AeroGarden Ultra Problem and Resolution

Interestingly, I got an email from Aerogarden that pointed out a design flaw in the AeroGarden Ultra. If you have an Ultra and didn't get this email, you might want to contact AeroGarden to find out more.

Long story short, if you happen to overfill your AeroGarden Ultra, you run the risk of shorting out your AeroGarden.

Those of you with AeroGarden Ultras will notice a problem right away--the way the unit is designed, you pour water into a corner of the unit that's covered by a rubber flap. The problem is that it's hard enough to lift the flap and see under it very clearly, but it's also usually so dark you can't really see inside this corner. I know a lot of times I'll be pouring water in and before I know it it'll be too much and water will be spilling on the kitchen floor (thank heavens that so far there hasn't been any shocking moments!)

In their email, AeroGarden does a pretty good job of explaining the potential problem in detail. They also encourage AeroGarden Ultra owners to send away for a free upgrade. The problem is, they don't really explain what the upgrade does, only that you'll be "upgrading your base plate". What the "base plate" at the bottom has to do with the "pump cord port" that's at the top of the unit (and that can get compromised with overwatering) is anyone's guess.

In any case, I placed my order and I'll be providing more details once I get it. In the meantime, here's the contents of the original email I got from AeroGarden:

Our quality control engineers are constantly testing and re-testing all of our products, and they just told us something I want to pass on to you: In cases of massive or repeated overfilling or spilling of your AeroGarden ULTRA, water could pool and short out your AeroGarden, causing it to stop working. In very rare cases, this might also result in overheating some components. We don't want this to happen to you! The most important step you can take is to be sure that you don't overfill your AeroGarden. I know it sounds obvious, but please take care not to overfill your water bowl. Do not fill past the fill line mark inside your water port (see diagram #2). Filling past this line can result in leaking through the pump cord port on the back of the AeroGarden (see diagram #3).

The simple Upgrade Kit we've designed can make your Garden more resistant to accidental overfill or overspill. We recommend that you choose one of these two free options: Option 1) Upgrade your AeroGarden ULTRA base plate. We'll send you the essentials: a new, custom-fitted durable part, plus easy-to-follow instructions to switch out the plate. It will take less than 5 minutes, will not affect the look or the growth of your Garden in any way, and best of all… it's completely free! To order your ULTRA Upgrade Kit, click here or call 1-800-476-9669. Option 2) Have us upgrade the base plate. Call our Customer Service department at 1-800-476-9669 for instructions on how to return the base (only the base please!) of your AeroGarden ULTRA. We'll issue a pre-paid label for return, upgrade the cover plate, and rapidly send it back to you to get your Garden growing again in no time. That's all there is to it! We strongly suggest that you always take care not to overfill your AeroGarden, and we also recommend choosing either Option 1 or Option 2 for a long-term upgrade to your AeroGarden ULTRA. We're happy to help in any way we can.

The end of this generation of indoor gardens...

So, it's been a while since I posted on the blog. Wait'll you hear this one. But just be forewarned--this post is not for the squeamish.

My AeroGardens were both doing pretty well, despite the unpleasantness I described earlier. The herb garden was doing well below; I decided to let the thyme, sage, and oregano continue to bloom on the Ultra, while on top the tomato plant was growing voraciously, although despite my almost incessant "pollinating", flowers and fruits were simply not growing. I did manage the harvest about three red tomatoes, but that's about it.

I've lost track of how many times I've tried to grow tomatoes in the Aerogarden. I do know I've spent close to $100 on seed kits and have harvested about 20 tomatoes across all of my attempts, meaning that I've effectively paid $5 per tomato, not counting the electricity costs. Long story short, I've concluded that the Tall Aerogardens just aren't suitable for tomatoes. Maybe in some controlled environment you can get a yield of hundreds of them, but I've decided that it's just not worth the effort anymore. Maybe when Y2K hits and I'll need to grow my own food supply I'll think about it again, but otherwise I'll just buy my tomatoes at the local farmer's market.

Sadly, the whiteflies continued to infest the herbs. I put those yellow sticky traps on and they'd be filled with dozens of them every day. It became a daily ritual of shaking the leaves, using the Dyson handheld to vacuum up the ones that flew out, and relying on the sticky traps to catch the rest. But it was a losing battle.

