This is just a consolidated list of the various extras, accessories, and replacements I personally use with my different gardens. There are many options for most of these items; these I have personally used successfully. Most of the links (particularly to Amazon) are associate links, which help keep me gardening and able to create new content, as I am disabled with no regular income.
Many people in the personal hydroponic and AeroGarden community refer to these passive hydroponic jars as "Kratky jars". They are loosely based on the Kratky method of passive hydroponics, but technically they aren't. The actual Kratky method is a 'fill and forget it' method – that is, once you set everything up, you shouldn't fill the water reservoir again. This is a key component in the method, while these jars are much too small to actually do this. That said, this vaguely Kratky-esque method is very popular and effective.
In the AeroGarden community, they are generally used to move plants grown in the AeroGarden out into the jars, generally the last stragglers of a crop, to enable you to replant the garden with a new crop, while taking advantage of the AeroGarden's "spillover" light. However, sometimes you want to start plants in addition to the ones in your garden, and so you need to start them direct from seed. Here, I will lay out the process I used to start some herbs I wanted to grow.
Another question that is asked repeatedly in many forms: "Which model is right for me?"
Ultimately, you are the only one who can answer this question. And of course, like most things in life, you get what you pay for. However, whether you need the extra bells and whistles is the real question.
The first question to ask, and arguably most important, is what you want to grow.
My answer is always the same: "Get a fan." Which is, of course, inevitably followed by: "Why?"
Every type of plant commonly grown in hydroponics can benefit from a fan. Some, of course, receive more benefit than others; I consider it necessary if you're growing lettuce. It's helpful for flowering/fruiting vegetables. It's even helpful for herbs, though less so than the other categories.
