The AeroGarden, a Pandemic-Era Phenomenon, Is Gone. What Happens Next?

If you don’t care about the company’s demise and you can get an AeroGarden for less, don’t expect to get customer support past those 90 days.

In my experience, AeroGardens is the best. Replacement parts are readily available, and they are easy to repair as long as the lights and electrical components continue to work and as long as you keep your device clean and well maintained.

Of the three AeroGardens I had, only one still worked normally. The Bounty Elite model I owned had problems with its LED lighting, and since the device was out of warranty, the company told me they couldn’t repair or replace it. I didn’t bother looking for another part on Ebay or other third party seller sites.

The Harvest model I previously owned that stopped working was within its warranty and was replaced by the company. I kept the old model for spare parts. Harvest instead is still working well after two years.

If you are worried about running out of seeds and liquid related to the company’s ingredients, don’t worry. Plastic seed pods can be reused (I have so many in my house, I’ll never run out), and there are many online retailers that offer matching off-brand pods and round sponges to go with them. You can drop any off-the-shelf garden seed into these pods, just like you can with AeroGarden’s Grow Anything kits.

For liquid nutrition, you can store in large containers of plant food, which contains 16 minerals, or use another mixture. Smart gardeners have noticed and posted online about what’s in the mix, but since hydroponic growing is popular outside of the AeroGarden community, it’s not hard to buy or find information on how to make your own nutrient mix that will work with any type of plant. the seed you are trying to plant.

As long as your AeroGarden continues to operate, you should be able to find supplies and parts to keep growing plants for years to come.

What happened to the AeroGarden app?

The answer to that question is not so clear. The company has updated its iOS and Android apps this year but says only that the app will continue to work for an “undetermined amount of time”.

AeroGarden models that use Wi-Fi and Bluetooth can be used without an app, as the company explains in its user manual. If you’re worried about AeroGarden disappearing from the web, it wouldn’t hurt to save a copy of your model’s electronic manual just in case.

What If I Want to Upgrade to AeroGarden?

If you’d still like to grow your plants indoors instead of moving to an outdoor garden or other types of soil-based growing, there are other hydroponic devices.

Click & Grow makes indoor plants comparable to the AeroGarden starting at around $80 with their current discounts. Ingarden makes a line of microgreen and nutrient planters that retail for $149. Modern Sprout and Gardyn are other options starting at $239 and $499, respectively, if you’re looking for something app-enabled and hydroponic.

The AeroGarden may be gone, but don’t let that rob you of the joy of growing your plants, whether you do it with or without soil, indoors or outdoors, or even (gasp!) without any technology.