GardynReviews of mygardyn.com

I am a 30+ year experienced master gardener and have had a Aerogarden (Bounty Elite, 9 plant capacity) since October 2020 and a Gardyn since December 2020. The Aerogarden was a birthday gift and the Gardyn a Christmas gift. Years ago I tried growing basil hydroponically using the Kratky method - net cups and leca - not very successful, so the Aerogarden was intriguing. Very easy to set up, very easy to maintain and clean. I had similar high hopes for my Gardyn. Quite complicated to set up, honestly a nightmare to clean and to keep the algae at bay and rebooting the system when it loses wifi is a bit flaky. A couple tubing connections coming out of the pump failed within 6 months, as did the lights. Gardyn's customer service was good in terms of responding. They sent a new set of lights and three small lengths of replacement tubing which I'd already replaced with better aquarium grade tubing. When I’ve refreshed the tank, the tubing connections frequently come apart and I can see this will be a significant problem in future. With a year + under my belt with both, I have learned that 9 plants is 6 too many to manage in the available real estate in the Aerogarden and 30 plants about 20 too many for the Gardyn. Dense plantings are detrimental for air circulation - even when there is an open window next to the Gardyn. I have found that adding nutrients on a prescribed schedule is not as effective as using a TDS meter to ascertain and adjust nutrient levels. I am also using the Aerogarden nutrients for both - using liquid as opposed to the granular Gardyn nutrients has led to more consistent uptake, I believe. I am only growing lettuces and herbs in both. I tried peppers, tomatoes, and cucumbers in the Gardyn....not practical because they take over, as does the cornflower. I think I have come to a fairly stable cleaning routine with the Gardyn that takes more time every two weeks but will reduce the number of times I take the whole thing apart to clean. (I’ve done it twice and it consumes an entire Saturday and part of Sunday….much easier to do outside, weather permitting…not very permitting Nov- April in many parts!) I remove all the plants and the “plugs” – an upside down y-pod holder with a clone collar that prevents light from entering the town – and give all a thorough cleaning. Ridding the 30 individual holes of algae build up is a challenge and not entirely possible. I use an assortment of brushes and tools, but the placement of the nooks and crannies can not be overcome, so my hope is that I’ll just slow the algae down a bit. I have added an aquarium UV light to the water reservoir …hoping that will help, too. A significant flaw in the Gardyn design is the connections between sections of each tower. The algae and nutrients seep through the connections and where there is a little algae….you know what happens. The Gardyn was very expensive for what it is. I bought the monthly Kelby plan for a year – but as an experienced gardener it wasn’t useful. It did give me 10 y cubes a month, so I have a lot of cubes for future use. The recurring revenue model ($5/pop for new ycubes, once you’re off the plan) is ridiculously expensive. Had it been more reasonable, I wouldn’t have been so hot to find a workaround…I use my seeds, bought 2” net cups, rock wool, and fashioned collars to prevent light on the rock wool….seems to work ok. Gardyn could have spent a bit more time in the design/test stage before they went to market – may have negated the need for a quick gen 2. The ABS plastic sections are beginning to crack at the connections, the tubing should be sturdier. When this fails – or I get entirely tired of the algae battle – I will very likely design my own tower system….I have lots of ideas and youtube is a treasure trove of other ideas!

Having had this as an early adopter, Grabbing one at the beginning of covid, the idea is great. The design is quite pretty, and I have had some successes with growing things in my home. The lettuces, herbs and peppers are solid. I have seen value in the Y cube membership, and have some deep growing reserves. The generation 1 kit is not the most stable. I have been through 3 Lid RMA's due to faulty Motors, Water sensors and Light ballasts. Customer service is usually on point, but I have lost a few successful plants due to the death of the lids. My last interaction spanned a week or more after delivery due to Gardyn IT not having activated my new lid. This was only caught due to my being able to prove there was data connectivity through my network and firewall. Alge is a regular battle in the towers. This is supposed to be remedied in the Gen 2 hardware through a different plastic in the towers and base. There is no api, or greater smart home integration. Overall as an early adopter this kit has maintained well beyond its interstitial failures. I like the unit, but with the trouble I have had the price seems high comparted to other solutions. I hope the Gen 2 is a big update.

