Window Garden Aquaphoric Self Watering Planter 5” and Fiber Soil, Foolproof Indoor Home Garden. Decorative Planter Pot for All Plants, Flowers, Herbs, Indoor Herb Planter

I bought this little growing pot to grow basil in my kitchen. It is well made, easy to assemble (reconstituting the potting soil was a little messy), waters the plant from the bottom up, water monitoring is easy, and it just looks nice. I would definitely buy another one if I should need it. My basil is extremely happy and I have a little grow light stuck in the middle of it. It is fairly small and doesn't take up much space at all. My plant is happy with this pot and the soil that came with it.

This saved my money tree! Everyone close to me knows I’ve killed every plant I’ve ever owned, but a friend bought me a money tree for good luck and fortune, and of course it was on the brink of death until I bought this system. Works like a charm. When I opened the box, I thought, “oh no. There’s not enough soil!” but after reading the instructions I learned you have to hydrate it, and they give you a bag to do it in too. The box contained everything I needed to repot the plant, and simple instructions on how to put it together and how it works. Now I don’t have to worry about over or underwatering, and my tree is doing beautifully!

This little pot is well designed for small plants like, in my case, a 5” myrtle tree. This is the smallest SW planter I’ve found and I liked the clean look of my gloss-white pot with a thin black rim. What I’m really impressed with is the assembly of the water level indicator. A neat piece of contraption that is intricate as it is compact and efficient. The visible part above the pot is very simple, easy to read, and the bouy is quite sensitive to changes in the level of the reservoir below.The inner pot is easily removable perhaps it’s a 5 incher so the weight of substrate and size the smaller inner pot and smaller plant are contributing factors. With this 5” pot, I can easily take out the inner pot to 1: check the water level visually, 2: clean the outer pot, 3: rotate the plant orientation without rotating the whole pot so that the logo side of the outer pot always faces the window and not my living room.I do have one small issue with the fiber soil it comes with, which I think is coco coir and is a good quality general substrate. However, due to the shallow depth allowed for the substrate, which is less than 4”, and the relatively deep relative ratio of the reservoir at the bottom, about 1-1/4”, allowing the potting fiber to wick up way more water than necessary for healthy root growth for any plant. I emptied out the reservoir when I noticed the substrate being too wet, and allowed the inner pot to drain out as much as possible. I now plan to change the substrate to be less absorbing so it works better with the reservoir.All and All, I’m pleased with the purchase. The price is great for a well made nifty product. Just be mindful if the level of wetness of the substrate meets you plant’s needs.

Transplanted basil from an overcrowded aerogarden. I was a bit skeptical at first because it wasn't clear to me how the plants were going to get enough water but the basil plants appear to like the fiber soil environment better than the aerogarden; since I transplanted them, they have become taller, wider, and more healthy. The colored plastic pot is very attractive, lightweight, and functional. The water level indicator tells me when to add water. I plan to get several more of these for other indoor crops.

This is my second aquaphoric planter, got the smaller one this time around, so I already knew the ins and outs.I’ve been using these for bonsai trees that I grow for fun and I really liked the idea of the self water planter because I would stay at my girlfriends sometimes so I wasn’t always able to monitor the water. However, the way these planters work (due to the design and the soil) is that if there’s any water in the tank the soil will absorb it until it’s fully saturated. And since the soil, which in all fairness seems to be a very nice growing medium, it sucks up the water all the way to the top. The trees I have grown prefer it when the soil dries out between waterings. Because of this I tried looking at other designs, but they all work either this way or by using a wick to transfer the water (an idea I would like to try, will mention below) and it seemed like the quality, price and size of the aquaphoric is top notch.Other than the fact that the soil is always fully saturated when using the self watering feature there are a few other issues:- the holes in the bottom of the insert don’t touch the bottom of the outside container. As such there will always be some water in the bottom. Not the biggest issue (either than maybe some mold or something growing if you don’t cycle the water frequently?) but:- since there is nothing between the soil and water the roots of my last plant grew through the holes to the water. Now the soil as I mentioned before seems to be very good at displacing wAter, so once there isn’t any left they should all be dry. However, since the roots can grow through the holes into the water container and since there is always water in there since the holes don’t touch the bottom I think this can promote some root rot?I haven’t had a plant in one of these planters long enough to see, but it is definitely something I’m going to keep in mind.I think this is definitely another benefit of using a transferring medium like a wick.- the fact that the soil is good at distributing water goes a long way, but I think it would be nicer if there was more interfaces with the tank than just a portion of the middle of the planter going down with holes in the sides. Maybe like 4 in the shape of a square? Probably wouldn’t make much a difference, but I feel as though the current way does promote some particularly wet spots in the soil.So, because of the above I gave it 4 stars. However, I would probably rate it at 4.5 since even the kinds with a wick have the same water saturation issues (and with a wick maybe anything you mix into the water might not transfer as well?).The price is great, it has a water level indicator and looks nice. Solid product as long as you understand the limitations.

This little pot and soil combo is AMAZING!!!! We have a little Christmas cactus that was in a too-small pot and kept getting knocked over. I picked this one over all the other pots on Amazon in the end because someone else's review specifically mentioned their Christmas cactus flourished. Is it ever! Neither of us are really "plant people" so I was just hoping for it to survive the transplant. 6 weeks later, it has visibly grown, and has actually had a second bloom, which it's never done. I give all credit to this pot, it's special soil, and the little watering gauge. Wow!