Aerogarden Harvest Lite
In 2024, Aerogarden introduced a brand new hydroponic garden to their product line up, the Harvest Lite.
It had been years since they created a new indoor garden.
The company seems to have taken a pause to launch new products, like a micro greens kit, indoor plant lights, houseplant lights etc.
So I was really excited to hear they were coming out with a new garden!
The Harvest was the first indoor garden I ever got, and I’ve always had a soft spot for it.
It was sleek, came in beautiful colors, was a true workhouse indoor garden. I used it over and over again for years to grow everything from herbs to salad greens to cherry tomatoes.
It wasn’t just me – the Aerogarden Harvest was hugely popular and considered the ‘OG’ hydroponic garden in the indoor gardening space.
my first-ever indoor garden – I was obsessed with the copper color
But in recent years, as indoor gardening became more popular, cheaper indoor gardens from Chinese manufacturers began to enter the market.
A lot of people (especially those who didn’t know the difference) bought the more inexpensive options.
So (I think) Aerogarden wanted to re-capture the market with a scaled down, more affordably priced product.
At first Aerogarden called their new indoor garden the Harvest 2.0, but I (and many others) felt like it wasn’t really an upgrade and the name was a bit of a misnomer.
The company went out of business just a couple months later but then quietly came back and re-launched operations in the spring of 2025.
Since the comeback, they’ve been tweaking all their products and I noticed they recently revised the name of the Harvest 2.0 to rebrand as the Harvest Lite.
I think this name much more accurately reflects the indoor garden and where it fits among Aerogarden’s lineup of hydroponic gardens!
And, at first I was a little disapointed by the “upgrade” but after using the Harvest 2.0 / Harvest Lite for the last two years, I’ve changed my mind.
I’ve actually come to really love it!
So much so that I gifted one as a housewarming present to my friend Sam.
We even got to film the set-up as part of a sponsorship with Discover, which was really fun to work on together!
In my opinion, it’s just as well-made as all of Aerogarden’s other products, but just without the bells and whistles.
It was originally priced quite high, but along with the name change, the Harvest Lite seems to have come down in price as well.
With Aerogarden’s top notch quality and a really affordable price point, you can’t beat the Harvest Lite – especially for a brand new beginner looking to start their first indoor garden.
Aerogarden Harvest vs Harvest Lite
In today’s post, I’ll compare the original Harvest with the Harvest Lite.
Specifically, I’ll describe the differences in design and functionality so you can decide which indoor garden is better suited for you!
Quickly jump to:
.
Aerogarden Models
First – if you’re not familiar with Aerogarden, the company has 4 main types of indoor gardens.
The main difference is their size and plant capacity.
From smallest to largest, they are:
Whenever anyone asks which garden to get as their first foray into indoor gardening, I always recommend the Harvest.
It’s cute, compact and holds up to 6 plants.
Aerogarden Harvest
The size of the Harvest makes it perfect to grow beginner friendly plants like herbs, lettuces and greens.
It’s also compact enough to fit into even the smallest apartment or condo.
As the company’s best-selling garden, they’ve released the classic Harvest in all different shapes.
I’m partial to the classic square-ish design but it also comes in a slim rectangular option and a round circular option.
There’s a streamlined pastel line (without a display screen) and a premium version with the LCD display.
I like the Harvest Elite in particular because it has ‘vacation mode‘ – a setting where you can put your indoor garden on a light setting if you’ll be away from home.
The Harvest comes in a ton of colors and finishes (black, white, stainless steel, grey, pink and pistachio green)!
They release new colors every so often too.
I also think the Harvest’s price point hits the sweet spot – the standard Harvest retails for ~$89.95 msrp but can often be found on sale for $70-80.
Harvest vs Harvest Lite
Design
Both the Harvest and Harvest Lite are compact, 10-pod indoor gardens.
While the Harvest comes in lots of shapes, the Harvest Lite is available in just the classic rectangular design.
The Harvest sits on a platform base in order to connect to the LED light, so it ends up being a little taller in height.
The Harvest Lite is a newer design, where the LED light clicks directly into the back of the garden. It can sit directly on your countertop, so if your kitchen cabinets sit lower, you might prefer the Harvest Lite.
