Click & Grow Smart Garden Indoor Hydroponic Gardening Kit Review

Click & Grow Smart Garden Indoor Hydroponic Gardening Kit Review

Buy it at Amazon: Click & Grow Smart Garden Indoor Hydroponic Gardening Kit [Affiliate Link]

Takeaway: Basil cartridges grew but leggy, tasted fine, light has 3 heights up to 13.5", app not great.

I ordered the kit with the three basil pods pre-installed. The unit has an attached 5.5' power cord and included three reusable clear dome lids for each pod. The "garden" measures 11" tall overall while the base is 4.25"H x 4.75"L x 11.75"W. The light has two additional height settings at 12.5" and 13.5". The three receptacles in the middle are compatible with Click and Grow pre-seeded and reusable pods. At the base of each receptacle there is a wick that extends down into the water chamber to draw moisture up to your plants for semi-automatic watering. On the right is the fill area for the tank and the plastic piece is a float so you can gauge water level and know when to water your plants.

The instruction manual is brief but straightforward. The pods are easy to install and the 3 basil cartridges I received all sprouted within a few days. After 3 weeks of growth there was enough to eat, but the basil was quite leggy and despite the height or each plant, they really only had 2-3 sets of true leaves. The capacity of the water tank is about a quart or so of water and in the beginning I only had to refill it after 2 weeks, but after the plants got bigger it was every 5-7 days. When you plug in the adapter for the LED light, it'll come on automatically and run in a 16/8 hour on/off cycle each day. I recommending placing the unit in a room that you won't mind the bright light. It's best to start the cycle in the morning between 6-8 am by plugging in the unit then; optionally, you can put it on a separate automatic timer.

I would have liked the auto light more if there was a different way to set the start time rather than plugging the unit in when you want the cycle to begin. I also think that the initial height of the light is too high and the max height too low. Plants will grow, but not optimally. Plant care instructions are non-existent, and I think the kits should include more information about care, timing, pollination, and harvest for the specific plants you receive, for example, a good tip for beginner would be to tell them to thin the basil down to 3-4 sprouts early on. I do like that I'll be able to grow certain herbs indoors and I'd like to try cilantro and parsley next. The pricing for the refills seems a bit outrageous, though the included pods appear trivial to reuse. If using a sterile and nutrition-less starting medium like peat moss, you'll have to add fertilizer/nutrients as the plants grow, either directly to the medium before planting or diluted in the water tank. If using the kit this way I think it's worthwhile. I have mine sitting by a north facing window in a well ventilated room with the light coming on around 8 AM and shutting off at midnight.I have not had problems with mold or algae growing on the medium around the plant roots/stems.

Buy it at Amazon: Click & Grow Smart Garden Indoor Hydroponic Gardening Kit [Affiliate Link]