Shop Products
Houzz Logo Print
rick_merlander

Is a Tower Garden really worth $500?

rick_merlander
11 years ago

I am considering buying a Tower Garden (towergarden.com). I've heard great reports that you can grow lots of vegetables with little time and maintenance and of course very little space. Anyone tried one for awhile -like a year or more?
- Are they really any less likely to have pest problems?
- Are there any problems or difficulties with these, or are they really worth the $500.
- Has anyone seen a similar product so I can test the concept out without having to spend $500 just to see if vertical growing in a liquid medium is terrific or not?
Rick Merlander - Molokai, Hawaii

Comments (144)

  • lilacinjust
    8 years ago
    last modified: 8 years ago

    This is really fascinating. I'm getting very excited to maybe build a growing tower of my own (no offense to those who have the $500+ towers). Has anyone built a tower like this?"

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wzbPBx9KiuM

    Seems pretty straight forward and I think DH and I can handle it.

    Although I have land in the front and back, there's very little space to grow between the way the light hits and landscaping (hard and soft). I do have an area with great sun that I can run water and electricity, and a couple of these towers would save us so much in what we spend on vegetables, which is a lot.

    Any input or advice for a first-timer?

    fwiw, I would love to grow tomatoes, zucchini, cabbage, eggplant and as many dark leafy greens as possible.

    I have large barrel planters for herbs.

    Finally, I have never grown tomatoes successfully at this house-both container and in-ground.

  • hex2006
    8 years ago

    90% water savings only apply to real aeroponics that use mist, The TG is more or less a vertical NFT with DWC for the bottom row of plants..


  • PupillaCharites
    8 years ago
    last modified: 8 years ago

    That bok choy is beautiful Richard!

    I just reported kopeika's post before hex's as spam since it contained for the 100th time the typical spam link to yet another Tower Garden salesman's blog intended by Juice plus to spam the internet as part of the pyramid marketing strategy so familiar to Juice Plus which markets it along with their other veggie in a pill products according to multi-level marketing aggressive tactics targeting people that have no time to do their homework and rely on heavily biased testamonials moderated by the multi-level marketing group that handles sales.

    In areas where the tower garden has gained sales you can find nearly unused TG's for $200-250 on Craigslist. That's your 20 year investment as claimed by kopeika.

    Agree with hex, except I would call it tinkle-ponics over a tinkle-bowl.

  • kopeika
    8 years ago

    This was not a spam comment. The fact someone is a user and distributor does not make it spam. If someone else posted a link, sorry for repeating it. There is a lot of info and videos on that link to answer peoples questions.

  • hex2006
    8 years ago

    I must have been in a generous mood :) NFT and DWC both produce much whiter, healthier looking roots than the TG

  • jlconnell56
    8 years ago

    I received a Tower Garden for my classroom about 2 months ago and am having trouble getting my seeds going. Many of them sprouted fine in the starter kit and then once I transferred them to the tower, many of the plants shriveled and died. It's located indoors and has a grow light above it since it is in an urban neighborhood and we have no room for it outside. I also seem to have some sort of white, salt-like buildup forming around the pots and along the top of the garden. Any suggestions for making the garden work and fixing this?

  • hex2006
    8 years ago
    last modified: 8 years ago

    Shriveled and died sounds like the root system perhaps wasnt large enough when you transplanted. If you were using a timer to control the irrigation cycle, perhaps the off time was set too long. The white deposits are likely calcium from the nutrient solution, its worth noting that high temps inside the tower will increase the precipitation of calcium.

  • PupillaCharites
    8 years ago
    last modified: 8 years ago

    Carrie Nepkin,

    Please get rid of your sales link you have as a distributor of this over-rated piece of non-recycleable trash that is solely an impulse buy to take advantage of people short on time with unacceptable costs to run, although it is claimed buyers will save money in the long run it is a very misleading calculation which assigns zero value to users time which could be spent better in other gardening projects, including hydroponic ones.

    Last time I checked GW bans users for the sort of self-promotion you are attempting in our forum on your website provided by Juice Plus. There is no excuse for such shameless marketing here. TG is a pyramid scheme and approximated 22% commission is promised to anyone who gets duped into buying one, after they sell a certain amount of TGs or dehydrated "miracle" vegetable pills offered by the same parent corporation. Please do not subject real gardeners to such nonsense.

