How to Do a Rinse-and-Refill

A Rinse-and-Refill is called for in situations where the nutrient concentration in the Bowl may have become too strong or too weak. This may occur if the source water used has a higher than average dissolved mineral content, or if the Seed Kit being grown has been growing a long time. Symptoms of a too-high or too-low nutrient concentration are yellowing leaves or browning and death of leaf margins.

The easiest way to do a Rinse-and-Refill is as follows:

1) Unplug the AeroGarden.

2) Remove the Bowl from the Base.

3) Pour or siphon all the water/nutrient solution out of the Bowl as follows:

If your plants are still small and without much root mass, you can generally just lift the Bowl off the Base, open the view door at the front, and carefully pour all the water out into a sink.

If your plants have grown larger and have a lot of root mass, lifting the Grow Surface with all the mature plants in it may be impractical, and it is easier to siphon the water out of the Bowl down into a sink or a bucket. Small plastic siphons are available at most hardware stores.

Note: Do not use the water from the Bowl on houseplants - the solution may be too concentrated for them.

4) Replace the Grow Surface into the Bowl (if you removed it).

5) Fill the Bowl with fresh water up to the “Fill to Here” mark.

6) Drop in two new nutrient tablets.

7) Replace the Bowl back into the Base. (Whenever you do this, make sure to lower the Bowl down onto the Base so that you do not damage the Pump contacts on the front of the Lamp Arm.)

8) Plug the AeroGarden back in.

9) Briefly press the Reset button. (This will reset the nutrient timer to be in synch with your new feeding date).