Aerogarden Farm Comparison (XL vs Plus Review & Buying Guide)

You’ve tried your hand at growing plants indoors with an Aerogarden, and now you want to upgrade and grow an even larger healthy and thriving garden.

Welcome to the Aerogarden Farm Family. The Farm models are stunning compared to the smaller models. And you get to grow a lot more fresh produce for your family.

But do you really need the most expensive model, or is the middle one perfect?

That’s what this comparison review is all about.

Aerogarden Farm Models Snapshot

Let’s start with a quick snapshot of each of the Aerogarden Farm models.

It should be noted that these models are not for the “beginner” per se, but more for those who loved their Aerogarden Harvest or Bounty and want to get an upgrade in terms of the amount they can grow.

The Farm line of Aerogarden’s is quite expensive, starting off around $550 all the way up to $899.

There are five different models, each with their own strengths and weaknesses.

The Aerogarden Farm 12 Review

The Farm 12 is the ‘introductory’ model to the Aerogarden Farms. It allows double the growing space over some of the other Harvest or Bounty models, but also comes with the technology of the Farm models.

• Full touchscreen display
• 60 watt LED lights that raise and lower with the push of a button
• Stacking and seed starting capabilities

The Aerogarden Farm 12 XL Review

The 12 XL is an upgrade on the “Basic” 12 model, adding in 50% more grow height up to 36 inches. If you’re planning on growing tomatoes or brussels sprouts, this is a great option.

The Aerogarden Farm 24 Basic Review

Best for Beginners and Stacking

The Farm24 Basic is a great option if you want additional growing pods, but still only have a small amount of space for your indoor garden.

You still get the 2 separate 60w LED grow lights, but the height of this model is just 12 inches.

This is also a popular option to stack on top of a 24Plus or 24XL to give you additional growing room. You can grow your herbs and smaller plants in the Basic and your tomatoes and peppers in the 24Plus or XL.

The Aerogarden Farm 24Plus Review

The Aerogarden Farm 24Plus adds an extra growing bowl onto the already amazing Farm 12 Plus. The 24 Plus adds an additional grow light as well, allowing you to have two difference heights and be able to grow a variety of different plants.

This is the taller version of the 24Basic, extending the grow height from 12 inches to 24 inches, giving you more space to grow taller plants in your garden.

The Aerogarden Farm 24 XL Review

The Aerogarden Farm Plus XL is the largest model, allowing you to grow plants up to 36 inches tall…indoors. That’s insane for an indoor garden. Usually you need to put together your own grow kit to get to grow plants that tall.

The Aerogarden Farm 24XL comes with everything you need to get started, including a 24-pod selection of heirloom greens, flavor packed herbs, and ripe, juicy cherry tomatoes.

The Aerogarden Farm Features

All of the models under the Aerogarden Farm types come with a lot of the same features. As I mentioned above, the big differences between these models is the number of plants you can grow, as well as the grow height, or how tall you can raise the grow lights.

Let’s walk through some of the features all of them come with.

The Aerogarden Farm family is the smartest indoor garden on the market. It’s a hydroponic growing system that lets you connect multiple gardens for a living wall that can grow enough fresh produce to feed your entire family.

Setup & Installation

I wish I could say this whole process is a breeze – but it’s not. This is probably one of the bigger downsides to the Farm Aerogardens…they’re just difficult to put together. For some reason you have to finagle the bolts a certain way for them to fit and it takes time.

So make sure you allot a good amount of time to assemble and install these gardens in your home. It’s only going to be more frustrating if you try to rush through it, trust me!

Once you have them assembled, the setup is quite easy! The guides walk you through step-by-step of how to set the clock, setup your seed pod kit, start your plants, and how to maintain healthy plants.

Seed Pods and Nutrients

When you order your Aerogarden, you can choose from a variety of seed pod kits. Some include cherry tomatoes, while others have more herbs and lettuce.

With the Farm models, you get 2 free seed pod kits, and you get to choose from:

• Salad Bar (Herbs & Lettuces)
• Salad Bar (Tomatoes)
• Heirloom Salad Greens

Alternatively, you can add others to your order as well, like cayenne peppers, chili peppers, and salsa garden (tomatoes and jalapenos).