Update: Gardyn did contact me and replace the cubes that did not sprout. They also replaced a hose that runs from the pump to the garden which kept kinking. Unfortunately the replacement tubing also kinks and collapsed because it is too thin. I wrapped the tubing several times to keep it open and it’s working. The plants are now thriving. I will need to try finding a sturdier length of tubing at the local hardware store. Original review: So, the Gardyn is just "okay".. it may be because it's winter and things grow more slowly. I do use the aerogarden with great success. Four cubes didn't sprout even with the nursery tray. Random plant cups dry out within a few days and I can't figure out why unless it is just the plants are larger with bigger roots. Not ready to give up but so far, not the same wow factor as my aerogardens.

I had my Gardyn for exactly 2 years. I must confess that it is a love/hate relationship. First I loved the whole concept so I went for it. I love getting my fresh salads and herbs year round, i eat them without even washing them, they are diverse, fresh and delicious. However, I found the Gardyn to be a lot more labor intensive than expected. Trimming the roots, adding the water, and food plant, cleaning the tank, and once every 4 to 6 months the big cleaning of all the piping which takes forever. A small number of pods have to be thrown out sometimes because after 2 months of following the instructions to the letter they won't germinate. Also all in one it is the most delicious, freshest and probably most expensive salad ever. So really mixed feelings and I know a number of person who gave up on it...

Got our Gardyn 6 days ago. Up and Growing. The Gardyn System is pretty decent. A bit over priced for what it is (some PVC, Plastic Tubing, Lights, Pump, cameras and a Raspberry Pi), but it seems to work most of the time. The App and Membership, on the other hand, leave A LOT to be desired. The App is very flaky. I have had to connect it to my home network no less than 4 times now. But finally got it to stay connected after I turned off auto reconnect on my phone. Customer service was no help, only referring me to the FAQ and Help pages I had already easily found. The app has limited system control and is really more like a toy. As far as I can tell, you can only program boost or 1 dimming light setting per day. You cannot have multiple different dimming settings. You can have multi scheduled event settings per day, but it will be limited to either boost or 1 dimming setting for all schedules. The App should really work more like a typical Smart Home bulb or switch app. If you've ever used and scheduled a Leviton or TP Link Kasa smart home device you know what I mean. The Kelby AI personal growth assistant seems automated and not customized to your particular Gardyn and growth cycle. I have to this point found it to be just silly generic suggestions. Live View Time-Lapse leaves me with a "Oopsie" and Monkey graphic after 6 days of operation. Not really sure how to access any help from the Cameras. Also, as far as I can tell, the system is NOT integrated with Smart Home systems like Amazon Alexa or Google Home. For what it cost, IT SHOULD BE. All in all, for what the system costs plus the monthly membership, the Gardyn leaves a lot to be desired. Again, I like the product concept and the initial product is OK, but I think the Membership and App are over priced throwaways. Gardyn really needs to step up. The Membership really is NOT worth the price of entry beyond the 30 day free trial and maybe a month or 2 of paid service. Once you get a grove on how the system works, you're probably better off doing DIY seed pods and going it alone without the Kelby AI. There are several YouTube channels on how to go without the membership. Probably one of the best is Plant4Table.

Product looks great and a great concept but I had some issues with my unit and tried to contact through support through multiple emails but no response has been given. Support seems very lacking and no phone number to call

I like the look of the system and things are starting to grow a week in, but on the downside, we've had some bugs that have emerged from the grow pods. So far I've seen and dispatched with eight bugs. I had never seen these before we installed the system a week ago, and the first one appeared a few days after we installed the system. We loaded a bug identifier App to try and figure out what they are. They are "compost bugs", which is weird, because supposedly the stuff the pods are made of can't host any bugs. But obviously there must be some cross contamination with compost, or we wouldn't be seeing these. 17 years in this house and I've never seen any bugs like this before. They die quickly apparently because they need to feed on flowers, of which there are none in the room where we have this set up. But kind of a bummer to start this adventure.

The Gardyn itself is amazing. I absolutely love it. The only thing I don’t like, is the Gardyn subscription. It’s feels like a rip off because it’s $40 a month and you only get to choose from about 10-20 plants, not the full selection. This is frustrating because they don’t even rotate the selection. And it doesn’t do any good to order the same plants every time. Very confusing process to be completely honest.