- MUFGA 12 Pods Hydroponics Growing System, Indoor Garden with LED Grow Light, Plants Germination Kit, Mini Herb Garden with Pump System, Height Adjustable (No Seed)

A clone/knockoff of the discontinued AeroGarden product. I don't have famliarity with the original, but I couldn't imagine it working any better than this little unit. Easy to set up, has everything you need, just have to find a place to set up, and source some seeds for your favorite veges, herbs, and flowers. Work well to root cuttings too. Plants are coming up strong and vigorous, I anticipate being able to plant them in the garden when it warms up enough. I have a good-sized garden plot, and I have been spending over $100/yr. for nursery-grown seedlings. This will save me some money and allow many greater options for plant variety. There are few things more satisfying than growing your food from scratch, and this is an excellent way to get started.

As you can see in my photo, I've had an AG system for a while. I bought this one because there was a lot more pods, and they were spaced wider apart than the AG system. I was extremely happy to see it has a pump system that brings water to each pod separately, much like the AG does. I would never buy one without this type of system, because if the roots are not developed, the seedlings will die if the water gets low. I also have a big problem with the AG in that the light doesn't extend very high, so I'm always having to trim my tomatoes down which shocks them. This MUFGA system has a high light reach, which will keep my tomatoes growing without snipping them! It also has holes for supports or labels, whichever you wish. The only downfall on this brand is that it doesn't have a timer so you can set specific times to start the garden. However, I have a smart plug that I programmed to automatically turn on at my specified time. I just need to make sure the garden is powered on, then turn it off at the plug. But even with this small negative, the garden itself is above and beyond the AG because of the light extension and better pod spacing! MUFGA, if you ever make a programmable one, I will be the first to buy! Otherwise, keep them cheaper so more people can get into hydroponics. :-) Otherwise, I would also like to see a unit that you can shut the light off but the pump continues to run its cycle. However, I loved my new unit so much that I bought another one, transferred my tomatoes to the MUFGA unit, and now I have 24 pods where I'm growing several tomatoes, several types of lettuce, strawberries and mini peppers. I will use the AG still for shorter plants, but I'm starting flower seeds in it now. I just have both MUFGA units set up to smart plugs just in case the power gets shut off and I need to restart the cycle. Otherwise, as long as the electric stays on, it will begin its 16-hr cycle whenever you turn it on. During it's normal cycle, when it goes into 8-hr lights off, the pump continues to run its cycle. I highly recommend this MUFGA hydroponic garden over the more expensive brands that do not have single cup watering capability. I've looked for similar brands that supply water to each cup, and as far as I can see, AG and MUFGA are the only ones that do this. So, I highly recommend THIS unit! Great plant spacing, great light height, water supplies to each pod, and two settings for flowers or vegetables. You can also turn the unit off, or run the pump manually when it's in sleep mode.

Works great! As someone who always kills plants, this is perfect. It does everything for you, waters, turned the light on and off at the correct time. The plants are growing so fast and healthy! Highly reccomend, especially for someone who struggles to grow anything like me. The picture with the light was December 29th, the ones with the plants were from January 17th.

Not quite as solid as the name brand competitor but definitely worth the value!!!! Easy to set up and works well! The only downfall is it doesn't have where you can set up specific times of day for the lights to come on and shut off. No personalized settings. It's in my bedroom and I'm a night shifter so I can't sleep if it's bright in my room. I had to shut it off and then get up and start it at another time so that the cycle would begin when I won't be in bed. I understand that isn't an issue with everyone though. I was pleasantly surprising to discover that it comes with pods and everything but the seeds to get started! Definitely worth the value!

Positives: 1. Up and running very quickly. Largely plug & play. 2. Packed well, foam cushioning. Kept all parts from damage. I noticed other reviews mentioned issues, but I had none. 3. Pricing was good. Picked up a different machine for my son (iDOO Hydroponics Growing System) that was very similar, but about 30% higher cost. 4. Water/nutrient tank is huge. I do have mild uncertainty about this though, as more nutrient additives are required for the tank size. Instructions indicate changing water every 2 weeks, so I'm wondering if I'm throwing away nutrients as the tank might actually be too large. We'll see. 5. Pump fired up and seems to circulate water very well. Time will tell if it holds up. Negatives: 1. The iDOO Hydroponics Growing System included covers for (up to) 12 unused holes. MUFGA includes only one hole cover (for the water). 2. The Planting Baskets are not 100% universal. They sort of fit in the iDOO system, but stick up higher as the baskets for the MUFGA have tabs that slide a bit inside the unit. Not a big deal, as the generic baskets that can be purchased elsewhere, will fit into this unit. It's just the ones with this unit may not port 100% into a different manufacturers unit. 3. Customer support contact and warranty information can't be found in the manual. Who do I contact if something does not work? I suspect if the lights or pump fail, the entire unit will be trash. But, for this price point, this seems a good beginners kit to test out if interest will be maintained. Other: 1. Would be nice to include some seeds. Cost is not high for MUFGA to add, even if the consumer does not like MUFGA's selection. Plan ahead and purchase seeds so you unit just sits without anything growing. My son went with herbs, while this MUFGA unit is handling veggies. 2. As mentioned above, throw in covers for unused holes. I will make an effort to edit this review moving forward and provide growth updates and longer-term performance of the MUFGA Growing System.