You also get liquid plant nutrients included to at least get you started.

Aerogarden includes their patented plant food (i.e. nutrients) to add to the water during setup and every few weeks.

Each Farm model comes with 2 bottles of the 3-oz liquid plant food.

Sizes and Dimensions

Here are the dimensions of each of the Farm models. As you can expect, the XL models are much taller and the 24 pod models are much wider in order to hold the additional plants.

Number of Plants and Pods

The Farm family of Aerogarden’s really make it so much easier to grow multiple types of plants, as well as taller ones than the 12 or 18 inch grow lights can allow on the smaller models.

And with the Farm 24 models, you get two separate grow bowls. So you can start a batch of tomatoes on the left, and then a week or two later start a second batch, or something entirely different. Alternatively, you can grow really tall plants on one side and grow shorter herbs on the other.

Having that option really adds a whole extra layer of flexibility to the Aerogarden family.

The Differences

This one is pretty easy to tell the difference between. The models with “12” in their name have 12 pods for growing, while the ones with “24” have 24 pods.

The 24 pods are split up into two separate decks, as they will each have their own grow light above them as well.

	12 Pods	24 Pods
Farm 12	x
Farm 12XL	x
Farm 24Basic		x
Farm 24Plus		x
Farm 24XL		x

WiFi and Mobile App

Every Aerogarden Farm model comes with the ability to connect to WiFi and sync to their mobile phone app.

This lets you manage all Aerogarden features from setup through harvest using your mobile app or the garden Control Panel.

You can use the app to see your garden’s vital statistics – things like water level, when you need to add more plant food, and let you adjust the time the light is on and off.

Reminders & Vacation Mode

Aerogarden does a great job with making their gardens really easy to use. You’ll get reminders to add water and nutrients/plant food when your plants need it. If you link your garden to your mobile app, you can even get push notifications for these reminders.

Vacation mode is an awesome feature that the nicer models of Aerogardens come with. Essentially, you can set vacation mode when you’re going be away for at least a few days, and your Aerogarden will make some changes to how it functions to help keep your plants alive while you’re gone.

Typically your grow lights stay on for 16-18 hours a day, and they are in “growth mode”. When you put your garden in vacation mode, the Aerogarden will only turn them on for just enough time each day to give the plants what they need to survive. This way, they use less water, and the garden won’t run dry and cause your plants to wilt and potentially die.

Since you wouldn’t be there to fill the water tank regularly, this is a great way to keep your plants alive while you’re not home.

The Trellis

The Farm models also come with a trellis wire to help keep your peppers and tomatoes growing upright and not across your kitchen floor. Did you know tomatoes will grow horizontally if you let them?

Your tomato plants will need this trellis eventually, so it’s nice that they include one. I’ve also seen people use bungee cords and other methods to give their plants something to hold onto.

Stacking System

The Aerogarden Farm models come with the ability to be stacked on top of each other. So if you’re looking to expand your output and yield, you can buy the Aerogarden stacking kit for around $35.

With this stacking system, you can put a Farm Basic on top of a Farm XL or stack all kinds of these together. The only requirement is that you stack ones with 12 pods on top of others with 12 pods, and the same goes for 24’s.

So you can stack a Farm 24 Basic on top of a Farm 24 XL, but not on top of a Farm 12 XL.

Stacking can help you take advantage of more space in the kitchen or wherever you plan to grow. It also makes harvesting the veggies on top easier on your back 🙂

While you will need to purchase an additional item to be able to stack your Aerogardens together, it’s only around $35, which is pretty reasonable considering the full costs of the farm Aerogardens.

LED Grow Light System

The advanced grow light system on the Farm family of products are high efficiency and built specifically for growing with Aerogardens. The high efficiency grow lights, while super bright, are perfect for growing garden fresh tomatoes and other fresh herbs and vegetables.

	1 Grow Light Panel	2 Grow Light Panels
Farm 12	x
Farm 12XL	x
Farm 24Basic		x
Farm 24Plus		x
Farm 24XL		x

There are two independent grow lights that allow you to grow two separate harvests at the same time.