    When I participated full time in the hydro forum here, there was not a single member of the regulars that thought TG was anything close to being a good value, and the marketing is straight out misleading. Sales pressure is very thick. I am a member on other garden sites with poor folks that have forked out money for TG and I am rather disgusted how the sales strategy is run like some cult religion. I joined another popular site and like vultures two reps like yourself descended on me (everyone who has one is a rep if they buy since that is how the multi-level marketing model is run.), I was pounced upon after being showered by free seeds and friendly emails ... then came the sales pitch, and I left the site.

    I would suggest anyone who wants to experiment with this consider the time investment is greater than you think. I know several disenchanted users that did not get caught up into thr hype and do not use the TG after the first couple of cycles. A common complaint is that they were promised effortless gardening and then they find it is a real pain to clean out especially when they have limited space to work. Salt deposits form wherever the water flows as a lot of evaporation takes place leaving a synthetic fertilizer (This product is NOT and can not be used for ORGANIC gardening). The company has the nerve to call their no-frills over-priced hydroponic fertilizer "earth minerals". LOL, the rest of us call them salts. TG falsely creates the impression that their product is food grade when is it certainly not. One of the plastics used in the construction happens to be food grade but NOT when put out in the sun an used as this product is intended (or indoors for that matter). There is no letter on file with the FDA certifying TG to be food grade, as would be required for a true claim, and other components of it such as the pump and fertilizer "earth mineral" solutions are specifically NOT food grade. This is typical of the misrepresentation of this company. The porcelin in my toilet bowl is food grade by the way, but there are other things in it that aren't ;-)

    I recommend against this product to anyone who is on the fence. It is not a scam, but it is very overpriced due to its distribution scheme and does not deliver on its claims, making it more of an impulse purchase as described on Wikipedia designed to take advantage of consumer by not giving them time to calmly consider the benefits and drawbacks of other options and creating a sense of urgency which is distracting, or by relying on trust in people you don't know who present themselves a helpful and friendly, but have a stake in finding a sucker. Ignore the pictures the company and distributors distribute on their websites, since the marketing is extremely lopsided. And don't forget the cost of the fertilizer it constantly requires and uses...almost one quart (800 milliliters) every change, recommended monthly or more frequently along with the cleaning. The fertilizer is a real racket, like most RTU liquid hydroponic fertilizers which Juice Plus couldn't resist getting a piece of the action.

  • robert_1943
    8 years ago

    Well said and backed up with good product knowledge background. I have not heard from you for a while.

  • kopeika
    8 years ago
    Wow, such hostility.
  • hex2006
    8 years ago

    This forum is for hydroponic growers, not sellers. If you dont want the flak, best idea is to tout your sub standard product elsewhere.

  • kopeika
    8 years ago
    Actually this thread was started by someone with a tower garden question. Maybe you should be on another thread.
  • hex2006
    8 years ago
    last modified: 8 years ago

    Theres a difference between answering a question and touting a product with links. Anyone contemplating paying $500 for a so-called aeroponic system that grows roots that look like these should think twice.

    roots · More Info

  • PupillaCharites
    8 years ago
    last modified: 8 years ago

    kopeika, this question is an old beaten horse. It is resurrected from time to time whenever somebody buys a TG and gets the bright idea to to go looking on-line looking for suckers to sell TGs to because they have received deceptive promises from the multi-level marketing powerhouse known as Juice Plus selling this.

    Hex, Robert and myself have been members here for a while in this forum and are quite capable of giving an unbiased review of this "product". Unbiased reviews for TG are difficult to come by unless you find users that did not buy into the pyramid marketing scheme, since the main source of information is from the multi-level marketing company themselves which give every purchaser a place on their website and strictly police what is posted to be sure that nothing negative is ever published. As people buying the product are typically not experienced the strategy is to create ther conditions for an impulse purchase for someone who has the over $600 for the basic short unit plus the subsequent regular purchase of a liquid hydroponic fertilizer from them, marketed with the impression it is something more healthy, when it is not any different from anything else you grow yourself. In fact, some adamant organic growers tend to object to the much higher level of nitrates that occur in the freshly picked greens grown with TG Tonic since nitrate chemicals are in the "Tonic" as the primary source of nitrogen for plants grown in TG and the plants pull them up in their tissues before metabolizing them. It cracks me up that they named the fertilizer a "Tonic". Sound like Snake Oil to me! The word Tonic was used for hundreds of years in pseudoscientific herbal preparations. See Wikipedia for a run down on "Tonics" (since it does not contain quinine or carbonation, the other use of the word tonic in marketed products):

