LAPOND Hydroponic Gardening System Overview
The LAPOND hydroponic gardening system is a high-performance system designed for both enthusiasts and beginner gardeners. It is designed to produce maximum vegetable yield with utmost convenience, requiring no previous experience. Hydroponically grown vegetables are often more nutritious and tastier than those grown in soil, giving you access to fresh vegetables free of harmful pesticides.
This system works using a sophisticated water pump (4W 12V) that has an inbuilt timer that allows power regulation. You can set power-on intervals of 5, 15, or 30 minutes, and power off for 30, 60, 120 minutes. This power management system saves nutrient solutions, promotes plant growth, and extends the lifespan of the water pump.
The LAPOND system is constructed from food-grade PVC-U pipes, ensuring product safety while providing ample growing space. With a planting pipe diameter of 2.5 inch and planting hole diameter of 1.2 inch, this system is suitable for growing a wide variety of vegetables, including lettuce, rape, celery, beets, bell pepper, garlic seedlings, canola, and more.
This hydroponic system is perfect for small spaces such as balconies, home gardens, and other indoor or outdoor places. It’s designed to provide a transparent growing process, allowing you to watch your vegetables grow from germination to ripening. This can be an excellent educational project to undertake with your kids, teaching them about the process of growing healthy vegetables.
The package comes with a hydroponics shelf, water pump, timer, adapter, hose, 108 planting baskets, 108 sponges, tweezers, sealant tape, and informative instructions. With a package dimension of 31.42 x 11.57 x 11.5 inches and weight of 22 pounds, it’s easy to assemble and use. Moreover, the manufacturer provides a 1-year warranty, ensuring you get the best possible experience from this high-ranking hydroponic system.
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Pros & Cons
Pros
The LAPond hydroponic gardening system provides a comprehensive set for beginners and seasoned indoor gardeners alike, aligning pretty well with our expectations. Fitted with high-quality materials like food-grade PVC-U pipes and an upgraded anti-dry burning water pump, the kit promotes longevity and durability. Its smart features include a timer for the pump, allowing power intervals for effective water and nutrient management. With enough space to grow a variety of herbs and vegetables, the system offers diversity in gardening. Most importantly, the kit provides a straightforward usage approach, making it incredibly user-friendly. However, it lacks certain desired features like the various size options, eco-friendly mechanisms, and integrated pest control. Nonetheless, it’s an affordable option, given its quality and features in comparison to other systems in the market.
Cons
While the LAPOND Hydroponic Gardening system does offer an appealing concept, it falls short of expectations on vital aspects. Our research notes indicate that this kit doesn’t include a reservoir, forcing users to make one themselves. Additionally, there’s an issue with the included sponges, which failed to promote plant growth and instead fostered algae accumulation. The product also struggles with inadequate light for the lower shelves and difficult non-standardized PVC pipe sizes which complicates replacements. Lastly, the absence of covers for seed plugs led to additional algae issues, highlighting overall issues with effective pest control.
Features
- Kit content: Includes a hydroponics shelf, water pump, timer, adapter, hose, 108 planting baskets, sponges, tweezers, sealant tape, and instruction manuals.
- Water tank capacity: Not included in the kit, customers need to provide their own reservoir according to their specific needs (our research revealed that a 15 gallon reservoir works well).
- Nutrient solution type: Upgraded anti-dry burning water pump allows setting power on and off intervals, promoting plant growth and extending the lifespan of water pumps.
- pH control system: Not mentioned, supplementation may be necessary since success was reported with addition of H2O2 food grade.
- Light source information: Not included in the package, customers will need to provide their own light source – our research showed success with LED lights.
- Growth medium type: The kit includes 108 sponges but our research showed better outcomes when these were replaced with rockwool due to algae growth issues.
- Plant support structure: The frame includes ample space suitable for lettuce, rape, celery, beets, bell pepper, garlic seedlings, canola, and others.
- Delivery system type: The water pump appears to distribute the nutrient solution via tubing, but the detailed system type is not explicitly stated in the product description.
- Maintenance requirements: Regular cleaning is required to prevent algae build-up. Extra measures such as covering the tubes with black contact paper may be necessary to prevent sunlight from causing algae growth.
- Technical specifications: Package Dimensions are 31.42 x 11.57 x 11.5 inches and the item weight is 22 pounds.