Jung’s Weblog » My Homemade Seed Kit for AeroGarden

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My Homemade Seed Kit for AeroGarden June 30, 2007

Filed under: planting — Jung @ 2:24 am

30 days ago, when it was time to replace my lettuce garden after the final harvest, I started aching for more interesting things to grow.

Instead of getting the Aerogrow’s Master Gardener Seed Kit $39.95, I decided to make my own.

Found online a nice mix of French Mesclun Seeds include Chicories, Endives, Lettuces, Mache, Spinach, and Arugula at 1500 seeds/$4.40 and General Hydroponics’ Maxigro plant food 1.5 pounds/$11.95. Then I went to the local hardware store bought a long piece of foam — AC weather seal to be exact (pictured) :-) that shall make about more than a hundred seed pods for $2.99. Cut them to fit the recycled seed baskets, made a gap for the seeds… Voila (only French word I still remember after a year of intense course at the New School… :-) ) my home made AeroGrow Seed Kit!

foam

So here is my new French Mesclun Salad Garden at 30 days young, I feel like I know each one of the plants. For the time spent researching, a few dollar saved, maybe a bit silly, but all that fun I had in figuring out the way was priceless :-)

Mesclun


17 Responses to “My Homemade Seed Kit for AeroGarden”

  1. wrestless1 says: December 30th, 2007 at 4:53 pm

    Just got my aero garden and found your
    “homemade seedpod” blog. Thanks a million. I’m sure there are a lot of veggies I want to grow without spending
    the money for the official sets. [even though 20% coupons help.] I look forward to keeping up with your aero gardening and mung bean sprouting. And I’ll let you know if I have a green thumb.
    W1

    Dear W1,
    I am glad this is of use to you :-) Everything seems to grow really fantastically with Aerogrow, ever since, not only my aero gardens are of success, the new gained confidence helped me keeping all my potted plants alive and well. I am going to try to grow some beens or miniature squashes when one of my systems finishes producing, the only problem is all plants seem to live forever in this aeroponic state, I may need to get a few more systems or even a large system by other companies. As for sprouting, Easygreen is really fantastic, I have lots and lots of sprouts for food, it is unbelievable. My favorites are Alfalfa, clover, and soy sprouts, and sun flower spouts do really well in it too. Well, have fun growing :-)

    – Jung Jan 4, 2008
  2. ivyamelia says: January 2nd, 2008 at 8:52 am

    THANK YOU- I was just looking at my Christmas present from my husband (aerogarden) and thinking about how ungodly much money I was going to spend on seed pods… I garden and know how little seeds cost, why would it cost $20 for seven seeds? Plus all those little plastic bits getting thrown away. Reading your blog I think it should have occurred to me but it hadn’t so, again, thank you!

    Dear Ivyamelia,
    Thank you, I am so glad. If you come up with other interesting variety of vege that will fit well to grow in the system, don’t forget to let me know :-)

    – Jung Jan 4, 2008
  3. PoppaJim says: March 6th, 2008 at 4:19 pm

    THANK YOU!!
    I found your page while I was waiting for my aerogarden to arrive.

    I found the exact same wether seal at a local home depot.

    My only other question is, What did you do to replace the cardboard tops on the pods? And how did you stick them on??

    Thanks again for making this info available!

    Dear Poppa Jim,

    You are very welcome :-) I basically just left the paper seal (not cardboard, but thin paper) out since the pods have very small opening, the plants grow to cover them up in no time. The paper seals come with the original seed pods, got loosen in about a few days anyway, and the plants usually push them up when they grow large.

    The only thing I would suggest you to do is, make sure you squeeze the cutout foam in the water first to absorb some water before you put it in the pods, this helps the foam to start absorbing water right away in the machine without air bubbles blocking the flow.

    Hope this helps, and let me know how it works out for you :-)

    – Jung March 6, 2008
  4. PoppaJim says: March 6th, 2008 at 4:57 pm

    Thanks for the fast response!

    I’m putting it together now… I bought this thing to grow fresh herbs for our English Angora Bunny!

    She LOVES fresh mint and basil, so I bought peppermint, spearmint, sweet basil, and purple basil seeds and am going to replace the chives, parsley, thime, and dill pods with mints and more basil.

    Wish me luck! :o)

    OMG! I just googled images of English Angora Bunnies, I am stunned! I had no idea there are such cute looking animals. I almost bought a brown baby bunny in a shop a month ago, but I didn’t see how my kitties wouldn’t abuse it… Also, I almost bought a Long Hair Chihuahua last week… I think, for the sake of my cutest kitties, I should stop going into pet stores, well, getting animals not directly from a reputable breeder is a big mistake anyway… :-) I wonder how smart Angora Bunnies are?

