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Post by scarfguy on Oct 12, 2023 16:49:11 GMT -5
Well, here's the story. My husband bought me a Harvest for Christmas 2021. I didn't really know what it was, so I DIDN'T OPEN IT. It sat in the box in my laundry room until sometime in April 2023 when I decided to clean up the space and decided to see what this thing actually was. OH MY GOSH. I planted the herb pods that day and when I saw the little seedlings a few days later I of course told my husband WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME TO OPEN THIS BEFORE??? I think I've said that to him about a thousand times since then! So, by the time I was using the dill and basil and the Thai basil was going crazy (I never cooked with it before this, and we love it with stir fry and fried rice) and I realized I could have fresh parsley all the time (the store parsley has NO taste)--I saw the Bounty Basic on sale and decided I needed 2 of them. That would let me grown everything I wanted to grow (what I said to myself THEN). Bounties came in June 7. I moved the herbs to one of them and planted lettuce and kale in the other one. I bought Mighty Mini seed pods to plant a couple in the Harvest. And then I thought: You can't just plant TWO Mighty Minis. You have 3THREE seed pods! Wouldn't you know it, the Harvest XL was on sale in July! In comes garden number 4! I planted more basil, kale and lettuce, and got the third Mighty Mini pod started. When I saw the Mighty Minis really were going to be small and really would do well in a Harvest--well--it would look so much cuter if they were all in a Harvest. So at the beginning of September I went on Ebay and found my second Harvest, great price, brand new--garden number 5! It's home for the third Mighty Mini and for getting seed pods started. Then I completely gave in to the addiction, no will power, at all. (How can you NOT buy an AG at the prices you can find on Ebay???) I ordered my third Harvest on Sep. 21 (garden number 6) and my second Harvest XL on Sep. 26 (garden number 7). And when I realized how useful it would be to have herbs right in my kitchen, I ordered a Harvest 360 on Oct. 4--garden number 8! It's all planted and looks great on my counter. When I opened that old Christmas present back in April, I had no idea how much fun and ADDICTIVE Aerogardening would be! I am PRETTY SURE I am NOT going to get ANY MORE gardens, at least not until next year! Even though I keep opening Ebay just to check... (-:
Your addiction (enthusiasm) is obvious.
Glad you are here!
You belong with us!
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slw
AGA Bounty
Posts: 775
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Post by slw on Oct 13, 2023 14:03:27 GMT -5
I picked 6 more cucumbers today; 5 from the AG pods and 1 Iznik. I also sampled the refrigerator pickles I made a couple of days ago. They taste good but the texture is not so great. They are a bit limp so I suspect the thin-skinned varieties are not sturdy enough for pickling. My husband liked them fine but me not so much.
I did pour hot (just after boiling) brine over them but that's my standard MO for fridge pickles. Hot jars, hot brine, hot lids. Always works great for regular pickling cukes. This curbs my enthusiasm for the AG-grown varieties because I mainly wanted to be able to make a jar of refrigerator pickles every month or so.
Some lettuce I had in a Harvest on the top shelf of an AG bamboo rack has bolted big time. I think it was too warm up there; the water seemed tepid. I actually don't like using the top rack of those shelves because they are difficult for me to reach and I hate dragging a ladder around.
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Post by scarfguy on Oct 13, 2023 15:01:59 GMT -5
Yea, I have trouble figuring out how to use the top shelf of the AG bamboo rack. It's just too high to be useful.
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Post by tompepper7 on Oct 13, 2023 18:50:12 GMT -5
Yea, I have trouble figuring out how to use the top shelf of the AG bamboo rack. It's just too high to be useful.
My issue with the AG bamboo rack has to do with the lower racks. A Harvest can fully extend but there is quite a bit of space remaining. A Harvest XL or Bounty cannot fully extend. The top shelf does not have that issue but as has been mentioned, a step ladder at the least is needed. I picked up a tiered setup from Amazon and I'll see how it actually works when I set it up. Seems like it should hold 5-6 Bounty/Harvest gardens.
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slw
AGA Bounty
Posts: 775
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Post by slw on Oct 13, 2023 23:37:46 GMT -5
I picked up a tiered setup from Amazon and I'll see how it actually works when I set it up. Seems like it should hold 5-6 Bounty/Harvest gardens.
Be sure to post a picture when you get it!!
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Post by scarfguy on Oct 14, 2023 9:13:43 GMT -5
My wife had a great suggestion for the top shelf of the AG bamboo rack!
I've got a dead harvest elite but the light works. She said put artificial flowers in it!
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Post by lynnee on Oct 14, 2023 18:34:16 GMT -5
AnnSako, that is one of the funniest "I'm an addict" stories that I've ever seen! Glad that you found us.
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Post by lynnee on Oct 14, 2023 18:36:34 GMT -5
Love your photos, tdse! Especially that gorgeous banana pepper.
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Post by tompepper7 on Oct 14, 2023 19:43:57 GMT -5
The curved section I bought may be sold out. It's no longer on Amazon. This is the picture on the shipping box. My calculations suggest 2 Bountys should fit on the bottom (maybe a Harvest inbetween). A couple Harvest XLs on the 2nd shelf, and a single Bounty on the top. The gardens should be a bit offset so we'll see if there is an issue accessing the controls or changing the water (if they do actually fit).
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slw
AGA Bounty
Posts: 775
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Post by slw on Oct 14, 2023 20:37:43 GMT -5
Looks like a good solution, Tom.
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tdse
AGA Sprout
Posts: 122
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Post by tdse on Oct 14, 2023 20:51:20 GMT -5
Love your photos, tdse ! Especially that gorgeous banana pepper. Thank you!
