Hydroponics Growing System Indoor Garden: URUQ 12 Pods Indoor Gardening System with Remote Control LED Grow Light Height Adjustable Quiet Plants Germination Kit - Gardening Gifts for Women Black

This is a great little garden kit. They have thought of everything and it works really well. But I have learned some things that I wish I had know earlier. First of all, you have to buy the seeds separately and you need purified water. The instructions make it seem harder to set up than it really it. Some of the instructions on the little card provided conflict with instructions in the booklet. Follow the instructions in the booklet. It would also be a good idea to watch customer videos. It took me a while to decide where to put it. I put mine in the kitchen, in case there was a mess and to make filling it up easier, as in the videos, customer's showed cleaning out the water container and trimming plant roots. The instuctions say to watch for mold which means you ave to change the water. I have used mine for 2 months and I have not had to do this yet. The 2 types of plant food need to have water added to them and it takes hours for the crystals to dissolve. It was difficult to figure out how much plant food was required for the initial 6.5 Ls and when I added more water, I just added a few squirts to the water, as I had no idea how much food to add. This seems to work. I did not need to add water for the first several weeks, but after the plants (herbs) in my case) took off, I have had to add water almost every day. It was difficult for me to see the icons on the top of the light and to see the water level. Just be aware of this. I wrote the plant names on the round stick-on labels but as the seeds germinated they stuck to the sticky underside of the labels so I don't think I would use them again - I would just use the plastic plant markers. I wish I had thought more about plant placement. I planted basil in the middle, but soon realised they were going to tower over the smaller herbs and block out the light, so I had to move them and this was difficult as the roots had grown a lot. Also, the basil grew as high as the light, so I wish I'd planted them in the front, so I could tilt the light up and give them more room to grow. When I first set it up the light would not turn on and it was because the remote was not seated correctly in the little slot on top of the light. It has been a learning process and I have enjoyed watching my herbs grow, which they are doing well. I highly recommend this product.

I purchased 3 different hydroponic gardens at the same time for evaluation and this unit came in a close second. It is well made and easy to set up, with the exception of the timer. I had a problem getting the cut off time programmed, but other than that it was easy to set up and use. I planted Artichokes, Kale, and Gem Lettuce and 2.5 days later the Artichoke and Lettuce have germinated.

Work as it should. Plants grow very fast under the lights.

I brought this product back in April and due to moving I hadn’t been able to use it until recently. At first the system worked great and was growing all the herbs I wanted but after I harvested I noticed it stopping working. After trying the available troubleshooting it still does not work. The lights will not turn on and the pump despite being cleaned and the tank full of water does not turn on. It’s such a bummer because for the first month I used it I really like the product but since it stopped working almost immediately seems like a waste to have only been able to use it once, for the amount I paid. I was looking forward to being able to use it continuously for fresh herbs.

