AeroGarden Harvest 360 Review
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My wife and I live in a tiny Chicago condo, and we’re always looking for ways to stretch our green thumbs during the cold winter months. AeroGarden has been a godsend on this front. We use their hydroponic countertop units as a way to grow veggies, fresh herbs, and greens year-round. The AeroGarden Harvest 360 is one of Aerogrow’s more affordable models, and we like that it still has enough room to grow several plants at the same time. Let’s take an honest look at the pros and cons of this indoor garden – from its warranty and cost to its yields and aesthetics – so you can decide if the AeroGarden Harvest 360 is right for you.
Where To Buy The AeroGarden Harvest 360
If you’re ready to purchase the AeroGarden Harvest 360, you can do so through our Amazon affiliate link. Other AeroGarden models include the larger AeroGarden Bounty and the smaller AeroGarden Sprout.
AeroGarden Harvest 360: Overview
Like all indoor gardens within the AeroGarden Harvest Family, you can grow up to six different plants at a time, including fresh herbs, salad greens, veggies, and over 70 other plants, including flowers. And the best part is that you can set up this home garden system in less than 10 minutes. Here’s what is inside the box when you get your new AeroGarden Harvest 360:
- 20Watt LED grow lights and light hood
- These high-performance red and blue lights will give your plants the full spectrum of sunlight they need. AeroGarden boasts that plants grown in their hydroponic units grow 5x faster than outdoor plants. That’s not too shabby at all!
- An extendable lamp arm
- The lamp arm adjusts up and down, allowing for up to 12″ of height for your plants to grow.
- A basin and control panel
- On the AeroGarden Harvest 360, the easy-to-use control panel includes only three touch-sensor buttons, which allow you to turn your light on and off, and they alert you to when you need to add plant food or water.
- Plant food liquid nutrients
- Soil-free, non-GMO pre-seeded pods
- When purchasing your AeroGarden Harvest 360, you’ll have the option to choose between one of the following seed pod kits: fresh gourmet herbs, salad greens, and tomatoes.
- Power adapter
AeroGarden Harvest 360 Details
Here’s the nitty-gritty breakdown of the AeroGarden Harvest 360:
- Family: Harvest
- Material Finish: Matte Plastic
- Light Wattage: 20 Watts LED
- Height: 17.4″
- Width: 9″
- Depth: 9″
- Touchscreen: None
- Low Water Reminder: Heck Yes
- Nutrient Reminder: Heck Yes
- Automated Light: Heck Yes
- Dimmable Lights: None
- Vacation Mode: None
AeroGarden Harvest 360 Warranty
All AeroGarden products come with a limited warranty that covers any defects in the materials or workmanship. It lasts one year after the original purchase. It does not cover any problems associated with wear and tear, negligence, improper use, incidental or consequential damages, and is not viable in any situation outside of AeroGarden’s control.
If your hydroponics unit arrives damaged, you need first to contact AeroGarden. Once they authorize you, they will either fix the broken unit or replace it. Make sure you don’t send the indoor garden back to them without proper authorization!
Review for the AeroGarden Harvest 360
The AeroGarden Harvest 360 is a medium-sized hydroponic unit that’s easy to use. It’s not as large as the Bounty or Farm models from AeroGarden, but with six seed pods, the Harvest 360 is excellent for harvesting plants occasionally. It’s also a sleek design that looks beautiful on a kitchen counter design. The “360” aspect of this garden refers to the roundness of this indoor garden. That’s more of an aesthetic choice than a practical one, but the shape makes it smaller than the other Harvest AeroGarden models.
AeroGarden Harvest 360 Pros
Winter Harvests
As someone who lives in a cold-climate area, I can’t say this enough. You can grow plants and veggies in your AeroGarden Harvest 360 even in the dead of winter from the comfort of your home.
Quick-Growing Plants
When you grow with hydroponics, your plants reach maturity faster and often grow larger than they would in the soil. This, mixed with the full spectrum LED light, means you’ll be harvesting your plants sooner than you’d expect.
An Accent Piece For Your Home
The AeroGarden Harvest 360 provides a pop of color for your home. It’s a gift to have a living thing growing around you.
Simple Control Panel
This indoor garden doesn’t have a lot of bells and whistles. It has three buttons/sensors that show you when to feed and water your plants, as well as a button for turning the light on and off.
