J&C Hydroponic Indoor Garden Smart Sponge with Nutrients, Replacement Grow Pod, Pack of 16

We've tried 4 hydroponic pods and this is now the only one we use. Being pretty picky consumers, that is saying something.

I needed an alternative to the experience click & grow pods so i thought I'd give it a shot. The tomato plant and Coleus in the picture are in these pods and they're doing exceptionally well.

I had this product before and it was ok. Now I got a batch that is completely different. The sponge doesn’t expand and has glitter in it. Nothing grows on it except mold. DO NOT BUY this. Waste of money.

started seeds a week ago already see results!

I purchased these to be used in my EDN . I planted the first 12 , but only 2 sprouted. As I was cleaning it out, I noticed that the bottom is not hollowed out like in pictures , but instead it has a little compartment with seed like balls. Not sure what’s that about!

After putting the sponges in the garden for over a week, some of the seedlings that normally would germinate within 3 days still did not come up. I took out for inspection and found out that almost 30% of these sponges don’t absorb water at all. Waste of money.

I bought GrowLED hydroponic base set (no lights just the water/plant container set). I haven’t used them because there were no soil replacements (they are much larger than others) and the water reservoir has in my opinion too little room for mature roots.But I found these soil pods and bought them just in case. What is perfect is that the GrowLED baskets fit perfectly into regular mouth mason jars. These soil pods are PERFECT for this use! They are identical to the GrowLED ones (except these also come with nutrients).Since these are large enough what I did was make 3 more holes around and added seeds into all the holes - this will allow me to have a Mesclun blend all in 1 jar.Also in photos you will see clay pebbles on top - the soil fits perfectly leaving about 1cm of room. Since exposure to light will have mold/algae growing on the sponge, having extra space let’s you perfectly cover the sponge with hydroton — leaving room in between the pebbles for the seedlings to come up.Personally, I didn’t realize the bottom was full on nutrient beads, so I had to double check product details. But that just means you don’t have to add any nutrients until later on. Unlike the description, you can’t just use these nutrients for the entire growing cycle — the water will have to be changed after several weeks. But it’s enough to get the seeds started.I love these pods and will definitely buy more.