(It’s only about a 1″ difference in height though)
Colors
I don’t know about you, but color choice is important to me :)
I always get people commenting that they can DIY their own hydroponic garden for cheaper.
For one, I doubt that – buying parts piece meal at the hardware store isn’t as cheap as people think, unless they are recycling old bottles and scrap materials.
And two, I want the things in my home to look nice.
So, I much prefer to buy all-in-one indoor gardens and I care how they look!
I wrote a post here about the most aesthetic indoor gardens here.
Both the Harvest and Harvest Lite come in a range of color options.
The Harvest comes in soft pastel shades and metallic stainless steel options. If you prefer a more muted, dark matte aesthetic, the Harvest Lite may be more your style.
Design Differences
The Harvest Lite features several design changes compared to the orignal Harvest.
While both can grow up to 6 plants, the Harvest Lite has a different
Here’s a deeper dive into the differences…
Grow Deck
Harvest grow deck in light blue (top left) vs Harvest Lite grow deck in black (bottom right)
Some people reported issues with algae growth, so Aerogarden redesigned the grow deck to be a thicker piece of all black plastic.
The dark color better filters out light and has reinforced rings around each grow port.
It’s also easier to clean, as it’s made from just one piece of thicker plastic.
With the old Harvest, you would have to pry apart the two pieces to clean it (which always killed my fingernails).
However, with the thicker one-piece grow deck, the Harvest Lite grow deck doesn’t pump water to the top of each grow port like the other Aerogarden gardens.
At first I thought this was a downgrade, but since using the Harvest Lite for the last two years, I actually think it’s fine.
It makes the Harvest Lite grow deck much easier to clean and without the opening around each space, roots and algae don’t get stuck.
But, I also noticed the bumper ridge on the Harvest Lite affects the way the pods sit in the grow deck.
Instead of sitting flush with the surface of the garden like on Aerogarden’s Harvest, each pod sticks up a couple centimeters on the Harvest Lite.
I also don’t mind this change, because I often refill the garden quickly and spill water on the grow deck.
Keeping the pods raised slightly prevents water from flooding each plant and making the leaves waterlogged.
pod baskets will sit slightly raised on the Harvest Lite due to the bumpers around each opening
LED Grow Light
Aerogarden redesign the LED grow light. On the left, the original Harvest, on the right the Harvest Lite
Aerogarden completely redesigned the light.
The Harvest Lite features a 15W light panel of full spectrum lights.
The lights are meant to be dimmer, to be easier on the eyes. The classic Harvest models have a 20W light.
At first, I thought on pure specs alone that the 15W light had to be lower quality than the old 20W light.
But, I realized that the quality of an indoor grow light isn’t assessed on pure wattage alone – things like light concentration, wavelength and color spectrum all impact how well an LED light will grow plants.
I’ve used both gardens side by side for a year now and find no difference in the quality or my plants’ growth.
One thing I do like about the Harvest Lite design is that it’s fully detachable.
The light panel and height extender completely separate from the machine, into 3 distinct pieces, so the overall garden is much easier to disassemble and clean.
Since I broke my old Harvest by accidentally submerging the base in water, that’s good news to me!
I shouldn’t have any issues breaking this new 2.0…
the old Harvest light is attached to the base, while the Harvest 2.0 separates
Water Pump
the water pump on the Harvest classic (blue, left side) compared to the new pump on the Harvest Lite (black, right side))
The pump was also changed in the Harvest Lite.
It’s been modified to be the same pump that’s found in the Sprout models.
I think the original water pump on the Harvest is stronger.
It’s the same style pump in all of the company’s gardens except the Sprout and produces larger air bubbles.
But, it also has more parts to clean and large plant roots can easily get stuck in it.
So far I’ve been growing eggplants in the Harvest 2.0 and haven’t seen any difference in plant size or growth with the new pump!
Display Screen
the Harvest has 3 handy buttons on the base, but the Lite does not
The Harvest is available in several varations
- Harvest Elite: LCD screen
- Harvest: 3 buttons
- Harvest Lite: none
Since the Harvest Lite is a stripped down variation, designed to be sleek and minimalist, Aerogarden did away with the platform base and buttons.