Access to fresh plants
AeroGarden and Aerogrow produce over 70 seed pods that work with your Harvest 360. And they even have empty pods that you can fill with your own seeds.
Germination Warranty
These Non-GMO seeds even come with a warranty, so you’re able to replace your pods if germination doesn’t take place.
Plant Provenance
It’s so difficult to know where your food is coming from these days. Just because the lettuce in the grocery store looks fresh doesn’t necessarily mean that it is. And then you have to think about things like pesticides and GMO seeds. It becomes a guessing game when making a simple purchase. With the Harvest 360, you can feel confident that the seeds and plant food are not harmful to you or your family. And honestly, sometimes it’s just nice to know where your food comes from.
AeroGarden Harvest 360 Cons
Pricing
AeroGarden models are more expensive than growing indoor houseplants or even most outdoor gardens. And while the Harvest 360 is a good piece of technology, the high price appears to be for convenience mainly. Essentially, a Harvest 360 is an LED light (which you could get for $25-50 on the low end), a basin, and a pump ( which you could get for under $25). So, could you build your own hydroponic garden for $50-60? Definitely. Would it look as nice or send you alerts when your water levels are low? Probably not. So when you buy an AeroGarden Harvest 360, you’re really paying for a simple, effective unit that looks nice in your home. Personally, I think that’s worth the price.
Mid-Harvest Slump
When AeroGarden provides pictures of the Harvest 360, it’s always with plants before they’ve been harvested. So it looks like something out of a home and gardens magazine. But when you start to harvest your plants, you’ll soon have a much less beautiful garden on your kitchen counter. This is especially true for the leafy greens. As you harvest them, the leaves will grow back, but there will be bare stalks from where leaves were removed. This means that they eventually look scraggly and limp, even though the plants are still healthy.
The cherry tomatoes are rough toward the end, as well. Many of the leaves begin to die, and your picturesque garden ends up looking pretty spooky. There are some ways to mitigate this, but it’s not always going to look like the pretty marketing materials you see on the AeroGarden website.
The fresh herbs kit is the only one that we’ve seen that looks good throughout the season. When you clip off the dill, the basil, or any of the other plants from the gourmet herb seed pods, they still look classy on your countertop.
Small Harvests
AeroGarden markets its indoor gardens as an alternative to shopping at a grocery store. With some of their larger models in the Farm category, you might be able to supplement your food budget. But even then, you’d need multiple units to feed a small family. The AeroGarden Harvest 360 only has six pods, so you’re not going to fill anyone’s bellies with harvests from these units. So it loses points in our book for being a little impractical. The one caveat to this is the fresh herbs seed kit. When my wife and I grew these in our AeroGarden, we could add herbs to almost every meal. It tasted better than dry herbs, and you didn’t have to make regular trips for fresh herb clippings from the store.
Occasional Fruit Flies
I was surprised to see that other people across the internet also had this problem. When we were growing in our AeroGarden, we had a handful of fruit flies buzzing around the plants. This is a small criticism, though, as most outdoor plants are teeming with bugs and other life.
Reviews From Across the Internet
Overall, the response to the AeroGarden Harvest 360 has been positive. Here is a comprehensive look at what people are saying about this indoor garden.
AeroGarden.com Reviews: 4.4/5 Stars
- Value: 4.3/5
- Appearance: 4.7/5
- Ease of Use: 4.7/5
Highlighted Favorable Review: It Actually Works!
“I love this AeroGarden. It was easy to set up. Very low maintenance and does not take up much space. I cannot wait to watch the seedlings grow into delicious herbs. The water pump is very quiet. You even have a timer on the light set up or turn off/on whenever you like with the easy touch button. The system tells you when to add water and plant food. Growing herbs has never been so simple. Put together the system, add water, turn on, and you are growing in minutes!! It’s GREAT!”
Highlighted Critical Review:
“My Harvest 360 was very easy to set up and 5 out of 6 herbs are growing successfully (Thyme is a no-go). I can’t give this product 5 stars because while the “touch” buttons light up, they do not perform any function. My unit must have arrived broken because no matter the force – light touch or pushing – the light button does not turn on/off the lights, the plant food reminder doesn’t turn to green when touched after food is added, and I have kept an eye on water level so no need to touch that button. A little disappointing, but I unplug the unit if need be to turn off the (very bright) lights. However, if the product is unplugged, the timer is also inactivated and will pick up where it was in the light/dark cycle when the unit is plugged in again. Still pleased with the growth of the herbs so far, but a little sad the unit isn’t functioning properly straight out of the box.”
