Farm XL?

[finallyinseattle]

Can anyone give some ideas as to what can be grown in the new 36" Farm XL that wouldn't grow well in the 24" Farm Plus?

Hi!

I do not own a machine bigger than a Bounty, but I do have an answer!

These machines are so tall, you can forget adhering to the Kits and you can go custom. This added height gives you the freedom to grow taller plants that can be grown outside like taller pepper plants and taller indeterminate tomato varieties.

With machines the height of the Bounty and even the Farm, we are always spying the height of the mature plant on the seed label to see if the plant is suitably for that height w/o constantly cutting it back to make it fit under the lights. With the XL you will have more freedom and more varieties from which to choose.

If you are getting one, I envy you!.

Happy AG-ing!

[Shawn]

Thanks @cornne for answering


Yes the Farm XL has 36" between the deck and the highest hood height.  That is 12" extra of height to grow things.

[serri588]

Gosh darn it- I  didn't want to spend a lot on Christmas this year, but this one might get me. A lot of garden vegetables, even dwarf and container varieties. just don't quite fit under 24". Broccoli comes to mind as one I've tried to grow under a 24" hood and failed. Vining plants like cucumbers would also benefit as they need space to spread out. You don't have much horizontal space to give them, but they will be just as happy going vertical.

[Shawn]

Nov 4, 2018 9:49:24 GMT -5 serri588 said:

Gosh darn it- I  didn't want to spend a lot on Christmas this year, but this one might get me. A lot of garden vegetables, even dwarf and container varieties. just don't quite fit under 24". Broccoli comes to mind as one I've tried to grow under a 24" hood and failed. Vining plants like cucumbers would also benefit as they need space to spread out. You don't have much horizontal space to give them, but they will be just as happy going vertical.

Well that is a nice Christmas present for yourself.  And IF you do I can't wit to see all your gardens growing.

[Rialle]

I’d likely re-try pumpkins there or have some cucumbers, vining roses, etc. the trellis system for the farm is pretty neat and should be taken advantage of. Maybe grapes. It really opens up options.

As @cornne said the extra height means you don’t have to be as thorough checking the heights of every plant, worrying if you’ll have to top them and if so, when.

[finallyinseattle]

I'm an Aerogarden newbie - wouldn't any plant that needs that much height need more room for their roots?
 
Thanks everyone for the responses!

[serri588]

The bowls in the Farms are fairly large. My bigger plants in a Farm+ use maybe half of that if I'm being generous. There is no way you are going to fit 24 large plants in one, no matter what their marketing says. 1-2 per side won't require that big of a root base.

[Shawn]

I have, at least in the Non-Farm units, trimmed roots if needed.  

I don't have a farm, BUT I do grow plants outside in pots ,beds and boxes. I imagine the size of a farm like a large Patio Pot. I would put 1  PATIO sized plants in those. No more because of the width of the light above.It may be tall in height, but the plant is going to spread out from under the Hood.

Shawn also said that roots can always be trimmed. I do that as well in some of my Bounty projects.

Looking at it, it is obvious that the many pod holes are for bulk lettuce or herb growing. One would never plant more than 1 or 2 big projects. The XL is more for height than anything else when it comes to bigger plants.   JMO.

[nick]

Nov 5, 2018 8:34:09 GMT -5 @cornne said:

I don't have a farm, BUT I do grow plants outside in pots ,beds and boxes. I imagine the size of a farm like a large Patio Pot. I would put 1  PATIO sized plants in those. No more because of the width of the light above.It may be tall in height, but the plant is going to spread out from under the Hood.

Shawn also said that roots can always be trimmed. I do that as well in some of my Bounty projects.

Looking at it, it is obvious that the many pod holes are for bulk lettuce or herb growing. One would never plant more than 1 or 2 big projects. The XL is more for height than anything else when it comes to bigger plants.   JMO.

This is exactly how I'm running my Farm and Farm+ units.

I can use all 24 pods for lettuce grows, but for larger plants it's two plants per bowl max. Two gallons of water is more, but not that much more.

[serri588]

I think the biggest problem with large plants is how much space they take up horizontally. I have to fill the water on my AGs every couple days whether it is a deck full of mature lettuce or one cucumber vine. However, there is no way that multiple cucumber plants would do well with that little space. I also feed weekly instead of biweekly for many plants.

[finallyinseattle]

Thanks everyone for your responses.

[drbanks]

I'm late to this one, but my main interest in the XL is for growing hot peppers.

First off, I only really like to put a single plant into a regular 2' machine (Extra, Ultra, Bounty) and even then we get some pretty intense roots.  But aside from the selected AG pepper strains, and even with continuous pruning, a single pepper plant, particularly some of the stranger breed (Capsicum Pubescens, for instance) will easily dominate a 2' garden.  

At least in the case of the non-farms, I can always print an extension for the rod that the light hood mounts to, and order an appropriate extension cord off amazon.  With a Farm Plus, I'm really stuck.

Using other less convenient hydro systems (AG Eco Grower or Rainforest),  I have had some pretty generic capsicum annuums shoot up to 4' without even slowing.

So, the XL is a bit of a quandary for me.  On the one hand, I want it because I always seem to end up buying the new high end models, and after having had a couple tomato plants literally take over my dining room table, i could foresee the extra foot in the XL allowing me to make more of that growth vertical with proper trussing and guides.

But, for growing my beloved capsicum pubescens (aka "pubes") I'm looking at a plant that potentially wants to reach 5' in a 3' framework, and even if I put only one plant per side in that Farm XL, yes, being root bound is a real possibility, even though the grow tank in the Farm is nearly twice as big as that of one of the older tall gardens.  Then, we get back to spending... $600? for a planter that could hold 2, maybe 4 full sized pepper plants and I'm paying mainly for superior convenience.  At this point, it's cheaper to get my GH Rainforest out of storage.  It has a 13 gallon grow bowl, so becoming root bound is a lot less possible.  On the other hand, you don't know misery until you've had to flush 13 gallons of water/nutes every two weeks.

So, I'm back at the XL, and I can tell you from experience that pepper plants have absolutely no problem growing around the light hood of anything you plant them in, so I'm not really seeing the 3' as a hard limit, but I will need to find alternative light sources (already have them).  And because I can theoretically stack one on top of my existing Farm Plus (growing much less height-needy plants), i'm looking at much better space utilization.

Of course, all of this needs to wait until I move and i don't even know when that will be.

In the end, the best reason I can offer why I'd buy an XL is that I want one, and just leave it at that.

[MaryL]

It can be your housewarming gift to yourself, when the time comes.

[Rialle]

Nov 17, 2018 15:23:34 GMT -5 drbanks said:

In the end, the best reason I can offer why I'd buy an XL is that I want one, and just leave it at that.

I’ll drink to that. Ultimately, that’s the best reason!