Grow Up HGTC Vertical Hydrogarden Deluxe Planter Kit, 2.15-Feet by 4-Feet, Terra Cotta

I received this product in a timely manner. I opened the box to find the pump not packed properly and fell apart in pieces in the larger box. A piece of the pump was missing as it fell out of the larger box during shipping. the pump must of hit against the lid of the water tub breaking a piece off the lid. I had already purchased the plants I was going to plant in the up garden so when I found out my only options here were to return it or replace it. I was disappointed because my plants would probably not live till the unit was replaced, so I called "Grow Up Hydrogarden" directly. With their phone walk through I was able to use the parts and they will be sending me replacement parts directly. I was very pleased with the service and I was able to put the garden up and plant all my plants and seeds in about an hour and a half. I am pleased that when the parts get here I will be able to put them in with out a lot of dismantlement. I purchased this unit on sale for $209.00 with no shipping cost instead of the $299. 00 regular cost plus shipping so I am very happy with what I got for the money. It is sturdy and the customer service person gave me a few tips on how to plant my plants for best long term results. I also found just the right place to buy any supplies needed for my up garden here also. Id say my mishap turned into a good thing as the tips helped me put it together faster, and helped insure that my plants are placed correctly for best growth. I spent a long time looking at this and other more expensive up gardens before buying this one. I think I got just what I wanted to buy when I placed my order and I plan to buy another soon. Hope this helps others decide when they are thinking of buying this garden.

This design is nice. The growing medium has opportunity... First - be careful, it comes with two different sized stones.. I did not read the directions well enough and did not realize this until half way through and once these are together, they are difficult to take apart ( the stones hold the water supply tube strongly)... I am guessing the big stones go on the bottom of each pot and the small stones go on the top... Second, the growing medium (the stones) are made from recycled glass. They are a little sharp ( more like tough like coral) for small baby lettuce. Although I did not lose any plants, I had to be careful and gentle. The stones (growing medium) also raised my ph significantly. I had to lower the ph almost every day, the first test was really high, and I did rinse out the stones, I have not experienced this before with other growing mediums... The product is well made and high quality, shipped very quick. I would buy it again and use it with a different growing medium, the product also comes with fertilizer that my lettuce really liked!

We purchased the Grow Up because we live in NW Montana and in order to get a jump on the growing season we have to move the plants indoors at night. I mounted the GROW UP upon a moving cart and it worked well. The grow up started out good and I have enough perlite unlike some other posts. All of the plants took root and grew well. My choice of plants and placement could have been better which I will correct next year. The problem came as the plant roots got bigger and started plugging the holes in the trays causing the water to backup and overflow. The design is such the the overflow goes into the next tray which isn't a problem unless the bottom tray gets plugged up. Also, the holes, especially in the top tray, get plugged up with small perlite. They should have provided a screen cut to size and shape to prevent at least the perlite from plugging the holes. The problem is that the veggies do not like to sit in standing water and rotted really fast, like in 24 hours. The leafy lettuce was the first to go then my peppers. I tried planting some additional plants to replace the lost ones but that is nearly impossible with the way the system is designed except for the top tray. Also, the replacement plants were too mature to adapt to the change in growing circumstances and died. I bought this Grow Up as a hobby, not a primary source of food and it has been frustrating and not that much fun. The tomato plants are doing well except for one that developed a fungus which I treated. It is hanging in there albeit kinda sickly. Update 8/8 Lettuce is gone, peppers rotted (only got 2 small peppers), kale rotted and tomatoes not bearing much fruit. Last year at this time my hanging tomato baskets in dirt were thriving. I use the recommended food but the darn holes keep getting plugged up and the plants end up sitting in water. I have removed the perlite from the slots where the plants have died and use my hand to un-plug the holes. Very bad design. Save your $$. Pay the high price at the grocery store for organic veggies and you will be money ahead and a lot less frustrating. I would gladly return it for a refund except that I am well past the 30 days that Amazon generously gives us. No problem with Amazon.

