I like lettuce. Okay, I like lettuce I grow in my garden and not most store bought variants. I started growing my lettuce, among other greens, in a hydroponics setup that I built from scratch a year ago and it works very well. It was also inexpensive. I had a chance to pick up an AeroGarden LED 7 plant commercial unit a few days ago so I decided to see how well it did in comparison to my homebuilt setup.

First, here's the AeroGarden unit as I assembled it from the box. The only thing that wasn't included is the white box on the right, which is a kit they sell that has spare items. The paper tower holder wasn't either :) I used their recommended nutrient solution.



This is a shot of both the AeroGarden and one of my homemade hydro tanks. It is simply a 27 gallon plastic storage container from Lowes with some holes cut in it, some net pots in each hole, and I aerate it with a simple air pump. The nutrient mix is a simple 10-5-14 made with straight tap water.



I started some Gentilina lettuce on the evening of 12/9

So, here we are two days later and we have germination in each. I expected this in mine because I've grown more than a few heads. I am pleasantly surprised that the lettuce planted in the AeroGarden have germinated as well.

Homemade and AeroGarden



I will post more pictures as the lettuce progresses.

Good topic... tag

I'm getting ready to fire up the Aero garden again, however I'll also be setting up a ~50 pot NFT system too. Hydro is a fun way to eat in the winter.