EXO Garden Hydroponic Growing System Vertical Tower - Vegetable Plant Tower Gift for Gardening Lover - Automate Aeroponics Mini Indoor Outdoor Home Grow Herb

For many months I wanted to buy a tower hydroponics system but everything I found was super expensive. I was happy to find these. I put them in my grow tent, where I already had grow lights. I made a few mistakes at first. I didn't pack enough stones in the baskets, which let in too much light when the plants were small and I had a problem with algae. I used hydrogen peroxide and it cleaned it all up. I also put my plants in a little too soon, before they had a good root system. Now everything is thriving and I have plenty for salads everyday. I have many different lettuces and pepper plants growing in these two. Today I received my third one and plan to order another soon. Maintenance is minimal and easy. Most importantly is how much better everything tastes compared to what you get at the store. Oh, and no problem with bugs. Originally I started my grow tent plants in soil and i was taken over by gnats. I couldn't be happier!

The tower is a little shake and I had to duct tape the top on but otherwise it's a great product and is producing giant plants. I would leave the one site right above the bucket flap empty as to not damage the plant when opening the bucket.

Product doesn't work. The flow of water on the pots is scatter some and doesn't keep the roots or wet enough for growth. The lid of this product to refill with water is not easy to open. Making refilling and adding nutrients a pain in the butt.

Product works great! We planted several variations of vegetables and they started to sprout within a few weeks! They are growing faster and faster and it's alot of fun tracking the progress. This system delivers the right amount of water and works better then products We tried.

We purchased this product with the intention of donating it to a grade school classroom for the kids to learn about aquaponics. We thought we would test the system out in our office first before deploying it in the schools. We tried growing a number of different plants from seed, including kale, lettuce, spinach, parsley, thyme, and others. We germinated the seeds in a separate tray and then transplanted them into the plugs. The plants did not grow well. The stems were long and weak. We even added multiple LED grow lights to provide 360-degree lighting. The water began to stink and algae began growing throughout the tower. The system was louder than anticipated as well. We followed the instructions on fertilizer and filled the bucket with filtered water. This product did not perform as well as we expected. I would not recommend this for indoor garden plants.

When I received this product I was very disappointed in the quality. The base is a very cheap plastic bucket. The connection point on top of the bucket is loose and wobbling. When the plants grow bigger it’s breaks off from the base. This is a very expensive product for very cheap parts. The company that manufactures this has no build quality integrity.

I'm relatively new to hydroponic gardening so this was a leap of faith. In terms of set-up, the unit gets put together in a matter of minutes. Followed the directions and had my plants installed successfully in short order. I did have an issue with the pump and sent an email to the company. Within minutes, I had a response with some suggestions on solving the issue. As the problem persisted, I got another quick response suggesting they ship a replacement pump. How impressive is that for customer service! In an age of deteriorating support EXO is a breath of fresh air.

My home office has a 10' x 5' picture window looking east, and this is where the tower is located.I laid out the many pieces like a parent late night Christmas Eve, and was able to assemble the tower - there was some guess work, but logic prevailed and it all worked. Example of guess work included the little terra cotta balls, what are they for? Visited YouTube to get the answers...spacers basically between the basket and the sponge seed bed. They absorb water, help diffuse it into the sponge seed bed.The plastic tower/base seemed at first to be rather flimsy where the reservoir and top are joined, but in practice it works just fine. For sure use the diffuser on the top section for the first roughly 2-3 weeks as the power of the water pumped to the top blew the top cap completely off. Screwing on the diffuser helps - and this is in the instructions as well.I planted the seeds in the little hole in the sponge and started the pump. I wasn't prepared for the waterfall sound, but when I use my Air Pods on a conversation in my office, the people on the other end say they can't hear it, so we're good. But it is rather loud to the naked ear, especially until the roots become well grown - once they start filling the inner space of the tower the water tends to trickle down them rather than just fall from the top into the reservoir.I've got lettuces of various varieties growing like crazy, as well as cucumbers, broccoli, jalapeños and such - I had to set up an upside down tomato cage next to the tower because the cucumbers and squash are growing and producing so much fruit - it was that or have them sprawling over the floor.The issues are minor. Every once in a while I disconnect the power, reach in and re-seat the motor, and clean off roots from the intact - you can hear the change in motor pitch when it seems to be laboring a bit. The other is water dripping off the leaves and trickling down to the floor - granted, I need to harvest some of the lettuce, but as it grows it seems some of the leaves form a trough drop by drop that act to funnel off some of the water. I decided I'd drill a couple holes in the top and top lid and that should help the situation.Other than that I am thrilled. I took the 3 tomato plants and 1 squash out of the tower and transplanted them into an (inside) rectangular raised bed with a 6.5 gallon reservoir beneath, then a platform for the dirt (with holes so the roots can get to the water).The reason for mentioning is that 1, it was getting very crowded on the tower, and 2, I wanted to see how the plants would accept transplanting from the just water to the soil with water reservoir beneath - they are doing amazing. The strong root system from the tower picked right up - best transplants ever. I picked up basket and all, roots dangling beneath, gently pulled basket off the sponge seed bed (I think you can just leave as is and it would do fine too), and made a hole for the roots through the soil, and planted - a day of shock and the next morning they were perked up normally.Very happy....remember the waterfall noise, keep an eye on water level and get a good liquid fertilizer, and plant away - very pleased. And customer response is top notch, fast email reply, very helpful.