AeroGarden Cherry Tomato User manual

Tending & Harvesting Guide
Planting Date:
Cherry Tomato
TM

Welcome
Thank you for your
purchase of our
AeroGarden. We
have spent years
developing and refining
our technology to create a
growing system that assures
you will have a pleasurable
and successful year-round
gardening experience.
I sincerely hope you enjoy
your AeroGarden and sharing
your healthy harvest with
your family and friends.
Best Regards,
Michael Bissonnette
Founder and CEO
AeroGrow International, Inc.
Your AeroGarden
AeroGarden Features. . . . . . . 3
Seed Kit Components . . . . . . 4
Smart Garden Control Panel
Features................. 4
Tending Your Garden
Tomato Garden Timeline . . . . 5
Remove Domes. . . . . . . . . . . 7
Thin Plants . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Add Water............... 9
Feed Garden . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Raise Lights . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Prune Tomato Plants . . . . . . 12
Pollinate Tomato Flowers. . . 15
Keep Your Tomato Garden
Healthy ................ 16
Plant Problems and
Remedies .............. 17
CONT

Harvesting Your Garden
Harvest Your Tomatoes. . . . . 21
Tomatoes Galore! . . . . . . . . 23
Appendices
Reminders About Planting
Your Garden . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Questions and Answers
About Your Nutrients . . . . . . 27
Questions and Answers
About Your Lights . . . . . . . . 28
Set Your Light Timer. . . . . . . 29
Troubleshooting . . . . . . . . . 31
Prepare for Your
Next Garden . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
If You Have The
AeroGarden PRO100 ...... 38
ENTS
Whoever
plants a garden
plants happiness.
– CHINESE PROVERB
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

If you have an AeroGarden
PRO100, please refer to the
supplemental instructions
starting on page 38 of this
Guide.

3
AeroGarden Features
Your AeroGarden
Your AeroGarden
Lamp Hood
Lamp Cord
Lamp Arm
Power Cord
Base Smart Garden
Control Panel
Bowl
View Door
Grow
Surface
Plant
Spacer
Bio-Dome
Seed Pod
Grow
Surface
Opening

4
Your AeroGarden
Seed Kit Components
Plant
Spacer (4)
Smart Garden Control Panel Features
Lights
Manually turns
the lights on or off Select
Sets Control Panel to
your Seed Kit type
Reset
Press after adding
nutrients to restart the
nutrient timer and turn
off the blinking lights
Water Level Low
Light blinks when
it is time to add water
Add Nutrient
Light blinks when it is time to add
nutrient tablets (every 2 weeks)
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Seed Pod (3)
Dome (3)
Nutrients:
2 Starting Nutrients
2 Growing Nutrients
18 Fruiting Nutrients

Tending Your Garden
A little bit of care for your Garden will ensure rapid growth
and bountiful harvests. You will start to see sprouts in a few
days. In a few months, you will experience the transformation
of your seeds into sweet, ripe, juicy tomatoes.
Please take a moment to review this section shortly after
planting your Garden (see page 25 for Reminders About
Planting Your Garden).
Your tomatoes will germinate in just a few days. You will see them
After 2 weeks
5Tending Your Garden
Tomato Garden Timeline
After 4 weeks

grow very quickly after that.
After 8 weeks After 14 weeks
6
Tending Your Garden
TM
Red Heirloom
(Sprouts in 4-7 days)
TM
Golden Harvest
(Sprouts in 4-7 days)
TM
Plant Spacer
Giving your plants
room to grow.
TM
Plant Spacer
Giving your plants
room to grow.
TM
Red Heirloom
(Sprouts in 4-7 days)
TM
Plant Spacer
Giving your plants
room to grow.
TM
Plant Spacer
Giving your plants
room to grow.
Red Heirloom Plant Spacer Plant Spacer Red Heirloom
Plant Spacer Plant SpacerGolden Harvest
Nutrient Box
Dome
Area
Check that your
Bio-Dome Seed
Pods are in the same
position on the Grow
Surface as they appear
in the Seed Kit Tray.
We find that this
arrangement gives the
plants optimal spacing
and light exposure.
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Cherry Tomato Planting Layout

7Tending Your Garden
Remove Domes
• A few days after planting your
AeroGarden, tiny plants will appear
through the center hole in the Label
on each Seed Pod.
When this occurs, remove the Domes
from each Seed Pod and discard or
recycle. Do not remove the label.
• Remove the Domes only from Seed
Pods with emerging plants.
• To reduce plant stress, we recommend
removing the Domes shortly after the
lights turn off or near the end of the
light cycle.
• Leave the Plant Spacers in the Grow
Surface. These provide room for your
tomato plants to grow and reduce
algae growth.
Never remove the labels.
They promote germination,
decrease algae growth and
identify your plants.
!
Each Seed Pod Label indicates
the number of days until your
seeds sprout.
Don’t let this happen!
If your plant is curled inside the
Dome, it was left on too long.
Immediately remove Dome.