Disclaimer: There is a limited warranty for this product, which would cover the defects mentioned by this reviewer.
Amazon.com Reviews 4.6/5 Stars
- Easy to Use: 4.6/5
- Giftable: 4.5/5
- Easy to Grow: 4.4/5
- Value for Money: 4.1/5
Highlighted Favorable Review: It Actually Works
“I have a black thumb, which I think is important to add to this review. I planted everything photographed 1/3/19, and I took this photo this morning (2/5/19). It takes care of itself, and they grow a little bit more each day. It’s the most exciting part of my morning routine.. while my coffee brews I admire my plants! I used the basil and parsley from the packet that came with the kit. But I ordered my own seeds along with the “plant anything kit” to grow jalapeno + poblano peppers, Roma tomatoes, and marijuana.”
Highlighted Critical Review: Poor Customer Service
“You are supposed to call them for new pods if they don’t grow. So I had tried numerous times to call. Usually, the queue number was too large. I gave up! I had left them my call back number and no response from them. Today, my queue was 5. So I decided to wait it out. Three hours and 43 minutes later, I was queue #1. While I was waiting for someone to pick up, I had also written to customer support complaining about the wait time and my problem. So far, no one has responded. Of course, I hang up after close to 4 hours. It is to show what a lousy business AeroGarden is! Yesterday, I wrote Home Depot an email. Immediately, someone wrote back.
“I was just trying to reach AeroGarden for some new pods that weren’t growing. I think they should find an outsource to answer their phone and email. Looks like they will spend one hour answering one phone call. I wasted 4 hours of my time today!”
How To Set Up Your AeroGarden Harvest 360
Setting up your AeroGarden Harvest 360 is simple. Follow these steps, and you’ll be growing in no time.
- Remove the AeroGarden Harvest 360 from the box
- This indoor garden arrives in one piece, so you don’t have to attach the light hood or arm to the basin.
- Remove tape from the basin and the tray
- Plugin the power cord
- Unpackage the seed pods and place them in the designated slots
- Add water to the fill line
- Add plant food (follow directions on how many capfuls to include)
- Place the grow dome on top of each pod
- Turn your light on
- Sit back and watch your plants grow!
How Much Does It Cost To Run An AeroGarden Harvest 360?
Monthly, the AeroGarden Harvest 360 requires an average of 23 watts of electricity. Assuming 11 cents per kW/hour, it will cost you $1.33 a month to run your indoor garden.
What Is An AeroGarden?
AeroGardens are dirt-free and foolproof hydroponic gardens. These units are simple to set up, the plants are easy to care for, and you can grow almost anything year-round. They each come with a basin that holds water, liquid plant food, a water pump, a tray, seed pods, and a full spectrum LED light that provides your plants with the simulated sunshine they need. Most units also include a control panel, allowing you to set a timer for the lights or connect to smart home devices.
AeroGarden is a set of products from the company Aerogrow International. They’re one of the leaders in the indoor gardening space, and they create products that allow people (of all gardening talents) to grow over 70 types of plants indoors. The first AeroGarden was released in March of 2006, and they have expanded their line to include indoor gardens that fit almost every need. In 2013 the gardening behemoth Miracle Grow (who created miracle-gro plant food) invested over $4.5 million into Aerogrow, resulting in 30% ownership interest in Aerogrow. And growers around the world rejoiced.
Fun AeroGarden Fact
The name “AeroGarden” includes the prefix “Aero,” which means air. This refers to air’s (and the aeration’s) role in hydroponics.
What Are The Different AeroGarden Models?
The AeroGarden Harvest 360 is one of many models produced and sold by AeroGarden. These indoor gardens are split between four categories, called “Families.” The main difference between these families is the amount of seed pods that can be grown at a time. And within each of these categories, there are different AeroGarden models. The AeroGarden Harvest 360, for instance, lives in the Harvest Family. Here are the four families provided by AeroGarden:
Farm Family -12 to 24 Seed Pods
The Farm Family includes the most extensive and most expensive AeroGarden models. These hydroponic units 12-24 seed pods, meaning you can grow many plants in a fairly small space. The Farm Family Includes these massive indoor gardens:
- Farm 12XL
- Farm 24Basic
- Farm 23XL
There is also the option to stack these different gardens, allowing you to maximize your space.
