Botanium Hydroponic Grow Kit, White Smoke

I bought 2 of these direct from Botanium. They worked perfectly for 2 years but one of then stopped working right at the time when one of my chilli plants (Carolina Reaper) was flowering, this could have been a disaster as it seems it has been in some of the other reviews but as the top part where the plant grows can easily be lifted off the bottom part where the water and pump are. I removed the screws from the bottom and noticed that the cable is just a normal 2 meter USB Charging cable plugged into a micro USB connector on a PCB. I bought a new USB micro cable from Amazon, fitted that and now the system is working again. It seems that all the issues regarding the pump not working might just be a faulty cable just like mine. Both my chilli plants went on growing healthy and producing loads of chillies, if it wasn't for the bad cable I would have given 5 stars.

Gee whilikers this thing let my plants grow like a plant in a pot!

Edit :I’ve had it over a week and the pumps stopped working, seems to be cheaply made for the price... The pot is very small to grow any substantial plants, also received the wrong colour.

A £70 plant pot really needs to deliver something special. The big selling point here is hydroponics - real soil is not used - you get some special "porous stones" instead - and the pot is plugged into the mains and waters itself every three hours. It does stop things dying, but I'm not sure it's worth the outlay, mainly because you can grow so little given the minimal surface area. This creates a need for replanting, and removes the labour-saving that a self-watering pot is designed to create. You also need a light source/windowsill to store it on, which could be an issue for some given the need for a power source too. The pot looks attractive and doesn't necessarily strike you as a "smart" gizmo, but I feel it is essentially a gimmick. Yes it works, but what was ever wrong with just planting herbs outside, in soil, and growing as much as them as you can pack in?

this is fun, it looks stylish and is interesting. It works ok but has limited uses as you can only grow so many types of plan (and only one at a time). Great experiment.

Despite trying different sockets and even plugging it into my PC the unit did not work.

You can only grow a small amount at a time, but it makes everything very easy. It comes with a UK plug and usb cable to power it. You don’t need to water it. It uses something instead of soil that actually works better! Included in the box is some growing medium, it is sterile and easy. This project started out on Kickstarter. If you see the comments page on KS you can see they provide excellent after sales care by shipping out replacement components. These guys are committed.

Look a really nice in the kitchen window sill, and first seeds are sprouting, with no effort!