8
Tending Your Garden
Thin Plants
• When your tomato plants are
about 1” tall, check each Seed
Pod for multiple tomato plants.
Using scissors gently snip the
smallest plants at the base of
the stem, leaving ONE healthy
tomato plant in each Seed Pod.
• Thinning seedlings ensures that
the remaining plant in each Seed
Pod will have room to grow, get
enough nutrients and water, and
produce many, many tomatoes.
Be sure to cut, not pull, the extra
seedlings to avoid damaging
the roots of the strongest tomato
plant in each Seed Pod.
!

Add Water
• When additional water is needed,
the “Water Level Low” light on
the Control Panel will blink. Add
water to raise the level up to “Fill
To Here” inside the Bowl.
• It is okay to add water up to “Fill
To Here” before the “Water Level
Low” light blinks.
• When your tomato plants mature,
they may need water as often as
twice a week. Be sure to check the
“Water Level Low” light regularly.
• Use room-temperature water. Very hot or very cold water will hurt
your plants.
• We recommend using municipal tap, bottled or purified water. Well
or softened water SHOULD NOT be used because the extra minerals
in these sources may be harmful to aeroponically grown plants.
!
Smart Garden Control Panel
9Tending Your Garden

10
Tending Your Garden
Feed Garden
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Every 2 weeks, both the “Add Nutrient” and “Water Level Low”
lights will blink on and off. At that time:
First Feeding After Planting
Add the 2 nutrient tablets
from the bag labeled
“Growing Nutrients.”
Feedings After “Growing
Nutrients” Are Gone
Add 2 nutrient tablets from
the bag labeled “Fruiting
Nutrients” and reseal the bag.
Every Time You Add Nutrient Tablets, Be Sure To:
Add water to raise the water level up to “Fill To Here” in the Bowl.
This will ensure that the nutrients do not become too concentrated.
Press the “Reset” button to restart the nutrient timer and turn off the
blinking lights.
1
1
2
3
Bowl
Note: We recommend checking for bugs every time you add nutrients.
See Troubleshooting on page 34 of this guide for details.

Raise Lights
As your plants begin to grow, leave approximately 1-2 inches
of space between the top of plants and the lights.
To raise the lights:
Unplug the AeroGarden (the
backup system will save your
settings).
Carefully remove the Bowl from
the Base and set aside.
Turn the AeroGarden around
so the back of the Lamp Arm is
facing you.
Firmly hold the lower section of
the Lamp Arm and push in the
Locking Button on the Arm. With
your other hand, grasp the silver
ring at the top of the Arm (where
the Lamp Hood attaches to the
Arm). Pull up firmly on Lamp
Hood until the Locking Button
becomes visible in the next hole.
Move Locking Button up only
one hole at a time. The lights need to be close to the plants for
optimal light intensity.
Replace the Bowl on the Base
and plug in your AeroGarden.
Lift the View Door to check that
the water is owing. If not, refer
to Troubleshooting on page 33
of this guide.
1
3
2
4
If the Grow Bulbs are too
close to the plants, the
leaves may brown and burn.
If they are too far away, your
plants will “stretch” towards
the light and look floppy
and unhealthy.
!
Lamp
Hood
Locking
Button Lamp
Arm
Base
Bowl
5
11 Tending Your Garden
6

12
Tending Your Garden
Prune Tomato Plants
Pruning 4- to 5-Week-Old Plants
About 4 to 5 weeks after planting your Garden, it is time to prune to
strengthen the main stem and encourage the plant to branch out. A
strong plant with many branches will be able to bear the weight of
many tomatoes without breaking or tipping over.
The photo at left shows how
your plant should look after it
has had its rst pruning.
• Cut the main stem just
above the 5th branch.
• From the base of the plant, follow the main stem up past the first
5 branches.
Skip this pruning if your Garden is older than 5 weeks and has flowers or
considerably more growth than pictured at left.
!
(Continued on next page)