    Patent Medicine/Tonics

    Herbal Tonics

    If you wondered why it is called a Tonic, look no further than Juice Plus in the "nutriceutical" business, where claims run awry of the FDA all the time which is the modern snake oil business that has learned to be very convincing with the fine print "This claim has not been evaluated b the FDA"

    Interesting data for example not spelled out elsewhere:

    You must buy two gallons of what Juice Plus claims is exclusive better A&B hydroponic fertilizer (It is not, this is a straight out lie) by mail which runs approximately $65 here. That is approximately $7 per month, though here in Florida in summer it can easily go to $20 per month when the weather heats up and plants transpire and water evaporates more (and as a side effect leaves calcium residue as mentioned all over the rockwool and plastic. Many people in the hydroponics forum, including myself, use powdered fertilizer. The same $7 of fertilizer (which makes 20 gallons, the TG reservoir size for one fill 400 milliliters of A and 400 milliliters of B) contains 3.5 ounces total of powder which is a superior blend for reasons already covered in this forum in the past. That costs $0.65 total in powdered fertilizer to fill the same 20 gallon reservoir at $3 per pound which is typical.

    You will not find information like this in the TG promotional literature.

    Let's look at the claim of the patent for the TG next. Do you realize that the patent in question took over 10 years to get issued, finally quite recently, though the product has been on the market well over a decade? Do you know why? That is because nothing was novel about it, but the marketeers needed to claim it was patented, so the Juice Plus legal team, backed by a great deal of lawyers and money due to the franchise kept at it until something stuck. So it would be fair to ask exactly what is patented about this product? Wouldn't you think?

    OK, what finally got approved for patent with TG? The use of drip irrigation in some novel way they mislead people calling it aeroponics? NO! What was patented was that the vertical tube could be connected to a motor that rotated it so it would get uniform sun exposure. Nothing wrong with that, I'm all for it ;-) The only problem is the home unit does not rotate LOL (with any automatic motor - nothing of the sort is included)! You will have to remember to do that manually... every day to properly, uniformly grow since the tube has a back and a front side. The back side, not surprisingly is in the shade. And even rotation gets tricky with this unit when you plant different types of plants. Roots inside the tube can easily get huge for a tomato plants for example and completely clog up proper drip irrigation ("aeroponics") inside. Tim, who developed this product based on systems that were already working in Disneyworld runs another business for commercial use of vertical systems where many are lined up for certain farming applications. That is where the motors are likely to be installed to rotate the towers. Or by DIYers at home on a shoe-string budget just having fun ;-) I am very surprised they got a patent for that. There is nothing novel to rotating a tube with a motor for sun exposure, but I'm sure some technicality was exploited so that's the deal on the patent.

    While there are workarounds for all of these difficulties the TG has, the product is presented in a misleading fashion as if it were trouble free when it is NOT. The hydroponics forum has generally been very even handed in its commentary on products. As mentioned by hex, this is a substandard, and to that I will add over-hyped and over-priced product - plain and simple. And it is a real pain to clean out! Did I mention the accessory "dolly" they sell made for it at a nice margin? TG when filled with water, cannot be moved, as it weighs 200 pounds with all the water. Other hydroponic options are so much more effective. It is no wonder I got one for $200 not long ago off Craigslist that was like new. They pop up in my area on CL and start high priced but don't move and when the owner comes to the realization that's the common price. People tend to blame themselves when things don't work out, but the truth is closer that this is simply an impulse purchase that does not live up to its expectations for many who do not participating in the marketing of it, and it is not something that is easy to store, especially if you live in a place where space is at a premium.