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Post by ricksgarden on Oct 15, 2023 12:56:58 GMT -5
I put my AeroGarden propagated lavender in indoor potting soil today. Next going to try a Concolor Fir twig...
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Post by scarfguy on Oct 15, 2023 16:39:39 GMT -5
TERMINATED! My sunflower adventure today!
I cut off the big flower and put it out for the birds. They are exploring it and nibbling at it but I don't think the seeds are dry enough to come out easily yet. We'll see if they like it better after a couple of weeks.
I had planted 3 sunflower plants in a bounty. The center one was dominant but I let the other 2 grow. About a month ago, I moved it and turned it around so that we could see the big flower open. The other two flowers were very small and on the "window" side so we really didn't see them until today when I turned the AG around. Surprisingly, the other two are bigger and nicer than I imagined. We're gonna let them live a bit longer.
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pfunnyjoy
AGA Bounty
Made more grow room in my office!
Posts: 621
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Post by pfunnyjoy on Oct 15, 2023 17:38:14 GMT -5
The other two sunflowers look great! Hopefully the birds will warm up to their treat after the seeds dry out a bit.
Nice grow, anyway!
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pfunnyjoy
AGA Bounty
Made more grow room in my office!
Posts: 621
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Post by pfunnyjoy on Oct 15, 2023 17:59:38 GMT -5
I'm still unsure of why the low water light in my Classic AG doesn't go off when refilled. I took a look at how the 6 Elite+ had it's thingie on, figuring that as the gardens are close in age, it might be identical and it was. Basically, there's a little peg/protrusion and an L-shaped cutout in the float holder that you twist on and off over it.
Well, I got it twisted off in the Classic 7, but couldn't get it twisted back on!
So, I decided to do an early rinse and refill, lifted the grow deck off, and while the bowl was empty, inspected and reseated the water float thingie. And I couldn't see a darn thing wrong with it! Clean as a whistle and moving throughout the tube. The Tatsoi roots were VERY long, and difficult to get back in the bowl, so I trimmed them just a little bit, also taking the chance to remove a bit of root from the pump filter. So far, the little plants are alive after all that, hope I didn't kill them!
I went with 1-1-1 on the Flora series for the refill, hopefully that will keep them for the next two weeks, when I will probably try the aggressive growth level.
Then, my 6 Elite+ pulled the same stunt! The add water light went on, I added water and it didn't turn off. So I don't know why the float thingies aren't working. I inspected the other old gardens that aren't in use, and every one was apparently cleaned, and no issues with the float thingie. All had the magnet oriented downwards, so unless I got that wrong for every single garden when I last cleaned them...
My solution for the moment is to just press the reset button. Which does turn the light off. I consulted the manual to see if that should be necessary and there was NO mention of having to do that when adding water. So if it keeps happening, I'm just going to press it and then if the nutrient light doesn't go on at the right time, just reset nutrient light manually when I actually add nutrients.
Unless anyone has any better ideas.
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Post by tompepper7 on Oct 15, 2023 18:30:43 GMT -5
I like the Aerogarden Experiments Youtube channel's "Deep cleaning Aerogarden Bounty". I find this is necessary after growing a pepper plant for many months. Not so much if you grow some lettuce. When I cleaned up a couple of Bounty Basics one of them reported the water level as medium all the time. I didn't bother to check further as I am topping off the gardens daily when they are really growing.
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Post by lynnee on Oct 15, 2023 18:42:16 GMT -5
pfunnyjoy, Could it be that the water level light is on by default? The manual for the Classic 7 says that the "Add Water" light BLINKS when the water level is low. You might try leaving the light on, and seeing whether it blinks when the water level is low again. The only quirky thing I know about the AG water level indicator is that the one in the Farms will NOT work unless it is plugged in before the unit is plugged into the wall outlet. I'm pretty sure that the magnet on the float thingie has to go first into the float column thingie, so that it is on top. If you put the float thingie into a bowl of water, the magnet will be underwater.
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Post by lynnee on Oct 17, 2023 11:59:15 GMT -5
Today I had six Bounties that were due for plant food and their biweekly R&Rs. No time, so I added nutes and water, and reset the plant food screens to five days. On Sunday I should be able to perform the full R&Rs. I discovered that a small bottle (3 oz.) of AG nutes has exactly the right amount to give the recommended 12ml to each of six Bounty gardens with mature plants.
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Post by scarfguy on Oct 17, 2023 18:46:28 GMT -5
Today did an R&R on my day 47 Little Sicily and Homeslice tomatoes, quite a few flowers on both and one mater!
HEY! ricksgarden, we haven't heard about your homeslice tomato lately. I think this is the last post.
What's the status of the homeslice? I think I may try one in the next vacant AG.
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pfunnyjoy
AGA Bounty
Made more grow room in my office!
Posts: 621
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Post by pfunnyjoy on Oct 18, 2023 14:11:51 GMT -5
Thanks, Lynnee.
At present, I think I'm just going to let the plants get on with things, and do more inspection and a deep clean with citric acid when they are done. It's not a big deal to just inspect the water level daily and is probably a good habit.
As for the magnet, I think I found someone saying on Reddit that it was on the bottom in the old units, but that might well be wrong. I just don't want to mess with lifting the decks if I can avoid it. The little Tatsoi look quite happy and are growing nicely in the Classic. I guess the thing to do is once they are cleaned out again, run a test to see how it responds.
I'll see how I feel at the next rinse/refill, maybe I'll be up to it by then, or maybe the darn things will start behaving.
I had to clean up a big mess my husband made last night and my back is now killing me, hence reluctance for lifting anything. On the plus side, perhaps I can leverage helping him out into an AG Bounty Elite if a sale should happen for Black Friday ...
He was actually telling me there was a deal for an AG Sprout at $35 on Woot, but I'm not too interested in the Sprout size.
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