General Hydroponics GH4720 Farm Controller, Terra Cotta

I like this a lot, the included components are of exceptional quality. We wanted to add a third hydroponics system and decided to buy rather than build this time around. The square buckets allow you to pack them close together if you're growing smaller plants. We fit all 8 in a 2 x 4 ft grow tent and could grow 4 lettuce per bucket, which is enough to meet the daily salad needs of the family of 5. We're currently using ours for Cilantro, Tomatillos, Jalapenos and Egg plants with Tomatoes and salad greens in their own systems. Our tomatoes are in a DIY version of this and it works well but to be frank we didn't save enough going that way for it to be worthwhile and the 5 gallon buckets with net pot lids though great do not allow you to grow at as high a density in terms of plants per square foot. We love the controller and reservoir that comes as part of this system. They make a huge difference once the plants get bigger and allow us to go on vacation without worrying about the plants running out of water or nutrient. By the by this is a hybrid NFT-deep culture system providing the benefits of both. If you have the clearance recommend raising the buckets and controller/resevoir off the floor the height of a 5 gallon bucket plus 3" to simplify draining the system at the end of a grow or whenever you might need to. It's worth noting you can expand this system from 8 to 12 buckets. I' m sure this would work very well for smaller plants but would not recommend it for larger, nutrient hungry plants like Tomatoes without upgrading the nutrient circulation because the plants at the end of the line will likely receive water completely stripped of nutrient by the plants earlier in the line.We see a hint of this in both of our 8 bucket, air pump driven, circulating systems. A small electric pump replacement for the airlift fixes this but is only necessary when you have mature (4' plus high) tomatoes plants in all 8 buckets with lighting tailored to support maximum growth. We disconnect the air lift from the 1/2" tubing in the controller and add a $20-$30, 100-120 gallon per hour Eco+ pump and the problem is fixed in literally 5 mins. Ours is located in the basement inside a grow tent. We use a small fan to keep air moving and have experienced no moisture or mold issues. We're based in the Great Lakes and have cold winters. Our biggest problem is lack of pollinators. We have to do it all by hand and use a combination of paint brush and stem shaking to achieve high pollination rates. This is by far the most labor intensive chore associated with using this hydroponics system. About 30 mins per day at the height of flowering. If that sounds like more work than you want to deal with I wouldn't recommend trying anything that relies on pollination to produce what you want and recommend you check out a flood table-lettuce raft system which will cost considerably less and produce amazing lettuces ready to eat in 5 to 6 weeks. A 2x4 foot raft system can meet the lettuce requirements for a family of 4. This can also be a great option if you love to cook with fresh herbs. Would we buy another Waterfarm? Yes, without hesitation. Do we need to? No, one of these systems provides a lot of hydroponic growing space and I suspect would meet the needs of the average family of 4 looking to hydroponics to supplement their grocery purchases. Imagine 4 Tomatoe plants and 4 pepper or egg plants in a space 2'x16' or 4'x8' with no deer, yellow jacket, ant, racoon or rabbit damage. We have Tomatoes that are 7' high covered in perfect fruit. The kids pick them fresh off the vine at will. If this is what you're aiming for this s Waterfarm system can deliver it.

This would have received 5 stars across the board if it weren't for the fact that 30% of the predrilled holes weren't there! I'm sure this could have been avoided if it were a little more carefully inspected when packaged. I'm not ultimately worried about it as I have the tools to properly drill and insert 1/2" rubber grommets that I did have to pick up from my local hydro shop ($12 for 24 grommets, not a big deal!). Outside of an hour or two of my time picking up the new grommets and centering and drilling the holes properly everything seemed to be in tact and how it should be. If it works anything like their individual Waterfarm buckets that I'm currently running 4 of and having phenomenal success with I don't think I'll be displeased once I run this system. Will be making a purchase of 3-5 more in the next 30 days if all goes well, I would just rather not have to drill another 25-35 holes and run the risk of causing a bucket to leak if not done well enough!

Well I'm gonna rate this product 5 stars even though my experience was not great. Why? There was so many missing parts, that was my problem. Other then that little "big" deal, this is realy a very high quality hydroponic system! In fact it's a mega growing mini indoor farm! My problem taken care of by Amazon as always! "I don't know if parts were lost in shipping or at the essembly location"

The Bag was missing 7- DLT Clips that will prevent you from assembling the kit.

Product is simple and easy to set up. No real issues with anything. I like the simplicity and flexibility of this system. You can really make it any configuration, you just need some additional hose. I added four additional units to have 12 total. Happy Gardening!

The only thing is the directions. It's not detailed enough. It does not tell you the buckets and reservoir must have at least 15 gallons of water before it will work. Also it doesn't drop evenly for all buckets. I'm upgrading to a bigger pump to see if that works. Does not provide water at center of bucket only directly around the ring Overall installation was ok System works

System works well, is easy to control and clean, and plants love it. One weak link is that the blue hose allows enough light penetration for algae to grow. I replaced it all with black tubing and no more problems.

Works as described. Like the other reviews here the stuff they grow at GH warehouse must be really good, my package was missing a grommet. Called Amazon, their only solution was to replace the entire system... emailed GH and they said Amazon was correct, so I just bought a spare set for $10. I wanted mine spread over my balcony to avail of the trellis so I had to buy an extra hose to return the nutrient solution from the last planter to the reservoir (25ft). Still works fine and the EC is uniform.

looks great, only time will give results

only thing missing is soil.

missing a piece but got 20% of my money back for it

UPDATED after first month of use. For $677 this fell short of my expectations. All issues encountered so far within the first month: 1) I was missing some elbow pieces and had to buy them from my local store. 2) Lots of water loss due to to splashing from the drippers. They can be adjust somewhat at the air pump, but there's still constantly water at the bottom of my tent from the splashing. 3) There's light penetration through the plastic and the clear hoses which cause a algea build-up and turns the water slimy way faster than my DWC system. 4) It is hard to test EC/pH as you have to take the top reservoir off in order to access the bottom one to get a reading. 5) After two weeks the float valve only allowed a very small trickle of water through. After 2 months it stopped working completely and had to be replaced. 6) I attempted to return the item and shipping was $150. I'm not sure if this amount would be reimbursed or not. 7) Re-circulating air pump burnt out after first month of use

Fast shipping. Great product. Thank you