How to Make Your Own Aerogarden Replacement Pods

Aerogarden Replacement Pods

One of the questions I often get when people hear that I have an indoor garden is if I’m able to grow all of my own food and spend less at the grocery store.

The funny thing is I spend way more on this little hobby than I save at the grocery store.

So I do try to save a bit here and there when I can!

Most of the cost with indoor gardening is at set up.

The machines can be a little pricey, but after the first planting, new seeds and replacement pods can be pretty affordable.

…Especially if you know the tips and tricks for saving on replacement Aerogarden pods.

How to Make Your Own Aerogarden Pods

Aerogarden indoor gardens are reusable.

I’ve been growing indoor herbs and veggies with my oldest Aerogarden Harvest for about 5 years now!

And the nice thing is, you’re not limited to the company’s pre-seeded pods.

You can grow practically anything you want in these hydroponic systems – herbs, lettuces, fruiting plants, flowers, etc – as long as you keep the machine well maintained.

You just need some basic materials and then you can use your own seeds to grow whatever you want:

• grow baskets
• sponges
• seeds
• labels
• grow domes
• nutrition

Aerogarden Grow Anything Kit

 

In case you’re wondering how to use them, I have a tutorial on the Grow Anything kit here as well as a Youtube video.

The company’s Grow Anything Kit is just a bit expensive to keep repurchasing.

Over time, you can save quite a bit of money by purchasing ‘knock-off’ parts from third-party sellers.

You can even make your own!

DIY Aerogarden Pods

I’ve tried all different Aerogarden alternative brands and DIY options at this point!

So I thought I’d summarize the best budget friendly alternatives to Aerogarden’s pods.

In some instances, you can save quite a bit from the knock off brands (that work just as well as the originals) while in some instances I’d recommend Aerogarden’s in-house option.

Aerogarden Pod Alternatives

Grow Baskets

And, the nice thing is you can re-use these!

The plastic is pretty strong and will survive repeated plantings, even if the little vertical pieces break.

So I recommend buying the Aerogarden pods.

While they are double the price, they last quite a while and that way you get a more seamless fit!

Just wash them with some soap and warm water before re-using and clean off any roots or debris.

Aerogarden Sponges

Spagnum peat moss also has a high capacity to hold water without restricting airflow.

What that means is your plants will be able to adequately absorb water and nutrients without suffocating.

Hydroponic roots should always look white and healthy.

If they start turning dark brown and slimy, they’re likely dying of root rot.

You can buy spagnum peat moss sponges from any third party company.

I find that the Amazon alternatives tend to be made of a more solid-feeling plasticky sponge, whereas the Aerogarden sponges tend to be more crumbly.

There are also slightly different sponge shapes.

Obviously, Aerogarden sponges are perfectly sized to fit the Aerogarden grow baskets.

They’re shaped like an inverted cone, measuring ¾ inch wide at the top and tapering down to ½ an inch at the bottom.

Height wise, they should be almost 3/4 the height of the plastic grow basket.

Some of the knock-off brands are short and wide, so they don’t fit quite as nicely.

And, because the sponges are more ‘solid’ pieces, with smaller hole openings, they can fit in less seeds than the Aerogarden sponges.

But, sponges are one part of the Aerogarden pod that I don’t recommend re-using in between plantings.

They get quite tangled with roots and can harbor bacteria or disease if your old plants weren’t healthy.

I always recommend using fresh sponges (unless a plant has died off very early and the sponge has barely been used).

I typically buy a bag of 100 from a third party brand for ~15 – 20 cents a sponge.

Aerogarden Sponge Alternatives

The main purpose of the sponge is to hold the plant in place.

So if you wanted, you could save even more money by using alternative growing mediums, like:

• rockwool
• grow cubes
• clay pebbles
• coco coir
• dish sponges
• pool floaties

Peat moss is not really an environmentally friendly material (it releases huge amounts of carbon dioxide when harvested) so lots of people prefer less harsh products.

Here’s a quick overview of various Aerogarden sponge alternatives:

Rockwool

One of the benefits of rockwool is it’s a great option for DIY hydroponic systems, so you could use it for other indoor garden projects.

But, you do have to buy them in bulk and cut every sponge individually.

They’re often meant for hydroponic projects that use 1″ net cups, which are much larger than Aerogarden’s plastic cages.

