation which cause it is….
To replace or top up
This is one of those questions where really no one is right…
i prefer to replace, but others just top up the nutrient…
Replacing it every few times they are alerted of the nutrient change…
My philosophy about plants is that they will take what they need to grow….
Leaving what they don’t need…
So if you now add more nutrient…yes you are replacing what they need but you are doubling what they don’t and this builds up and can prevent the plants taking up their correct nutrients through overload…
So if i replace the water and nutrient every time..they are starting fresh and don’t have this overload of unwanted nutrient…
I would recommend replacement every time…it takes me about 10 mins to drain, create the new nutrient and pump back in…every two or so weeks for the crops it gives me …no brainer…
When they are seedlings i use water for the first cycle then 1/2 strength nutrient for the second and top up the nutrient for the third…then replace completely from then onwards…topping up with water every day…
Keeping them healthy
You will get the odd time when you miss things or forget to water them, i still do on a weekend more often than not so a daily routine is better but missing one or two is not disastrous…
But getting into that routine of looking at them daily…giving them a little blow to strengthen them….
And check the water level…topping up if necessary…not leaving it until it flashes low water …especially at the start with seedlings…
Check the light is about 2 inches (50mm) above the top of the plants…
And if most are still low then see about trimming the tall ones…difficult with dill as the main stem is the growing one…
I tend to place dill and any other tall plants to the outside so they can be positioned outside the light hood if necessary…
But making sure you are growing compatible plants is useful…
Things like thyme are always low growing with dill being a tall plant the light hood may be raised a little too far for optimum growth of the thyme…
Over the months you can keep these herbs going you will see many changes and it is useful to record your findings in a journal…
Not for others but for you to look back on and see what grows well and how long it takes to reduce the surprises in the future…
I have grown salad leaves in the aerogarden, but have been disappointed by the lack of thickness of the leaves…i can now put that down to the fact that there is no wind to force them to have to strengthen the stems for support…
My next attempt at growing salad leaves i will add a fan to simulate the wind and see if there is any difference…
But keeping an eye out for bugs on your daily checks will also help the plant by having an extra bit of movement…teaching the plant to strengthen itself….
So get into a routine with your aerogarden and you will get many months of growing crops…some you use, some you store and some you give away…
And don’t forget that which you give away tell them how you grew it…how easy it is to get excellent results right in the home…how much easier it is than regular gardening…
I hope you manage to sort out the reason your plants are not doing well in your aerogarden and can rectify the problem either this time or next time…
Let me know what the problem is and how you solved it in the comments…
Thanks for reading
Phil
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....