The quality of the plastic is pretty good and if you are only buying it for the tower components then you will be satisfied. However, this product is far from adequate and it certainly is not a deluxe anything. The pH testing kit was very old, all of the liquid had obviously spilled from the bottle many years ago and totally dried up, see picture. There was nothing left to use but a small stained plastic bag so I had to buy another pH test product. The perlite provided was inadequate, there are 5 trays and only 3 bags so I had to buy more perlite. The pump according to the Grow Up website has a knob to increase or decrease the water flow. When the package arrived the knob was detached from the pump along with a few other parts, but I was able to put them all back together. Unfortunately the knob doesn't work anymore, I'm not certain it ever worked, but it certainly doesn't now so when the water is on the nutrient solution splashes out of the tower all over the place. Not only is this a waste of water and nutrients but it makes a mess and is very noisy. (Think small hose on full blast a few inches from the concrete.) Finally, the nutrient solution doesn't have an appropriate nutrient mix for any of the plants I want to grow (lettuce and tomatoes.) As a result, in addition to purchasing the deluxe setup I've had to REPLACE the pH solution, additional perlite, and the pump. Basically the only thing that was as advertised was the tower itself. It is a good little invention so I gave the produce three stars. Its thick, quality plastic. The only thing I would change is the lid to the bucket at the bottom only has a small hole to access the water and the pump inside the tub. If there was a small hinged area that would allow more access I could avoid having to take apart the whole tower to clean the system. (You have to clean the system every 2-4 weeks.) For those of you who are also beginners, I've also had to purchase pH Up/Down to adjust the pH, seed starting rockwool, seed germination kit, seed starting lights, and seeds. I will also need to purchase a hose for cleaning out the water from the basin. These are not overly expensive items, but I thought I would mention it for those who want to have everything delivered via Amazon. I bought this product because I thought it would be easier than buying each part separately and require less of my time to assemble. This was incorrect. I've now spent quite a bit more than I expected and made numerous trips to the hardware store. Although I am a very loyal Amazon customer and strongly believe in avoiding retail stores as a lifestyle choice, this is an instance where the trek to the hydroponics store would have served me well. I regret buying this product and have paid for the poor choice with time an $.

I've bought 3 of these. Two we used at school and one I bought for myself. When working, it's great. Wonderful to have lettuce free from dirt and slugs! Plants grow faster then if they are in the ground. However the company uses a rigid plastic tube that carries the water from the pump up to the top when the water trickles thru back to the bottom. However the pole is not straight. So inevitably it comes unattached from the pump and the plants get no water. It is difficult to reattach the pipe and pump once it is up and assembled. So unless you take the whole thing apart and fix it, you need to reach one hand in the access hole and try to get things reattached. Very difficult and usually needs to be done several times, in my experience. Next year my husband will figure out a new piping system. For this reason only, I don't recommend this. Try a different manufacturer. The produce is good. And the price has soared since I bought mine.

Love this kit. Came with everything needed except water and plants. Main thing to know about growing is to make sure is to use plants requiring similar ph level and it will do great as long as you keep on top of water level, nutrients (included), ph up or down (included) . Got my kale, cilantro, salad lettuce, basil and peppermint going about 2 weeks ago and all looking great. Follow the directions and you will not be disappointed. Hint: you may want to anchor it with stakes and string as strong gusts of wind may blow it over.

Now don't get me wrong; I love my planter. But, it does have a few foibles that you must pay attention to in order to get the best performance out of it over the long term. First, make sure you don't put tomato plants on the top level. They will grow about 5 feet high and they get to be a pain to pick unless you play professional basketball. Second, if you have it outside, secure it against wind for it will fall over if you don't. Next, put something water permeable on the bottom of each level to keep the drain holes clear and allow water to flow through them; cotton or nylon fabric is fine. The point is to keep the levels from overflowing and making a mess. Finally, if you are planting a vine type like cucumbers, give it room to spread out as they will grow very long with this planter. All in all, this item is great if you follow these guidelines.

Been growing vegs for 6 weeks and 2 days. Very luscious and harvesting a few vegs and herbs. At 6 weeks I'm still beaming and bragging to my friends on what a wonderful system I have found. Day 6 weeks +1. Water tank is 1/2 full and is spilling over the tops of the tiers. (We have an auto timer -- on 15 min/off 1 hr 45 min. Works fantastic.) Texas is getting hotter so I know we are not over watering. Some bases of plants seem to be expanded to upper levels so we set tiers up a little on top of each other. Day +2 -- same issue and 1/2 tank of water and plants getting droopy. Lifted off each tier and discovered root systems clogging holes and perlite broken down to clog. We have lots of flowering vegs and small vegs to be harvested soon so do not want to loose. Took apart and emptied pearlite. Place plants back in tiers and hoping that this will work. If not, we will be drilling holes larger. Buying JUICE PLUS to get a no medium system and no holes to be clogged.