So you’ll likely have to gently cut them down to be narrower and shorter.

Rockwool blocks can contain micro dust particles and loose fibers that can aggravate allergies, so use if you’re not sensitive to dust!

Horticubes

Because the cubes are quite short, I find that it speeds up the root growth process for plants and seems to provide better airflow.

They come with pre-punched holes which makes it easy to seed start lots of plants all at once.

You do have to gently cut the cubes apart, and the sheet is cute rough and dusty, so the grow cubes can get messy.

But you can’t beat the price!

These grow cubes cost just 3-4 cents each!

Clay Pebbles

For example, chives are an herb that grow best in a thick bunch.

The seeds can take a while to germinate (~21 days) and each seed is roughly medium sized.

I try to plant 10-20 per slot in the Aerogarden but this ends up being too many seeds for the small sized hole in the Aerogarden sponge.

Veggies with extra large seeds like green beans and peas can be a tight fit for the peat moss sponges and a better fit with the flexible clay pebbles.

Clay pebbles are also a great growing medium if you want to create DIY hydroponic garden projects, like kratky mason jars or LECCA pots.

I’ve also used clay pebbles as an alternative growing medium in my Click & Grow setup.

So they’re multi-purpose and quite useful!

using clay pebbles as an alternative growing medium in my Click & Grow garden

Clay pebbles also re-usable.

I’ve used them in grow cycle after grow cycle, with just an easy rinse to clean in between plantings.

You also want to give clay pebbles a good wash before using them for the first time, as they can be a bit dusty.

One bag will last you basically forever!

Coco Coir

It has one of the highest rates of water retention (it can absorb up to 10x its weight in water).

So plant roots growing in coco coir will stay hydrated for longer whic helps with strong, healthy root development.

It’s also environmentally friendly, because it’s a repurposed product from what would otherwise be waste.

Coco coir can also be re-used over and over.

I use coco coir for starting ‘trickier’ plants.

Sometimes, starting seeds indoors can be tricky so anytime I’ve having a lot of trouble with seeds rotting or germinating and dying, I switch to using coco coir.

In particular, I recommend using coco coir for beans, squash and peas!

using coco coir to seed start is helpful, especially when you’re starting a massive amount of seeds all at once!

Coco coir is pretty cheap.

The main con is that it’s a bit more labor intensive and can be a bit messy.

The coconut coir fibers are dehydrated and compacted into dry bricks for easy shipping, so when you buy one you’ll need to re-hydrate it on your own.

To do that, just wet the brick in a large bowl or container, and fluff until it turns into a crumbly mixture.

It’s easiest to rehydrate the entire brick at once so you’ll also need to store the bag of ‘soil’ somewhere if you’re only using a little bit at a time.

Dish Sponges and Pool Noodles

You could also re-purpose a pool noodle.

These rounded sponge collars work best for wide-mouth net cups though, as opposed to the small Aerogarden spaces.

Aerogarden Seed Kit Alternatives

And all the plant varieties they’ve selected will have high germination rates, stay compact to fit inside the indoor gardens and be satisfied with Aerogarden’s liquid nutrients.

But, if you have more gardening experience, it’s more fun (imo!) to use your own seeds.

As I mentioned earlier, you can grow practically anything inside the Aerogardens.

I typically buy my seeds online from heirloom seed companies.

They offer fun unique varieties of herbs and veggies that I can’t easily find at the grocery store.

Some plants will grow easily, from start to finish, while others will need to eventually be transplanted outdoors.

The best types of plants will be container varieties or dwarf sized plants, since they’ll naturally be short and compact.

I have a whole post on my favorite online seed companies here, but my top 3 recommendations are:

1. Botanical Interests
2. True Leaf Market
3. Renee’s Garden

When shopping for seeds, look for keywords like ‘container friendly’ or ‘compact’.

I also find that it helps to read customer reviews.

I’m always looking for how tall the plants get, how long it took for fruit to develop and of course, taste!

The size of plant you can grow depends on the Aerogarden system you have.

I typically grow large fruiting plants (peppers, eggplants, beans, etc) in the Aerogarden Bounty or Farms, since they have a height capacity of 3 feet and stronger LED lights.

Saving Money on Seeds

To save money on seeds, you can save seeds from your full grown plants.

This is especially easy to do for fruiting plants like tomatoes, peppers, beans, peas, etc.