The good news is that the battle finally ended. The bad news is how it did.

One day, my wife started noticing little black specks on her smartphone. I didn't think too much of it at first. But then we noticed them on the kitchen counter, and then all over the appliances. There were a few at first, but then there were dozens, and then hundreds! :( After a quick Google search, I concluded that these were bird mites, as a bird had built a nest inside our walls a few weeks earlier and evidently once the birds are gone the mites start commuting to try to find other sources of food, which meant us.

The mites quickly took over our kitchen, where I was treated to multiple infestations of whiteflies and black bird mites.

Happily, after suffering about two weeks, we did get all the mites exterminated, but not before I had to put an end to both Aerogardens.

I do have some extra seed kits lying around, which I'll plant in a few weeks, but in the meantime I'm going to enjoy a few weeks of critter-free existence.

Thanksgiving in March thanks to the Aerogarden - Day 75

The funny thing about the Aerogarden is that it lets you harvest herbs all year long. Here in the New York area we've had the winter that never seems to end. One day it's a balmy 65 degrees, and the next day we're back to bone-chilling wind chill temperatures.

What's cool about the Aerogarden is that I'm harvesting herbs like it's September. And so I figured, why not cook me up a turkey like it's November?

I knew exactly the recipe I wanted to try--it was this one from Southern Living. Happily, I have the sage, and I have the thyme. 

Here's what the thyme and sage looked like.

I had what seemed like hundreds of thyme springs, when the recipe only called for 3 or 4. So I figured I'd harvest a whole bunch of thyme, and select a few of the best sprigs.

Here's what my cut thyme and sage looked like.

Following the recipe's instructions, I got under the turkey's skin and put the sage and thyme in.

And here's what the completed turkey looked like out of the oven.

The turkey came out amazingly. The herb flavor had a chance to infuse itself into the meat, which made it a lot more flavorful than other turkeys I've made. 

Long story short, we had a very happy Thanksgiving in March...and a LOT of leftover turkey. 

So, that gave me a good opportunity to trim a LOT of sage and thyme, but now the oregano was growing ridiculously large.  

I knew exactly what I had to do: find a recipe for turkey pot pie.

I ended up going with this one, which happened to use oregano and parsley. Sadly, my Aerogarden parsley never got off the ground, as we've established by now, so I ended up using dried parsley. On the other hand, the oregano was doing great.

The rule of thumb when substituting fresh herbs for dried herbs is to triple the amount of herbs. In other words if a recipe (as in this case) calls for 1 teaspoon of dried oregano, the thing to do is to put in 3 teaspoons (1 Tablespoon) of fresh oregano. 

I chop the leaves, and am pretty sure this is way over 1 tablespoon, but I happily throw them all in. 

The result was this turkey pot pie: 

I guess in retrospect I should have taken a whole lot more pictures of the inside, but you can use your imagination. It came out pretty good, and certainly lasted a long time. Although after eating turkey for the past few weeks, I think I'll be taking a break for a while before cooking another one.

A little miffed at AeroGrow, but all is forgiven: Day 67

So, it's been a while since I posted my latest update, and that's mainly because I've been a little miffed at AeroGrow customer service. Although I have to admit in retrospect the story is amusing, and AeroGrow did make good, so I thought I'd share with you.

So, I never got a response to my first email, so I sent another one. With this one I got a response back pretty quickly. It was obviously copied and pasted from some master list they have somewhere, but the advice was pretty good.

About the basil dying at the stem:

You are describing “damping off” in your basil. This  is a fungal infection that attacks plants at the junction between stem and roots and kills off the cells that form the transport system that carries nutrients up the stem.  It will appear to be a brown ring, and then you will observe weakness, and ultimately the plant will die because no nutrition is flowing up to the leaf canopy and the plant cannot photosynthesize.

 The solution for damping off would be to apply an organic fungicide, which you could purchase at your local garden retailer.  We use “Serenade” in the lab.  If you push the stem downwards, which pushes the peat sponge downward, and airspace is formed between the top of the root mass and the label.  This seems to help with controlling mold and fungal growths.

