Indoor Garden Hydroponics Growing System, DUESI Upgrade 12 Pods Gardening Plant Germination Herb Kit with LED Grow Light, Hydrophonic Planter Grower Harvest Vegetable Lettuce for Hydroponic Gardeners

Love my garden. I have a smaller more expensive name brand garden and this works just as well I especially like it to grow lettuce when the weather outside will not permit. AND it was good to start plants for my outside garden. The light on this doesn't come as close to the plants as my other light garden so I sometimes use the smaller one to start. The great thing is that the light goes up higher for larger plants and my Romaine lettuce needs that. I have had it almost 2 years now and still love it. I do turn it off when my outside garden is really doing well.

Doesn't make a much noise, can fit on most counters. Been using mine almost non-stop for 3 years with no issues. Comes with everything you need to grow basically any herb/vegetable. (I have grown too many tomatoes to count)

Love that light panel is easy to move up/down, yet holds position well. Also, like that the pump is held in place at the bottom middle of the water reservoir and that it is very quiet. The unit seems sturdy and holds 4-1/2 liters of water and is easy to refill w/opening on one corner. There are covers that can be put in unused holes to keep water from evaporating. I will be using these as only 5 of the 20 lettuce plants germinated. I kept the clear plastic domes over the plants until they had grown over the top of the pod, but took them off before they reached the dome cover. Have since moved the pods of the growing plants so they are well spaced from one another. Did have two more lettuce plants that germinated, but evidently the seeds fell to the side of the pod and they were growing on the side in the water. When I tried to move the tender plants to the inside of the pod, the roots broke off. Next time I will put the seeds in the pods prior to putting the pods in the unit. Was hard to put those tiny seeds in the pods under the light panel.Someone said to buy more pods before planting to have on hand if plants failed. I did not as wasn't sure I would like hydroponic gardening. But will be putting in an order today. For now will just let these plants mature and enjoy eating the bug/disease free organic lettuce. Have this hydroponic system in a cool, north facing office so the plants seem to be doing well.The light cycle (16 hours on, 8 hours off) seems to work well. The only problem has been when our electricity went off. The unit resets when turned off and then back on. So had the light coming on at night and going off in the daytime until I turned it off and on again.I did buy heirloom, hydroponic seeds and used the fertilizer at half rate initially as suggested by a youtuber. When I change the water, I will up the fertilizer to the recommended rate as the youtuber said to do. The light panel is at the lowest position. Since these are lettuce plants, may not need to raise the panel higher. Also, I followed the suggestion of another youtuber who said to put aluminum foil around the outside of the pod to keep algae from growing.In conclusion, these hydroponic units are nice, but don't expect all seeds to germinate. Have watched many videos and have not seen any where all the pods had healthy plants. Easy to grow plants like tomatoes seem to never fail, but they grow large and shade other plants limiting the smaller plants from doing well. Also, 20 pods means plants are way to close together to grow normally. Since only 5 of my lettuce grew, they should grow to normal size now that they are spaced away from one another. I can see where starting seedlings in this unit would work really well. Also like the idea of growing a few flowers in this unit to add color and make this an attractive display in the house. Think I will buy a package of flower seeds to plant w these lettuce for that purpose. Since the light can be set for veggies or flowers, am thinking maybe I could put it on the vegetable setting one day and flower setting another. Will be a fun experiment. :)

I got this and another 12 pod system (from IDOO) at roughly the same time (on lighting deals one day apart). i prefer this one, generally.i LOVE how tall the light tower can be raised...easily 10" higher than the other unit. I also love that there are no visible wires from the base to the lights (as with the IDOO unit, where 2 cables attach to the light tower).I generally like the compactness of the unit. the only thing i really dislike about this system is the pod layout. the IDOO unit has pods arranged in a 4x3 grid. this unit has more of a checkerboard pattern, but with the water-fill port in one corner where a pod should be, there is a displeasing asymmetry to the unit. I also do not care for how difficult it is to disconnect the power from the unit--the connection is in a recess on back/bottom, which makes reattaching the power while full of water after a change a bit of a chore--but now i just disconnect the wall wort from the receptacle and carry everything into the kitchen to make my life a little bit easier.the unit came with everything you need to start except seeds (12 pod opening covers, 14 baskets, 14 sponges, covers, labels, nutrients, support rods and signs), although i highly recommend getting better nutrients immediately (as in, when you order this unit, order nutrients as well). I started with the included nutrients, but saw a marked improvement when i changed to something else. I would also consider getting more sponges immediately as well; while technically reusable, you will break a lot of roots (and kill a lot of plants) trying to remove plants from them; and even if you don't kill the plant, chances are good the sponge will be unsuitable for reuse due to extensive damage.While the pictures show a bunch of stuff growing happily clustered tightly together, in reality, you'll strangle plants for light if you grow them that way. This system is really good for starting seedlings in a controlled environment (to then transfer to pots), or for growing maybe 6 widely-spaced plants (12 pod covers are included to keep the light out of the reservior). i've tried growing several lettuces and leafy greens, but if they are to closely packed the will not all do well--the fastest growers will shade the slow ones and kill them slowly.I will probably use this to keep 6 or 8 herbs growing year-round, but for now, i am jump-starting my pepper seedlings in it.one final note--the net baskets have a square shape, which is not universal. you can theoretically use them in a round pod hole, but they do not seat well and have a tendency to lean. they are well-suited for taller plants when used in this system, as the bottom of the basket has fins which hold them in the holes and help to prevent movement. While trying the 2 systems simultaneously (the IDOO system uses a more standard round net basket), i did a lot of experimenting and moving of plants, and had to fabricate some square boots for round net cups out of plastic card (there probably are some 3D printable options out there, but i was working quick, dirty, fast and cheap.

While the product has high aspirations of 12 pods, realistically you cannot grow 12 of anything because there is not enough room for all of the roots. On the same note, there should be some type of lid to cover the unused pod holes besides the clear plastic.Moving on to the lights, they are not distributed evenly, one side has more red than the other, same goes for the blue, results are that the plants do not even grow straight up, and barely grew at all.After over a month all of the things I planted are dead. I attempted several different seeds which grow fine outdoors but this seems to be an epic fail on all fronts, not even allowing the seeds to germinate.I have used aerogarden in the past and it was a treat. I mistakingly thought that a few years later that the technology had improved,Another thing to note is that the max light height is falsely advertised and is not 24".Realistically this should have room for maximum of 8, 4 per side, but the lights are not strong enough to do anything worthwhile.