    English Angora Bunny

    – Jung March 6, 2008
  5. toddn64 says: June 19th, 2008 at 3:51 pm

    Jung - I have an aerogarden and don’t want to pay $19.95 for a seed kit. Have you tried other seeds besides these? what kind of success have you had ?? Thanks

  6. JanetAnn says: October 8th, 2008 at 10:36 pm

    This is an absolutely beautiful web site you have here, and your experiments are reminding me very much of my own. I love taking photos of my AeroGrown and other hydroponic plants and blogging about them, and trying new things. I am growing purslane, fenugreek, amaranth, and a whole bunch of other things that are not available in the seed kits, starting them out in the AGs and then moving them to other hydroponic containers of various home-brew types.

  7. Sunshine232 says: February 5th, 2009 at 3:45 pm

    Just wondering if you would pass along the web site for the French Mesculum Seeds and the General Hydroponics Maxigrow Plant food.
    Thanks

  8. Jung says: February 11th, 2009 at 7:38 am

    Dear Sunshine232,

    http://www.burpee.com has lots of fun seeds.

    I can’t seem to remember where I got the General Hydroponics plant food, but google it, lots of online shops carry them.

    Have fun growing and happy Valentine’s Day :-)

    Jung

  9. snoopyo says: February 16th, 2009 at 10:51 pm

    Jung,

    It looks like a AG 7 pod that you have. I have a Space Saver 6 with the tapered pods. Do you think it would work for that too if I cut to fit?

  10. Eldemila says: March 17th, 2009 at 3:48 pm

    Thanks for the tip on making your own pods.

    I just got the Elite6 at a garage sale this past weekend. I was thrilled, as I had been wanting/looking for one for a long time. It came with extra bulbs and 4 full kits - all for a whopping $5!!!

    I’d like to be able to make my own grow kits. Can you possibly take a photo and post of the ones you make next time you have to make them? I’m more of a visual type of person.

    Also, has anyone tried something like spinach? Are fruits able to be grown in this??

    Thanks!!!

  11. davy58703 says: March 31st, 2009 at 8:01 pm

    Jung,
    I am disgusted! I have a 6 pod Aerogarden and my chives did great! I just got a Salsa Kit but the seed pods dont even come close to touching the water. I threw the original pods away already! Any way to build something that may work? I feel worthless!
    Thanks,
    Dave

  12. Paula says: April 27th, 2009 at 4:37 pm

    Hi, I’ll be the proud owner of an aerogarden very soon. The hubby ordered me the 6 pod unit with the 24″ overhead lamp. I can’t wait to try it out. My SIL has one and loves it. She’s already enjoying her Cherry tomatoes.

    I know I’ll have many questions and hope you’ll bear with me. I do hope to make my own seed pods and try out many different herbs and salad greens. Any favorites you think I should consider, feel free to suggest. Thanks in advance. =)

  13. Jung says: April 27th, 2009 at 6:31 pm

    Dear Paula,

    How nice of your hubby :-)

    You can pretty much grow anything in an Aerogarden, I’ve tried string beans and it grew just fine even though it wan’t as big as in my own homemade aeroponic system.

    best of luck with all your growing!

    Jung

  14. Paula says: May 4th, 2009 at 11:17 am

    Thanks Jung,

    My Aerogarden arrived 2 days after he ordered it for me. My lettuces are just about ready to come out from under their dome. I have 7 pods, not 6, and 1 seems to be a dud, so I’ll use it to reseed at a later date. I can’t wait to start harvesting my lettuce. My unit came with the Master Gardener kit and the Salad Greens kit. My next crop to plant will probably be fall herbs and flowers. Can’t wait.

  15. Daniel says: July 18th, 2009 at 4:52 pm

    Hello, thanks for your blog. As I am visual, could you post a picture of your foam with a seed? I don’t really catch it. Thanks

  16. dacaprice says: August 17th, 2009 at 7:47 pm

    Great post. I’ve been taking the seed pods apart for a while and just replacing them with my own seeds. After I saw your post I purchased the same materials you mention.

    Hopefully I will be able to put it all together soon!

  17. laace says: December 21st, 2009 at 1:01 pm

    I need to know how to cut the foam. Does it just sit on the top, or does it have to be all the way down in the plastic tube. I have a Aerogarden and grew the herbs last year, but I’d like to make my own pods as I just can’t afford the cost of the kits.
    Thanks,
    Laace

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