Prune Tomato Plants (Continued)
13 Tending Your Garden
Pruning to Control Horizontal Spreading (Ongoing)
To optimize the growth of your
tomato plants and ensure strong
plants and bountiful harvests,
you’ll need to occasionally
prune branches that are growing
outside the reach of the Lamp
Hood’s lights.
The picture at right shows a bird’s
eye view of plants that need
pruning. The circled branches
hang too far over the edge of the
Grow Surface and do not receive
enough light from the Lamp
Hood to be productive.
Use scissors to cut branches
that hang over the edge of the
Grow Surface. Make your cut
so that the branch is even with
the Grow Surface.
The photo at right shows the
same Garden after pruning. The
branches no longer hang over
the edge of the Grow Surface.
Note: You don’t need to
remove the Lamp
Hood to prune
your plants.

14
Tending Your Garden
Pruning to Control Plant Height
(Ongoing)
Branches that touch the lights when
the Lamp Hood is at the highest
setting need to be pruned.
Use scissors to cut branches
that are growing into the lights.
Follow the branch to where it
meets another branch – make
cut just before this junction.
Don’t be discouraged if you end
up cutting a branch with some
owers, or even a few small unripe
tomatoes. Pruning strengthens your
plants and allows your Garden to
put energy into growing branches
that can support many tomatoes.
The photo at right shows the
same Garden after pruning.
The branches are no longer
growing into the Lamp Hood.
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15 Tending Your Garden
Pollinate Tomato Flowers
In nature, pollination is done by
the bees and the wind. Indoors,
your tomato plants depend on
you to pollinate them.
You will need to start pollinating
your plants regularly once they
begin to flower (approximately
4 weeks after planting).
Place an open hand gently
inside the tomato plant
branches.
Move your hand rapidly back
and forth about 10 times to shake the plants. This movement will
spread the pollen, though you will not be able to see it moving.
Repeat steps 1 and 2 for each tomato plant.
Pollinate your flowering tomato plants at least every other day,
and only when the lights are on.
Hand pollinating is an important
task. Tomatoes will only grow
from pollinated flowers.
!
1
2
3

16
Tending Your Garden
Keep Your Tomato Garden Healthy
Keeping a watchful eye on your Garden is not only a joy, but
also a smart way to make sure your tomato plants stay healthy.
As your tomato plants age you
may see some brown or yellow
leaves. This is perfectly normal.
• Remove these leaves with
scissors or pinch off with
your fingers.
• Keep the Grow Surface clear
of dead leaves.
• Remove dead, brown stems
at the base with scissors.
These older branches will not
continue to produce tomatoes.
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17 Tending Your Garden
Plant Problems and Remedies
These pictures show plants that are stressed. Follow the suggestions to
restore your Garden’s health.
Wilted
Tomato plant is not getting enough
water. Check water level.
Burned
Tomato plant is too close to the
Grow Bulbs. Raise the Lamp Hood.
Curled Inside Dome
Dome was left on too long.
Immediately remove Dome.
Blossoms Falling Off Plant
If you see flower blooms on your
Grow Surface, your tomato plants
are not being pollinated sufficiently.
Pollinate your plants as described
on page 15.

18
Tending Your Garden
Support Tomato Plants
If you did not prune as described earlier in this Guide, you may find
your plants are starting to tip over or even break due to the many juicy
tomatoes now growing and ripening on the vines.
When this occurs, support your tomato plants and bring them back to
the upright position by securing each plant to the Lamp Arm with a tie.
Do not use ties that will dig into (and damage) the stem, such as string
or wire. Also avoid materials that stretch, such as stretch ties sold in
gardening shops, as these are not strong enough to support heavily
laden tomato branches.
!
Suggested Materials to Use for Supporting Tomato Plants
There are a variety of materials you
can use to support your tomato
plants, all of which are easy to find
at a local hardware store or even in
your own home. Some options are
shown at right.
Ribbon (at least 1/4 inch), velcro plant
ties, or old stockings will all work for
securing your plants.
(Continued on next page)
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

Plant Problems and Remedies (Continued)
19 Tending Your Garden
How To Support Tomato Plants
The plant on the right is in
need of support. The following
steps explain how to support
your plants.
• Loop a tie around the main
stem at a point where it:
a) is strong enough not to
bend or break when the
tie is secured, and
b) stands upright when the
tie is pulled towards the
Lamp Arm.
Helpful Hint: The best way to gure out where to place the tie, is
to very gently push on the main stem with your ngers, testing for
strength and ability to support the plant. Typically, your tie will be
no more than 2” above the base of the plant.