I have tried a couple of times to grow hydroponic chillies. I tend to end up forgetting to water them. I am hoping that this doesn't happen this time.This set comes with everything needed to start off a small hydroponic garden, apart from the seed itself.I got some seed, put them under some wet tissue for 24 hours, then put them in the supplied sponges. The sponges I had pre-soaked by leaving them in this hydroponic system overnight. I filled the bucket up to the max (well, a little over actually), but in the cages for the sponges which fit through the top. If you don't have 8 plants, small covers are supplied to block light getting to the roots. There comes some small plastic covers to act as cloches for the seedlings. After a week, 3 varieties of the chillies have sprouted to 4 leaves each. (1 variety hasn't at all). Some of them I can already see are escaping through the sponge in to the water.The set comes with two bottles marked A and B, complete with chemicals, plus two bags A and B. The intention is to fill the bottles (they are 100ml to the rim), then add 5ml per 1L diluted water as feed when the water level starts to drop.The top of the system provides a good amount of light (and heat given the evaporation in the plastic covers). There is a setting to turn the water pump on, and to select either vegetable lighting or fruiting. The light bar can move up and down to support different sized plants. The pump is very quiet, in that I can't hear it at all.There are poles with holes/holders supplied so when the plants get to the point where the light is 1 ft up, you can start to tie the plants up

My my my - they say good things come in small packages and with this growing kit that's definitely for sure.I've tried many over the years and this in my view is on par with other deluxe ones I've owned as it's so versatile but not only that, it's adjustable for not only the hight but also wavelength of light. It also comes with everything you will need to get you up and running too.The only thing missing is app/timer controlling but it's still excellent and does wonders for starting off seedlings.The light allows you to change what is outputted for different varieties such as fruiting plants or standard flower but also vegetables.It holds a total of 3l which is actually phenomenal for one of these. Ordinarily you're having to fill up all the time but I was able to leave this to do it's thing for days before needing a refill, it will also indicate when it needs topping up.You'll see some plants which I started off in this on my images, they've been repotted in plant pots and I'm over the moon with how healthy they are. Within four weeks or so of using this they've have grown tremendously and are far healthier than others I attempted in the past.There's eight pod places in total with a further slot which allows you to top up the water. The kit includes the pod holders; fertiliser pods, sticks for bracing as height growth happens (you can also adjust the light to a massive height) and planning note chart.I started off with seeds for the plants grown! It normally takes until mid May before I see the levels of growth I have done and they're never this healthy!

I think this hydroponics system is a great idea for people who don’t have a garden or for showing kids how plants grow and where food comes from. It comes with everything you need except seeds. There’s not really any advice on what is suitable to grow in it but a little searching on the internet should give you some ideas. I bought a mixed pack of seeds with some tomatoes, lettuce, cucumber, rocket and a couple of other things. It’s easy to set up following the instructions and after a couple of weeks I have some little plants that look well established, while others haven’t really got going yet. You have to trim the roots to make sure they don’t get sucked into the pump, the instructions say this won’t hurt the plants, I’m not sure if that’s correct or not. I think the idea is to start the plants off in this system indoors and transfer them to pots or the ground outside or in a greenhouse as most things will grow too large to be solely grown in the device. It is quite expensive but you can see that plants progressing daily which I think is worth the money, especially for using with kids.

The GARDENCUBE Indoor Hydroponic Growing System is a black rectangular plastic box (28x17cm) and arrives with all the ingredients and parts to start growing some hydroponic plants. It also has instructions which are semi-helpful on how to set-up the system but they do not provide any advice on suitable plants to useThe system has CE & FCC marks - so it meets EU and USA conformity standards.You have to fill the tank and use fertiliser in the water; plus pre-soak the seeds and use the pods provided to place grow the seed in. Gardencube sell replacements for all consumables but they are very expensive and come with unnecessary plastic replacements (.https://www.amazon.co.uk/s?srs=94346007031).The light source is adjustable as is the hight of the light source (but only to 27cm - not the 53cm claimed in the advert). You get a light source but no heating of the water - so this will be variable and will affect plant growth. There is a pump and the lights come on and off automatically; plus there is some flexibility with the choice of lights for veg or flowers - but this is too small for most flowers and certainly the suggestion in the advert of tomatoes - is absurd; even lettuce would not be possible unless they were tiny.I will try to grow basil and perhaps some holy basil using this system. It will take time and I will update this review if I get significant success from using it. So far I am doubtful. The system is not cheap at £70.00 and then the replacements at £40.00 seems unnecessarily expensive - they should have smaller amounts in the replacement packages. If I had purchased this - it makes for very expensive basil. Perhaps fun if you are living in a flat (but still expensive).Would I buy it - most probably not - far too expensive and too small.

Hydroponic systems like this are not cheap for what they are, however they are interesting things and full of potential if used with a bit of thought. I am lucky enough to have a large garden and have built myself a Hydroponic system in our greenhouse this year which I hope will be far more productive than using the greenhouse traditionally. This product is never going to produce much, it is after all far too small, but if you live in a flat or have no access to outside space this could be a really nice bit of green which is good for body and soul. I have planted a couple of chilli seeds so far in this and am thinking about trying a couple of herds and maybe a small lettuce plant.This is well made the LED light is decent and the pump makes next to no noise. It is never going to be an economic alternative to buying fresh salad because it is too small, but it would be great to get kids interested in plants and could be a useful thing to germinate tricky seeds; I might even try a few house plant cuttings in the future. 4 stars because I would be a lot happier if it was a bit longer to give more space.