inbloom Hydroponics Growing System 10 Pods, Herb Garden Kit inoor with Pump System, Germination Kit with LED Light, Automatic Timer, Black

If you knew me, you would be impressed. I cannot grow anything (or keep it alive). On a whim, I decided I wanted an Aerogarden. Then I looked at the price - ouch, a little more than I wanted to spend on a whim. I literally ONLY bought this particular hydroponic garden system for 3 reasons: 1) The black and wood look match my camper, which is where I want to use it; 2) It held 12 pods, which seemed a better option than holding less; 3) The price fit my "whim" and wouldn't cause me to cry if I didn't end up trying to grow things. I ended up purchasing 2 of them (as you see in the photos) and may now be getting a 3rd. Everything you see growing is also from the inbloom plant kits (passion salsa and the salad kits). I have lettuce, chard, tomatoes, cucumbers, spinach, chili peppers, green/yellow/purple peppers, wild cabbage, and 4 other things started that I can't recall off the top of my head. I put all the seeds into the unit on 5/30/25 to germinate. The first pic, dated 6/8 shows how fast everything started up and popped some of their little hats. Then I have 6/14 and 6/22 pics, just because I happened to take them and could share. None of peppers, or the spinach have germinated though, so likely a seed thing, grrrrr. Anyhow the pump is quite, the lights are working and doing their weird cycles, and the water level bobber thing are very helpful. It is easy to top of your water with the front access hole, cap off unused pods spots with the provided covers, and adjust the light up and down as your plants grow. I have sampled my lettuces and they taste great, and I am now even watching the pH and EC of my water. I am really impressed by these little units, though I have nothing to compare them to help you there. The black is nice, just plastic as you would expect. The bottom "wood" look is a bit more yellowy than I like, and is obviously NOT wood, but it keeps it from being boring. All components are pretty easy to clean as well. Very excited for my new hobby and the chance to throw away less produce than I have been lately. Not sure how feeding myself on this volume could ever be realistic, BUT you have to start somewhere!

Can’t switch it on yet because it’s not a British 3 pin plug. Everything else looks very nice.

Not had a chance to use the machine because it came only with a US plug, which I believe is a breach of the Plugs and Sockets etc. (Safety) Regulations 1987.

Some people have a green thumb. I have whatever the opposite of that is. I've never been able to keep plants alive in my life. This inbloom Hydroponic system has been so awesome and easy, even for me. I attached a photo comparing when I first planted seeds to a month later, and everything is thriving. I've even harvested some of the lettuce already and it's still looking this full. I've also planted a few new things, rearranged the pods, and taken some stuff out (I wasn't a fan of the arugula I was growing and I decided to put mint in an actual pot). I know you're not technically supposed to plant so many different things in here, but I wanted to see how everything would do, and plan to thin down more later. So far, so good!!

I’ve tested both the 5-pod and 10-pod Inbloom smart gardens and they both offer great value for anyone not wanting to spend a lot of money on tabletop hydroponic gardens. The 5-pod garden is cute and well-designed. It feels like a step ahead of the larger garden in some design aspects, but the 10-pod garden fills an important role, too. The LED light panel and extending arm in the 5-pod garden are better than the 10-pod garden. The range of heights goes from zero (really!) up to 17 inches. The 10-pod LED panel only provides a minimum of 7” from the deck, which is a disadvantage for seedlings. When starting seeds, the ability to lower the LEDs to a few inches above the plants may make the difference between leggy plants stretching for light and bushy plants. They’ve also designed the extending arm of the LED panel with all the wiring inside the arm as opposed to the slightly unsightly wires outside the arm of the larger garden. The maximum height of the arm in the 5-pod garden is 17” so herbs, lettuces, greens, and most flowers will be fine, but I wouldn’t use this for fruiting plants like tomatoes, peppers, or cucumbers. There are some varieties of dwarf plants that would fit under the 17” maximum height, but I would suggest the larger garden, with the larger reservoir, for that type of plant. I grew shishito peppers in the 10-pod garden and was glad to have the 21” of space that garden provided, as the plants reached that height easily. The small reservoir in the 5-pod garden will need to be refilled regularly and they recommend adding nutrients with every top-up. This is a good workaround for the lack of a “add nutrients” automatic reminder found in the name-brand gardens. The water-level indicator in the small garden is more elegant than the one found on the 10-pod version but both do the job. The 5-pod garden does not have a drain plug, so you have to tip out the water in this model. One concern I have with both gardens is how they use the pump to stir the nutrient water rather than actively oxygenating it. Plant roots need oxygen and the AG name-brand gardens pump the nutrient water over the roots, giving them water, nutrients, and oxygen. The dissolved O2 level in the water increases as the water splashes. Some hydroponic gardens use an air pump and air stone instead of a water pump to increase the oxygen levels. Inbloom has chosen a more passive approach and while this makes for a very quiet garden without any splashing sounds, I don’t think the dissolved O2 level in the water will be much higher than in stagnant water. So far, the plants I’m growing in both gardens don’t seem to be suffering, but I think they would thrive with even more oxygen. The 90° elbow on the pump of the 10-pod garden is removable which will increase splashing. If the sound doesn’t bother you, I recommend pulling this elbow off as it will slightly increase the dissolved oxygen level of the water. Both the 5-pod and 10-pod gardens take a low-tech approach to the “smart” features. The lights come on in a repeated 24-hour cycle based on when you first turn them on; they aren’t programmable to come on at a specific time of day. There are no on-screen setup instructions. There is no “add nutrients” reminder every 2 weeks, as mentioned previously. However, these extras aren’t needed for plants to grow and the cost savings may be worthwhile for many growers. The instructions and reference card for the 5-pod garden are excellent, a little better than the 10-pod garden, in fact. All the extra supplies (domes, covers, fertilizer, etc) are high quality. The big-name brand gardens ship with pre-planted pods and Inbloom’s pods are ready to add your own seeds. If you want to purchase the overpriced pods from the other brand ($2-4 per pod), they’re interchangeable with the Inbloom pods, but it’s more cost-effective to plant your own seeds and purchase the replacement pods in bulk (about 25¢ per pod). This also allows you to grow the infinite variety of plants available in seed packs as opposed to only the varieties that AG produces. I use these hydroponic gardens as seed starters; once the seeds germinate and have a few leaves, I plant the pods in my outside garden which is less expensive than purchasing six-packs at the nursery. It’s great to see competition in this market. Inbloom is offering a high-value alternative for indoor hydroponic gardens. They have made some cost-cutting design decisions that will not affect plant growth and may make these gardens more accessible to more people. The gardens look great and perform well.