Unlike the lower models where you just have to suffer through the blinding light’s intensity for 16 hours a day or buy an Aerogarden cover, the Farm family comes with “infinitely dimming grow lights”, which means, you can finally dim those lights if they’re too bright at night (or you can put it in an indoor grow tent).

Of course, this won’t maximize growth, but if your Aerogarden is in a place that needs to be dark at night, then this is a great feature.

All Farm models come with full spectrum, 60w LED grow lights, which is plenty of power for the space you’ll be growing in. The lights automatically lower and raise with the press of a button on the touchscreen control panel. At first, you want the grow lights only a few inches above your baby seedlings. But as they grow, you can raise them to make sure they’re not getting too close to the top and getting sun scald (aka plant sunburn).

The Lighting Differences

The differences in terms of lighting are pretty straightforward. Similar to the differences in pods, with the 12 models, you’re only getting 1 grow light. While with the 24 models, you’re getting 2 lighting panels that move independently.

The Aerogarden Farm 24Plus, Farm 24Basic, and Farm 24XL all come with the top of the line double grow lights for more customization.

Aerogarden Seed Starting Capabilities

Aerogarden recently introduced their seed starting option. If you’re a gardener who grows plants outside, you probably start your plants indoors during the end of winter to get a head start on the growing season.

When starting seeds indoors, you need grow lights and seed starting kits, similar to this Aerogarden setup. Instead of buying all of those things separately, you can now just use your Aerogarden to start seeds. I think this is such a cool feature!

This kit gives you many more pods in order to grow additional plant starts and germinate your seeds before transplanting them outside.

What’s the Difference Between the Aerogarden Farm 24XL vs Farm 24Plus?

If you’re thinking about getting the larger 24 pod Aerogarden, you might be wondering if you need to spend the extra money on the XL or if the 24Plus is sufficient.

Because other than grow height, both the Farm 24XL and the 24Plus have most of the same features:

• 60 Watt, double paneled motorized lights
• Easy to use touch screen
• Super simple setup for indoor gardening

The only real difference between the 24Plus and the 24XL is their grow height. The 24XL extend up to 36 inches, allowing you to grow taller plants like tomatoes and peppers. While the 24Plus only has a grow height of 24 inches.

So, let’s talk about the elephant in the room:

Do you actually need that 36 inch grow height that comes with the Farm 24XL?

Well, it depends on what you’re trying to grow and what your setup is going to look like.

So do you really need the extra growing height? Well, it’s probably going to come down to 3 things:

1. How much space do you have in your kitchen or growing area
2. What kind of plants are you planning on growing

The first can be answered pretty easily. If you were going to play your Aerogarden Farm underneath a table or desk, then probably stick with the 24Plus. But if you have the room, then it might be worth it depending on the second part: what you plan to grow.

Which Plants Require Which Models

Here are some of the plants that will absolutely require you to have the taller Aerogardens like the 12XL and the 24XL:

• Fully Grown Tomatoes – even bush varieties can grow up to 3 feet
• Brussels Sprouts – these typically grow 2-3 feet, so you’ll definitely need the Farm 24XL
• Bell Peppers – they can be pretty tall peppers if grown properly
• Tomatillos – these can get really bushy, so might not be a great option for an Aerogarden, but they definitely need the larger top
• Chili Peppers – while you can keep a plant smaller through pruning, if you want a “normal” harvest, you’ll want the larger version
• Cucumbers – they can be trellised around the aerogarden but they still like climbing, so you’ll want to get the taller deck.

When growing taller varieties of plants, you want to make sure you’re still getting the dwarf varieties, as an indeterminate tomato plant can get up to 5-6 feet tall, which obviously won’t fit in any of the Aerogarden models.

So while you can’t grow everything, you can pretty much grow most varieties of vegetables that would you in a traditional outdoor garden.

The Aerogarden Farms

The Aerogarden Farm is a high efficiency hydroponic growing system that lets you connect multiple gardens for a living wall that can feed your entire family. With the Aerogarden Farm, you’ll receive everything you need to get started, including a 24-pod selection of heirloom greens, flavor packed herbs, and ripe, juicy cherry tomatoes.

All of the Aerogarden Farm models will let you grow amazingly fresh herbs and lots of fruits and veggies for your family.