I'm reviewing the upgraded Uruq 12 pod hydroponic grow system that I purchased in Jan 2024 & I'm not being compensated in any way for this review. I've been a part time gardener since I helped my mom in her Victory Garden 50+ years ago & I've dabbled a little with indoor hydroponics off and on for over 10 years with my original triangular aerogarden classic 6 pod unit. It's a great little lettuce grower that has given me more salads than I can count, so I know a little about this, but I'm by no means an expert. This year, I wanted to expand more on the in-kitchen garden. I originally planned to build my own DIY setup, but after pricing out parts for a small system the size I wanted, I began looking at adding a new prebuilt system instead. I chose this one because it's a good medium size & met my minimum specs. I paid slightly less than 50USD. It came complete and in good condition from the manufacturer.Overall, this is a pretty good unit, but it has areas that aren't perfect. It has about the same pod to water ratio as my old AG (12 pod/5.5-6.5* liter vs 6 pod/2.8 liter). The pod holes are also the same spacing - not too close (3" centers). It has red, blue & white LEDs, unlike several competitors that didn't have blue filaments. The light panel is slightly smaller (an inch all around?) than the tank, so it does not extend past the pods, unlike my old system which extends all the way to the edge of the tank, but the light is very bright. I noticed some slight bending in early growth, but I also have my garden near a large SE facing window, so some of that could be morning sun. Anyway, the light seems to cover the plants pretty well. The fold up hinge makes top access easy - Great feature. It has 6 positions between 0 & 90 degrees of tilt. Unlike my old system the Uruq has a removable remote control that fits in a charging cradle on top of the light and a magnetic lock to keep it from falling off when you flip the light up. The light also has an explicit warning sticker to not press on the remote while it's cradled in the light fixture. It's a very nice feature to be able to hold the control panel in your hand, and it also saves the light from frequent finger presses, which is a good thing. The light post is metal - and tight, but it lacks locking positions. It looks like it's going to slip, if it's moved too much & the hinge is made of plastic.The tank wall is a little thin. After I filled it with water, I noticed the front bowing out about 2 millimeters. It's been a month now & it doesn't look like it's going to get worse, but maybe in the next version they should get a more rigid design for tank rim. The system also came with 2 rubber stoppers for the drain hole.The documentation is easy to read but only covers the basic mechanics. There's a quick start guide with basic info about how to sprout a seed. The documentation has little about growing plants once they've sprouted. The software supports both a clock and programmable start & end times, with 1 minute accuracy. I'm still not sure what all the light combinations are because while it says how to change the light mixture, it doesn't actually list the modes in order anywhere I could find. Only rudimentary pictures on the remote display.The Uruq uses a different hydroponic technology than my old garden. Instead of an aquarium air stone, this unit uses a water pump to periodically circulate a current around the tank. The pump is located right below the water fill hole. You should run the pump whenever adding fertilizer or PH chemicals to prevent burning the roots of plants near the hole or causing damage to the pump. Fortunately, there's a button to manually turn the pump on. The pump is far quieter than a bubbler. If listening to a fishtank airstone bothers you, this solves that problem. Unlike the older tech which oxygenated the water while top down circulating it, this unit only moves the water around sideways. As a result, the hydroponic solution in the Uruq is very low on oxygen - like a Kratky jar. If the tank is kept filled to the top, it will drown the plants. There needs to be at least a 1.5 inch gap for aerial roots to breath. That's why I'm really calling it 5.5 or maybe 6 liter system. You shouldn't fill this to full capacity after the plants are established. I also strongly suggest getting a ph test kit and a TDS (Total Disolved Solids) test meter. They're less than $20 each and well worth it to not tear your hair out at a brown, dead garden. Some water filter pitchers even come with a free TDS meter, if you can "Zero" in on one. If you're like me and hate changing water, refilling the tank with filtered water will let the garden last longer between water changes.The system came, oddly enough, with 13 plastic plant holders, 13 grow sponges, 13 domes and 4 sheets of 4 stickers each. For all you superstitious readers, the water hole is exactly the same as the other 12 holes, except for a watering can symbol instead of a plant stake hole in the plastic lid and the system Some people might even consider it to be a 13 pod farm.The system came with 2 bottles for 100ml each A\B fertilizer and packets to make 2 more bottles. Make sure you use bottled or sterilized water to mix up the fertilizers & keep it in a dark place or you'll soon have bottles of algae. I'm thinking of drilling a small hole in the lid and adding an Automatic Top Off canister to replace evaporation like I use for my other garden. A small hole or 2 in the back for addons would have been a nice feature. One thing I didn't like is that the electrical plug for the pump is located essentially on the deck. That could become dangerous if it gets wet.As a break in test - and to go through part of my old can of seeds, I picked an assortment of 6 plants with seed ages from brand new all the way back to 2007 - (17 year old swiss chard seeds) in order to see what I still have that's viable. I can happily report that after a good 24 hour seed soaking and 48 hours in the system, my 3 year old arugula seeds literally exploded - 100% germination. about 24 hours later, the first of 2 chards showed a visible root - 25% germination. Within the next few days, something from everything sprouted except the 10yr old spinach seeds. The system has a good strong warming light. It'll definitely sprout seeds. Only time will tell how long a grow can be maintained.