    Oh, and the person who originally posted this was a nice person, but that was well over two years ago and has not been back to this old thread. It just keeps coming back each time someone in the multi-level marketing scene finds it on Google. You are out of line telling hex to start another thread. On the contrary, you should not be resurrecting dead threads to hock crap re: your comment above:

    "kopeika

    Actually this thread was started by someone with a tower garden question. Maybe you should be on another thread."

    I find it incredibly humorous that these folks that pop out of the woodwork to hock the system provide little info in public but are quick to label anyone critical of TG as "hostile". That alone tells would tell me were I a prospective buyer that it is not worth buying a pyramid-marketed product like this which uses the dietary supplement impulse buy business model. Luckily these sorts of testimonial/distributor type products are losing ground as customers are more and more sophisticated and on the internet can find products that fit their needs more closely and more economically! The spirit of this forum has always been to focus on products and prohibit shameless marketeers from spoiling honest commentary and experiences prohibit lame postings of product links posters have a stake in. The aeroponics and hydroponics markets are so filled with that that this forum is a rare and welcomed break where we give each other helping hands. Hocking your product is NOT COOL here! Posting links with comments like the above: contact me for further information is doubly NOT COOL and prohibited by site rules. You can pay for ads if you want. Contact Houzz for advertising here.

  • Don Cromwell
    8 years ago

    My needs were for a system that could be moved indoors at night because here in NW Montana we are not "guaranteed" frost free until June 1st and if you wait until then you will not get any veggies until August. In prior years I was stuck with hanging plants and pots that I took in at night. I saw the Tower Garden in FL that was on a roller base but upon investigation I discovered the $500 price tag. I instead opted for the Grow Up system on Amazon for "just" $216 free shipping. I attached it to a Harbor Freight mover's dolly and roll it in and out of the garage at night. It is growing "like a weed." Lettuce on bottom, then peppers, tomatoes, cabbage and kale and parsley on top. I had a flower on top but it didn't make it. (see pics). This is after ONLY THREE WEEKS. Tomatoes and peppers are budding out. I am sold on hydroponics and next year will have to figure out a green house system attached to the shop where heat can migrate during the night. My only problem now is that I do not want to leave it out at night because the deer will clean me out. Oh well, that is what you get living in God's country.


  • althetrainer
    8 years ago

    I saw a Tower Garden last weekend and that inspired me to try making my own hydroponic experiment on a budget. The information is all over the Internet and I've spent many hours searching and learning how to start. Building a small unit is easy, the biggest challenge to me is to find a suitable water soluble fertilizer to fee the plants. A gentleman on Youbue has a very good tutorial on how to mix your own hydroponic fertilizer. Unfortunately, I can't find the Masterblend 4-18-38 or anything similar in western Canada. The only place I've found so far is Amazon.com but it will cost $20 to ship 1 pound of that mixture. The guy sells it on eBay is even more expensive.

    The more affordable mixture is the MG tomato 18-18-21 but someone on Youtube has already done an experiment and it's not very effective.

    Anyone knows where I can get a hold of some affordable 4-18-38 in western Canada I would very much appreciate the information.

  • Don Cromwell
    8 years ago

    I use the dyna-gro foliage-plus 9-3-6 that came with the Grow Up system and it is working really good. Now that the plants are getting larger I do have to keep an eye on the water and the nutritiant which is being used at a much faster rate.

  • althetrainer
    8 years ago

    Thanks for the info. Since I have never done hydroponics before I feel very confused about the NPK ratio. Seems like some people are promoting Masterblend 4-18-38 plus calcium nitrates and epsom salt. This Dyna-Gro 9-3-6 is much lower than the popular Masterblend. Where do people pull these numbers and why are they so different?

  • hex2006
    8 years ago

    You`re paying for the water in a bottled nutrient, one that comes in a bag is much more economical. A bottled nutrient concentration is limited by solubility, a teaspoon of dry nutrient will give you a higher EC than a teaspoon from a bottle :).


  • althetrainer
    8 years ago

    That's what I am trying to avoid but I really don't have any other choice if I can't find any good dry nutrients. I have contacted a couple of US companies that carried Master Blend but none of them would ship across the border. The only company carries Master Blend in Canada only does wholesale. This is the frustrating part of doing hydroponics in my area.