For lettuces and salad greens, wait until your plants have bolted and gone to seed to collect them.

I also recommend buying seeds off-season.

saving seeds is a great way to save money on buying new seeds and pretty easy to do!

Most seed companies will start to have sales in late spring and early summer to clear out their inventory.

Often the unique and most in-demand varieties will sell out, but it’s a great way to stock up on seeds you might otherwise not have bought.

I’ve gotten seeds for as little as 20 cents at places like Aldi, and heirloom seeds for ~$2 per packet from Botanical Interests during their sales.

Labels

The Aerogarden labels are peel-and-stick stickers.

Ink tends to smudge on them so if anyone has tips for what type of pen or marker to use, let me know!

The Aerogarden labels have a wider central opening, which works better for large seed plants, like beans and peas.

They’re also a light yellow-green color, which makes blue or blank ink much easier to read.

I often grow plants for 6+ months and have found that Aerogarden labels last much longer.

Perhaps the glue is stronger or the labels are just made of sturdier paper.

Third party labels are inexpensive and also operate on the same sticker method.

The labels are darker colored, with plant designs printed on them, so it can be a little harder to read writing against the background.

But, the finish on the stickers seems to make ink smudge less.

I also noticed the third party labels often have a smaller central hole, which more effectively blocks out light and more thoroughly prevents algae growth.

The smaller central holes has pros and cons.

In general, I find that the third party stickers tear, rip and break more easily.

The sticker glue isn’t as ‘tacky’ so they don’t last as long as the original Aerogarden stickers.

But… everything comes down to price!

Aerogarden labels cost about ~35 cents per sticker, while third party labels can be as cheap as 7 cents a sticker!

Aerogarden Sticker Alternatives

For a DIY option, you can use aluminum foil to replace stickers.

Little squares of foil are easy to wrap around the base of the plastic dome.

They serve the purpose of blocking out light and preventing algae or mold growth.

Some of the third party Aerogarden systems use square pods so the circular stickers aren’t a good fit. In those instances, I use aluminum as a cover and forego the labeling.

I used aluminum foil for the Ahopegarden, as the sticker labels were too large for the smaller pod baskets

Grow Domes

If you threw out the initial set, most of the third party brands sell replacement grow domes.

They’re very affordable – about $12 for a pack of 100 plastic caps, or roughly 12 cents each.

And it seems like. Aerogarden is cutting costs. Their latest model, the Harvest 2.0, doesn’t include grow domes.

So it’s a good idea to keep re-using any existing grow domes that you have.

I have an in-depth review of the Harvest 2.0 model if you’re thinking about purchasing one.

Nutrition

It’s also very easy to use.

Just pour a couple capfuls to the grow bowl (the number of cups depends on the size of the unit).

No need to mix anything!

The knock-off Aerogardens like iDoo, AHopegarden, Letpot etc include nutrients as well, but use a more shelf stable form that comes in two separate parts: nutrients A + B.

While these work just fine, they add just a little extra step to turn them into liquid form and then add individually.

I prefer the Aerogarden nutrients even though they’re slightly more expensive.

 

But, lately I’ve been testing out hydroponic nutrients from various other brands, like:

• dynagrow
• maxi grow
• general hydroponics
• masterblend

These are all a bit cheaper than Aerogarden’s nutrients.

They also separate some of the important plant food components, like nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium (NPK), so you can give your plants a more specific level of nutrients.

In general, nutrients in powder form will be the most cost effective.

By eliminating the liquid, they’re lighter to ship and can last a lot longer.

The downside is they come in large bags and require you to mix up the nutrients yourself.

If you have several gardens going, I recommend buying powder nutrients like maxi grow and masterblend.

Overall, by using a combination of Aerogarden and third party materials, growing a new plant from seed can be extremely budget friendly!

Aerogarden Pods

Each Aerogarden replacement pod is ~$1.48.

Seeds, nutrients and electricity are extra, but overall pretty minimal.

DIY Replacement Pods

Using third-party brands or DIY options can mean each new plant can be as cheap as ~59 cents!

I mix and match Aerogarden and alternative brands, based on what price and quality.

(I used the msrp price above for the table calculations, so stacking a discount code would make the Aerogarden pod pricing even cheaper)

Hope this post helped give you an idea of how you can grow plants indoors on a budget.

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