About the white fuzz growing inside the Aerogarden seed pod:

Mold is not generally fatal to a germinating seed.  The mold spores build a colony of fibers on the sponge itself, and do not adhere to the seed. We have observed many small little green sprouts growing right up through a mold colony.    It can be unsightly and you should try to remove it.  Here is the entry from our customer service website regarding mold:http://www.aerogarden.com/aerogarden-customer-service-support/PLANT_PROBLEMS/lthereiswhitefuzzgrowingonmygrowspongesorplants.html

If you observe mold on the cover of the pod after the seed has germinated:

·         There needs to be at least ½” of air space between the top of the peat and the bottom of the label.  Use a toothpick or pencil and push the peat down a little bit.

·         use a Q-tip  and swirl it around to remove the fibers

If you observe mold down in the peat prior to germination:
·         There needs to be at least ½” of air space between the top of the peat and the bottom of the label.  Use a toothpick or pencil and push the peat down a little bit.

·         Remove dome to allow air circulation

Both pretty good answers which I was satisfied with.

I went on to ask about the Seed Pod Guarantee, to which the customer service person responded that she wouldn't replace the basils or the cilantro because they were past 3 weeks old, and evidently their guarantee officially states that they'll only replace a seed pod if it never germinates, NOT if it grows and then dies. In all honesty, in the past they've replaced seed pods for me no questions asked, so I'm not sure if this is a new rule or that they've just started enforcing it.

I wrote back to saying I understood the policy, but since the plants died so soon after planting that I never even got a chance to harvest them, if she could extend me the courtesy of sending me the four seed pods, even though technically I was only "entitled" to one of them. I sent her the link to the pictures on the blog to show her "proof" that I never got to harvest the herbs. I also slipped in a good-natured line (complete with smiley face) that I'd be happy to put in a good word for them if they could do this for me.

A few minutes later I saw this message in my Inbox:

Summary of the following:
He planted in Nov.
He is thinly veiling a threat to blog if he doesn’t get his way
Most of his issues are growth not germination

Do we knuckle under and give him what he wants, or hold the no replacements for growth issues line?

It took me a little while to realize that I'd accidentally been copied on an internal email. Now as someone who's done this in the past, I definitely understand the horror that must have been going through this person's mind after she pressed the "send" button.

But admittedly, I was a bit taken aback. This blog gets hundreds of readers a day, so over the years I've given AeroGrow tens of thousands of dollars, if not more, of free publicity. I know that companies like AeroGrow routinely give out a lot of free stuff to bloggers to get them to write about their stuff, but from day one I've never asked them for anything.

In this case, I wasn't even asking the question as a blogger--it was as a very loyal customer who has purchased five Aerogarden units and who knows how many grow lights, seed kits, replacement motors, replacement arms, not to mention things like cutting boards and Herb N Serve bottles and cookbooks and a whole bunch of other stuff over the years. I didn't think asking for a few pennies worth of replacement seed pods was all that unreasonable.

To her credit, she emailed me as soon as she realized what she'd done, with an apology, and offered to send me a full seed kit as an apology. I responded to her that I'd be perfectly fine if she sent the four seed pods I'd originally asked for. I did slip in a little note just reminding her to not be so cynical in the future, and that sometimes extending little courtesies to their most loyal customers and advocates can go a long way.

In any case, a couple of you were asking me about the replacement pods, so I figured I'd give you the whole story. I'll be popping in the parsley soon, so hopefully I'll be able to harvest that soon. The sage and thyme are both looking great, so in a few days, I may be writing about this!

Root rot in the Aerogarden? Day 56

It's Day 56 of the Aerogarden Ultra, and suddenly things aren't looking great.

My basil plants, after starting out so well, aren't doing too well. now. One completely died and the other is turning yellow, all seemingly in a matter of days. I did an autopsy on the seed pod to try to figure out why. Here's what I saw:

It looks like a classic case of root rot, which is weird because I've never experienced this with other Aerogarden plants before. 

After doing a little diagnosis on the Web, it has the classic symptoms of Fusarium wilt, although for the life of me I have no idea how the fungus could have gotten into the Aerogarden. The only explanation I can think of is that somehow the seed pods had it to begin with. 