  • kleeem
    8 years ago

    have you checked ecogrow.com? http://www.ecogrow.com/ecogrow-nutrients-ecogrow-powdered-nutrients-c-4_11_69.html
    I have no affiliation with the company except that I use their standard nutrients 10-8-14. works great for all my plants, onions, basil, tomatoes, lettuce, peppers. They also have different nutrient mixtures for bloom, tropical & Monstera philodendrons. They also carry other nutrient brands. 28 bucks for 5 pounds of powdered nutrients.


  • althetrainer
    8 years ago

    Thanks Kleeem for the link. I just checked. It's $30 to ship 5 lbs of that powder nutrient so probably not a very feasible option.

  • PRO
    None
    8 years ago

    You of course can build a hydroponic tower garden, but the commercial tg is really a nice product and works really well with enough light.

  • mvbellefeuille
    8 years ago

    These work great, but hydroponics come with their own unique pests. Root rot is the biggest problem and usually is from a flagellated fungus, chytrid. A 0.1% addition of hydrogen peroxide every two weeks will keep your system healthy and thriving.

  • gardev
    8 years ago

    Everything I have read and heard (from owner's) about this is that it's great product. My beef is that they call it aeroponics when it doesn't really fit that generally accepted definition of aeroponics. Soak-a-ponics, spray-a-ponics seem to be more accurate but definitely not as marketable.

  • bethclark4044
    7 years ago

    Here is one thing I know. The tower garden from Juice Plus is a ONE TIME BUY. It lasts forever, grows exceptionally fast, and can grow tomatoes squash cucumbers lettuce all types of herbs. It will grow anything that doesn't require soil like potatoes carrots. This picture is seed to 6weeks and we have trimmed it for 5 families dinners with 4-6 people eating salad. Do you know anyone who rents rabbits??LOL

  • Sweetheart2015( Washington, DC)
    7 years ago

    That's nice berhclark. What else do you grow in there.

  • jenniferkristensen
    7 years ago

    I love my tower gardens! I have 6! and I love what you wrote and Love! your Tiara!!!

  • PRO
    Them Inc.
    7 years ago

    For those interested in the Commercial side or just for profit gain, I highly suggest you look elsewhere... Our company started using the Green Diamond Aeroponics instead and it grows 256 plants per 4x4 grow area with a spinning tower which provides more a efficient lighting setup that conserves energy and produces less heat.



  • PRO
    Them Inc.
    7 years ago




  • writersblock (9b/10a)
    7 years ago
    last modified: 7 years ago

    Wow, this thread has legs. I'm amazed it's still going. I've had a tower garden for three years now and here's what I'd have to say. Of course, it's not aeroponic, but it's a still great little system as long as you understand what it is and what it can do.

    But for heaven's sake, don't buy a new one. The advertising for these is deceptive enough that there is a huge secondary market from people who buy them and get fed up with the realities of growing vegetables. You can always find them on craigslist and often at really good prices if you aren't afraid of a scrub brush.

    I picked up mine up still in the box along with the extension, tomato cage, and dolly for well under $400. All you really need to find is the actual tower and the extension if you want that. For the rest:

    The pump is a sunleaves H20, but any hydroponics store can find a substitute pump for you if you find a used tower without a pump or with a pump that's dead from being clogged with roots. The timer is a Tork 610-A that you can order from amazon. There are youtube videos on how to make your own tomato cage, if you want that, and the official one is a total waste of money, very poor quality. The dolly is just a 900 gal oil drum dolly that's painted to match the base of the tower. I have to say that for the dolly I haven't found an oil dolly that is that much better a deal for just one than buying direct from the TG store (unlike most of the accessories), but the paint job is pretty shoddy on the official one. Mine had lots of holidays in it.

    You can use any regular hydroponic nutrients instead of the expensive tower tonic. Flora series is popular.

    I do think it's a very well-conceived system, but you have to be realistic about what it can produce. For me, it grows nearly all the non-root vegetables I use in season, but that's for just one person. Contrary to what's implied in the marketing, you aren't going to feed a family of four (or even 2) all your veggies from a single tower, unless your family doesn't eat vegetables more than they can help.

    Also, you are going to have a hard time getting help with problems. The only real support is the TG forum, which used to have some people who gave honest answers and made alternate suggestions where needed. Those folks have been driven off or else co-opted by Juice+ now, so it's much more about marketing than offering help. The Juice+ MLM system is much more about MLM more than product, so even if you had a "representative," they generally know absolutely nothing about either gardening or hydroponics.