Bounty Family – 9 Seed Pods
The Bounty Family includes the second-largest hydroponic systems:
- Bounty Elite
- Bounty
- Bounty Basic
- Bounty Elite Artisian
Harvest Family – 6 Seed Pods
The Harvest family, which includes the AeroGarden Harvest 360, is the perfect size for your home’s kitchen countertop. Here are the different models within the AeroGarden Harvest Family:
- Harvest
- Harvest Elite
- Harvest 360
- Harvest Elite Slim
- Harvest Elite 360
Sprout Family – 3 Seed Pods
With the Sprout Family, you can grow up to three plants at a time. This modern design has a silent pump for better oxygenation. This indoor garden is the smallest and cheapest of the AeroGarden models.
- Sprout
The Difference Between AeroGarden Harvest And Harvest 360?
The only real difference between the AeroGarden Harvest and the Harvest 360 is the indoor garden’s shape and size. While both AeroGarden Harvests hold six seed pods, the basins are a different shape. The Harvest has an almost rectangular-shaped basin with rounded edges, while the AeroGarden Harvest 360 is more oval-shaped or round, hence the “360.” The main benefit of this is theoretically space. The round shape of the 360 means it’s only 9″ wide and 9″ deep, while the traditional Harvest is 10.5″ wide and 7.5″ deep. Before you get excited, that means you’ll have less than 2.5 square inches of extra space with the AeroGarden Harvest 360. It’s nothing to write home about. Instead, the AeroGarden Harvest 360 is more aesthetically different than practically different than the other Harvest models.
What Is The Difference Between AeroGarden Harvest and Harvest Elite?
The difference is cosmetic. Functionally, the Harvest and Harvest Elite are the same, each being the same size and holding six seed pods. The only difference between these two indoor gardens is the basin’s material and the unit’s color. The AeroGarden Harvest Elite has a stainless steel basin and comes in one of four colors, while the AeroGarden Harvest has a matte plastic finish and comes in black or white. If you’re attempting to match your kitchen’s specific look and feel or just want a nicer-looking indoor garden, you may consider the AeroGarden Harvest Elite.
How Long Does An AeroGarden Last?
AeroGardens last an average of 3-5 years, assuming regular maintenance and care. This maintenance likely includes replacing the LED grow lights every six months, as the lumen count begins to drop and will impact the growth, and replacing the pump if it stops working. If you have plants in your AeroGarden for a long time, you’ll need to trim your roots regularly and keep the basin and pump clean.
You will also need to replenish your plant food supply every six months. All this said, the actual technology used with the AeroGarden is relatively simple, and it should last several years with the right care and attention. The main caveat to this would be the control panel, which, if it breaks, will not be a simple fix.
What Can You Grow In An AeroGarden?
You can grow just about anything in an AeroGarden. But should you? Probably not. If you’re growing with an AeroGarden for the first time, start with something simple, like fresh herbs (I like the gourmet herb seed pod kit) or leafy greens. These are pretty hands-off and grow well under the LED grow light. I would recommend saving the cherry tomatoes or bell peppers for a more advanced AeroGarden grower. Also, there are several reports that thyme is a no-go with AeroGarden growers, so consider passing on that one, as well. Here are some of the top plants to try today.
- Curly parsley
- Genovese basil
- Dill
- Thai basil
- Chives
- Mint
- Romaine lettuce
- Arugula
- Deer tongue
- Mixed kale
Can I Move My AeroGarden Plants?
You can transplant your AeroGarden plants to soil or other hydroponic units. If you plan to move them outside, though, make sure that you’re considering the weather. The AeroGarden plants have not experienced much stress and will not be as hardy as plants grown outdoors. It’s better to transition them into houseplants that sit in a south-facing window first. Once they’ve adjusted to soil, potting mix, or another medium, then you can move them outside.
Purchase an AeroGarden Harvest 360 Today
The AeroGarden Harvest 360 is a fun and simple indoor garden that looks great on a kitchen countertop. When you’re ready to purchase, you can do so with a credit card or debit card through our Amazon link. Best of luck to you and your green thumbs all-year-round!
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