The thyme and oregano don't seem to be affected, but of course the parsley never got started, the cilantro is struggling, one basil is dead, and the other basil looks like its stem near its roots is deteriorating fast, resulting in yellowish leaves. 

Doesn't look like there's much life left on this one. The cilantro looks similar--the leaves are starting to wilt and the stalk at the base is getting thin. 

It may be time for me to write to Aerogrow and ask for replacement seed pods. Not sure how they'll react when I say I need two new basils, a parsley, and a cilantro. I'll also ask them for advice on how to prevent this in the future, and whether they'd suggest I completely sanitize and restart the garden.

Here's todays' tip, complete with a sprig of thyme in the picture: 

"As your plants grow, you may see some dead or brown leaves. This is perfectly normal. Just remove with your shears".

In the meantime, the tomatoes are still going strong, although to this day I still see the occasional white flies circling around. I guess they've laid their eggs on certain leaves and are hanging on as long as they can. I'm still trying to spot the eggs and remove the leaves as much as I can.

Using the Aerogarden in cooking: Day 52

We're at a point now where we're ready to use the Aerogarden herbs for cooking. Here's where we made some fried rice, harvesting some of the cilantro to add some flavor.

Lisa also tried cooking pork tenderloin for the first time, using Martha Stewart's recipe for sage and garlic crusted pork tenderloin.

Boy, this turned out great.

The tip of the day from the Aerogarden was as follows:

"For best appearance, turn grow pod so fullest growth faces OUT and the thinner side IN towards the garden's center".

This is something I've never really tried before, but it makes perfect sense--you want the thin side to receive more light and the side with more growth to maybe slow down a little.

Whitefly culprit found--the poinsettia did it! Day 48

We're approaching day 48 of the Aerogarden Ultra garden. By the way, it's you're reading this on Feburary 16-18, 2013, Aerogarden has one of their best sales yet--use coupon code BOGO to get buy-one-get-one-free on everything in the store, whether you need new seed kits, new grow lights, or even a new Aerogarden Ultra (I tried it, and if you put two Aerogarden Ultras in your cart, you can get $125 off, effectively getting each for less than $190.

The whitefly problem continued unabated, to the point where I thought I was losing the battle. It was bizarre, because I would vacuum all the white flies off all the leaves, pick the leaves off that I saw eggs on, wipe off the leaves, shake the leaves to be sure I caught any stragglers and either vacuum them or watch them fly right into the whitefly traps.

But the next day, I would come back and see them again. It's the middle of winter, so even with the windows open, I don't see any flying through there.

Then, one day I was sitting in the living room and glanced at a poinsettia plant we'd gotten around Christmas (around the time the whitefly problem started). I noticed that a lot of the leaves were losing their color. Then, I finally put two and two together and flipped one of the leaves over. Sure enough, this is where the whiteflies were calling home base. There were lots of flies and lots of eggs. It was a shame, because this poinsettia plant was a beautiful, huge plant.

I checked the other houseplants and luckily it doesn't look like the whiteflies had a taste for them. They stayed away from the succulents, the bamboo, and even my geranium and orchids, I'm guessing because the leaves were hard on their teeth (or suckers, or whatever). They seemed to go for plants with thin leaves like the poinsettia (and sage).

It was difficult, but I ended up tossing the whole poinsettia plant and putting a fresh whitefly trap near where it was. Happily, that trap is clean, and I'm not noticing any new whiteflies on the Aerogarden. Crisis solved...at least until spring comes in a few weeks!

Lisa is starting to pick off fresh herbs from the Aerogarden and toss them into her cooking. Here's some grilled squid she made, with some thyme and sage from the garden.

 

The Aerogarden Ultra popped up another tip recently:

"After your harvest, lower the Lamp Hood to keep the lights 1 to 2 inches above the plants."

I actually had never done this before, but after following this advice, I noticed that my herb plants, which had started out strong but were looking a little weak after enduring the whitefly invasion (not so much damage from the whiteflies but from me vigorously shaking them every day), were now perking up again. 

In the meantime, the tomato plants are still looking strong. In fact, the first three flowers have appeared. I checked the water, and it turns out the basin was bone dry--I need to remind myself that these tomatoes are drinking up water at a huge pace now.