    If you are considering buying a used TG and don't have any hydroponics experience, I'd go talk to the folks at your local hydro store. If you're lucky, you might find someone like the guy who runs one of our local stores who knows and admires the TG for what it is and can offer useful assistance.

  • Lori Munn
    5 years ago
    last modified: 5 years ago

    Oh my goodness I am overwhelmed and feel completely ignorant here. I am one of those people who traveled on their job; worked 60 hours and had no time. I managed to purchase a Tower Garden and used it for 5 years and it worked quite well indoor and outdoors. Never had issues but now I read all this criticism. Yes we trimmed the roots in the tanks (so what?). Someone posted a picture of the roots as if it is bad? Yes it would get a crusty substance near the openings after about 5-7 mos but we were told that was salts and usually every 6 mos just emptied; cleaned and reloaded. Never thought about it and yes we filtered our water....figured it was the crummy water in AZ.

    So I am trying to learn about hydroponics and last night (7/19) watched about 50 videos on self made hydroponics - ones your purchase and indoor and outdoor. I NEED INDOOR.

    I see how they use powder for the LARGE hydroponic systems and it is much cheaper but is mixed with say 100 gallons. I see a lot of PVC which I do not like or growing in plastic tubs which are not healthy nor food grade.

    Yes I visited hydroponic stores and even used different "tonics" or solutions...cost did not seem cheaper so I don't see why Tower is consider toxic? It is food grade and the solution is no different than what is sold in hydroponic stores as liquid. So is the solution toxic because you think the roots sit in it? No because we trim the roots...and it evaporates so not sure why it would be toxic and high in nitrates. Power would make it NOT HIGH in nitrates??

    SO THE TWO of us could NEVER keep up with what it could produce was really why I sold it and not for $150 but the extended tower, dolly and cage with nutrients for $450 which I thought was fair since it had all accessories. It sold in about 2 days and now I read how obviously people who know more than me when it comes to hydroponics and gardening think it is horrible and the tonic is "not organic", etc and tomatoes with higher levels of nitrates? Really?

    Even checked into hydroponics and the price seemed to $$$$$$$$....grow and grow and my time for research was zip but the outdoors seemed better as they had fish but 6 mos here is quite cold. That fish system is also expensive. I don't see a good hydro system where I can grow as many plants as a Tower indoors and don't see a quality one for INDOORS that does not cost QUITE A FORTUNE? Any recommendations where there is no PVC and items are food grade?

    Now I am totally at a loss because although easy to have an outdoor garden in CA or FL it has been difficult in other areas with seasonal affects and it is why I liked the Tower.

    Also really hard to find organic where I am now..like ZIP. Maybe spinach and that is it. The vegetable selection locally sucks.

    Now what to do...

  • Paul Presenza
    3 years ago

    My main question is can I grow the veggies I want? For example, I don't want to grow standard fat pulpy flavorless garden tomatoes, I want to grow San Marzanos, or at least Roma tomatoes. But they both grow a good 3-4 feet high

  • Carrie Nepkin
    3 years ago

    Hall in my experience tomatoes grow great however they take over the whole garden if that’s your main vegetable to grow it’s you probably could do maybe for five plants on there because it will really take it over but they grow wonderfully

  • Carrie Nepkin
    3 years ago

    Paul. Typo

  • Carrie Nepkin
    3 years ago

    My lil toms this year. Indoor.

  • rpelham49
    3 years ago

    My question regarding tower gardens (and indeed any hydroponics system), is how can you grow vegetables with differing nutrient strength requirements in the same tower? Some claim to be tomatoes and leafy greens, lettuce etc. Has anyone had any success with them, or do they need to be grown in a separate tower with different nutrient strengths?

  • Shirley Robinson
    3 years ago

    Everyone asking about fertilizer....go to YouTube & look up ”worm tea”! You’ll thank me later! Get you a worm bin & start composting & leave all that chemical, non organic crap where it’s at....heavily stocked in a warehouse! Lol

  • New to hydroponics
    3 years ago

    Does anyone have a specific recommendation of powdered fertilizer and pH adjusters for a tower garden? I love my tower garden, but the fertilizer and pH adjusters are pretty expensive when buying direct from tower garden. Thank you for any suggestions you have!