I personally, prefer the 3 buttons that are on the classic Harvest.
These allow you to, with one press, turn the light on and off, remind you when the water runs low and remind you when the nutrition runs low.
I like the Harvest Elite the best as it has an LCD screen.
This is super functional, because it allows you to set the type of garden (which dictates the light duration, anywhere from 14 – 16 hours) and set a custom on and off time.
It also has a “sunset” feature, where the lights gradually turn on and off like the sunrise and sunset, instead of jolting on and off abruptly.
The LCD screen also had some nifty options, like Vacation Mode, where you could tell the garden to operate on half capacity (with reduced water aeration and a halved light schedule) to keep your plants alive and healthy while you’re out of town.
The Harvest Lite has none of the options.
I really dislike not being able to set the light on and off times. The way the Harvest Lite works is the 15 hour light schedule begins once you plug in the machine.
Since I have multiple gardens, I like them to all run on the same schedule.
My Harvest Lite is always out of sync with the rest of my gardens, no matter how much I try to plug it in at the same time.
The grow bowl has been modified to include a nutrition reminder on the bottom.
When it’s time to add nutrients, the Aerogarden logo on the bottom center of the machine will turn red. I find the color change quite difficult to notice though.
There’s also no water reminder button.
But, in the event the garden is low on water, the pump will automatically shut off and the light will turn off.
Plants
The Harvest Lite is the first garden to veer away from Aerogarden’s pre-seeded pods.
When it first launched in 2024, it came with a seed packet of black seeded simpson lettuce, so you could start seeds yourself.
I loved that change, especially because the packet came with a ton of seeds!
so many seeds in the little packet
Before, with the pre-seeded pods, you only got 6 pods (1 per grow space).
The seed packet comes with a lot of seeds so there’s more than enough for successive rounds of planting!
I got at least 30+ black seeded simpson lettuce seeds in my little packet.
But I noticed recently (as of Fall 2025), the Harvest Lite doesn’t come with seeds at all.
You’ll need to buy your own – I have a list of my favorite online seed companies here.
Honestly, if you like to experiment and want the freedom to grow whatever you want, it’s not a bad cost saving measure to remove the seed pods and allow you to purchase your own seeds.
I did that anyway, and have a stack of Aerogarden pod baskets that I have yet to plant.
But if you’ve never tried hydroponic gardening before, you may buy plant seeds that aren’t suitable, or choose seeds that are much more difficult to grow.
(Aerogarden’s pre-seeded pods were basically foolproof)
And, the Harvest Lite doesn’t come with grow domes as the company is trying to cut down on plastic.
To use your own seeds in the Aerogarden, I have an in-depth guide here.
I also have a post with all my beginner indoor gardening tips here, to get you started.
Price
The Harvest Lite retails for $99.95 msrp while the original Harvest retails for $124.95.
But, both regularly go on sale. I picked up a Harvest Lite for $40 during a summer sale and the Harvest often goes on sale for $70-90.
After seeing all the sales and price fluctations over the years, I wrote a post here with what I think are good prices to buy for every Aerogarden model.
Ultimately, which to go with depends on the features that you want and of course, price.
Harvest or Harvest Lite: Which I’d Recommend
I really like my Harvest Elite, because it has an LCD display screen.
This allows you to set the light schedule to a start and stop time that you prefer. It also allows you to set the light duration, by selecting different vegetable modes.
It also allows you to quickly turn the light on or off, a button that I personally use often.
Since I have multiple indoor gardens, I like to set them all to sync on the same light schedule, which is a bit trickier to do with the Harvest Lite.
And, for those who travel frequently, the Harvest Elite has Vacation Mode so your plants can stay alive for at least 2 weeks on their own.
But, if you’re a beginner to indoor gardening and want a simple hydroponic system without the bells and whistles, the Harvest Lite is a great option.
It offers all the core functionality and Aerogarden’s great customer service while being incredibly affordable.
I like how much easier it is to clean, and the improved LED light pole is a big plus.
Which would you choose? Let me know in the comments!
Follow me on
Youtube | Tiktok | Instagram | Substack | ShopMy