  • hex2006
    3 years ago

    I`d suggest using something like Jacks 5-12-26 or masterblend 4-18-38 along with calcium nitrate (ideally yara calcinit). As a guide, to approximate half strength tower tonic in a 20gal reservoir you will need 28g of Jacks and 18.6g of calcium nitrate. In the case of masterblend its 15.5g, with 24.6g of calcium nitrate and 9.5g of magnesium sulphate (epsom).. For ph down adjustment, use phosphoric or nitric acid. For ph up adjustment use potassium hydroxide (KOH) aka caustic potash. Most brands of ph down contain 85% phosphoric acid, they will all do the same job.

  • New to hydroponics
    3 years ago

    Thank you Hex2006!


    Would the “Masterblend tomato and vegetable formula” work with the tower garden? It says it already has the Epsom salts and calcium nitrate added in but I wasn’t sure if that would work for hydroponics. https://www.masterblend.com/vegetable-and-tomato-formula/

  • hex2006
    3 years ago

    Its a 2 part 5-12-25 hydroponic nutrient very similar to Jacks so it will work fine for the tower garden. The recommend doses may be a little strong for crops other than toms so best to check and adjust the EC to what you normally run with the tower tonic.. If you have nutrient issues for non tom crops, i`d suggest using the same weights i gave for the Jacks and calcium nitrate in the previous post which will approximate the tower tonic formulation at half strength.

  • HU-193078019
    3 years ago

    Anyone selling a tower garden?

  • Cyn Brown
    2 years ago

    Obviously late to the party, but am really interested in indoor gardening, especially for people in apartments or other small spaces who don't have sufficient light (~99.9999% of almost any indoor location for veggies). I found this post b/c I was looking for tower garden reviews. I also found one called iGarden and Gardyn. One mentioned earlier, Green Diamond, looked like it was for a farm.


    I have two reasons for inquiring. One is my own, personal reason: I don't have tons of time, but would really, really, really love to have fresh veggies, including tomatoes - grown indoors. (I live in a condo with no balcony.) This other is because I have a small nonprofit [yes, 501(c)(3)], and one of its missions is to have sustainable buildings and environs - which also includes the ability for people to grow at least some of their own food in their apartments!


    With regard to the second reason, whatever solution must be energy efficient since one of our goals is to develop sustainable affordable housing - but, as executive director, I would like to also see some sort of program for very low income: many live in food deserts and most have a similar situation to me (apartment, no balcony).


    The system must be plug and play or close to it. I know a lot of people who work up to three (!) jobs, and still have trouble making ends meet. So many people may not have high income, but they are extremely busy. [Although it might be nice to develop a DYI system and methodology and point some of these people to that, b/c not everyone's working 18 hour days and, of course, some or retired or are otherwise not working FT.]


    Thanks so much in advance for your advice! I super appreciate it!

  • catsandcanines
    2 years ago

    Tower Garden needs fertilizers (not inexpensive) and maintainance (cleaning) so not really plug and play. Also plants do need light but a window may suffice or grow lights. If you could pick up in the Los Angeles area I'd be happy to donate mine to your cause.

  • Gina Palatta
    2 years ago

    I was on the verge of buying a TG, this forum has my head spinning. I’m new to the game and need a recomendation, are any of the growing systems worth it?

  • Carrie Nepkin
    2 years ago

    Gina I have had mine for 10 years. It has more then paid for itself. I live in the Midwest where winters are long. The summers can be finicky too so in past 5 years I have been growing inside year round. I have. Pic of it. Below.plus I brought in an outdoor plant to see if it would survive too.

  • PRO
    Ackorns & Co
    2 years ago

    I had something similar to Tower Garen 10-15 years ago and it's a great thing for all home garden lovers. It saves space and lets you enjoy the most beautiful flowers.

  • wholenewmom
    9 months ago

    @mvbellefeuille .how much of that peroxide do you add? Thanks

Sponsored
Home Rescue Contracting
Average rating: 5 out of 5 stars14 Reviews
Loudoun County's in Custom Craftsmanship & Construction Solutions