I am comparing 3 hydroponic systems: MUFGA 12 Pod, Fulsren 12 pod, and Sawdeny 12 pod systems. TLDR; MUFGA and Sawdeny are both great but MUFGA is my favorite because the pods are the most spread apart and the tank is large, but I love that the Sawdeny light extends almost 2 inches higher. MUFGA: I have had this system for a year. I paid $45 in Feb 2022, and have had 0 issues. It came with everything you would need, except seeds. The tank is larger than most, max fill is 6.5 L (1.7 gal). I keep it around 5L since fertilizing instructions are for that amount. I don't hear the pump at all when it is running. The water trickling sounds like a fountain and I find it relaxing. The water sound is noticeably louder if the water level is very low. The pods are more spaced apart than the other systems, which is vitally important IMO. They are 2 inches apart in a row, instead of 1 inch on the other systems however the other systems are offset slightly to allow slightly more room. In all honesty, even 2 inches is not enough spacing for most plants, so you may want to transplant most things when they get big, or leave empty pods between your plants. There is no drainage hole so you have to remove everything and detach the light to dump out the water. I think that's fine, because you need to monitor/clean the pod holders anyways since they tend to grow algae after a few weeks. The light lifts to 17.25 inches above the tank which is plenty for most herbs and transplants, not tomatoes or vines. The pod holders are rigid thin plastic and it can be hard to remove plants without ripping roots. I recommend submerging them in water and wiggling while gently pulling up on the base of the plant, it helps. The system has vegetable and fruit settings (which changes the colors of the leds), and stays on for 16 hours and turns off for 8 hours. The pump automatically shuts on/off every 30 minutes. There is no way to adjust what times the lights or pumps turn off/on. I like that the top of the light is flat, because the heat helps seeds to germinate quickly if you put them in a bag with a moist paper towel for a couple days. Fulsren: I paid $48.13 for this system. I just got this system today so I can't speak to its durability, but it has a few nice features that the other 2 don't have. The biggest one is a led screen with more options like led brightness and a timer function. The motor is not loud, but slightly louder than the other systems. The pods and holders that come with the system are very nice quality. The water refill hole has a course strainer and it attached so you cannot lose it which is nice. The system came with plant food and seedling covers, but nothing else. I was especially disappointed that it did not come with support sticks like the other systems, and the holes are smaller so I could not use the ones I had. I found that large bamboo skewers did fit, but the hole goes straight through so they can go down into the water. The other systems also came with pod collars (to combat algae) and labels which I found very useful. My biggest issue with the system is how close the pods are to each other. You realistically cannot plant 12 things at the same time unless you are transplanting everything when they get a few inches tall. The tank is also not labeled with units which I find annoying. It says "min, mid, and max" which is not helpful when using the "plant food" or fertilizer they provide. The specs say the tank holds 4L, which is small IMO. I suspect that is to the "max" line which is very close to the top on the tank. You would probably spill water if you tried to carry it full to the "max" line. Like the MUFGA you need to disconnect the light and remove all the pods to dump the water out of the tank. The light extends to 17.25 inches above the pods, like the MUFGA. SAWDENY: I paid $42.79 for this system. I also got this system today so I cannot speak to its durability. This would be my favorite system if the pods were farther apart, although they are more spaced than the Fulsren. The light extends to an impressive 19 inches above the pods and the tank is an appropriate 4.5 L max capacity. Unlike the other systems there is a drain at the bottom of the tank. This would be useful when you want to change the water, but not remove all of the pods or light. This is the only system that provided pod hole covers for if you want to cover a spot you aren't using. It also came with plant food, pod holders, pod collars, support sticks, seedling covers, re-usable labels, and extra pods. This is a great and comprehensive kit for a hydroponic system.

Update 1 day after the original review: I am dropping my rating down to 1 star and returning the unit. The automatic light time doesn’t work. The lights are supposed to stay on for 16 hours and off for 8. The lights on this unit do NOT turn off. I had to get up at 1 am to turn them off. As well as not functioning properly, that doesn’t seem safe to me. Also, the water has stopped flowing through the channels in the grow deck again and is not reaching the outer plant pods. Since I have several plant seed pods already in the unit, I’m at a loss of what to do with them since I am returning this. I can’t just toss that many sponges and seeds and will be very upset too waste that many pods due to a bad machine. I guess I will have to buy a different brand garden and hope it arrives quickly so I can get this returned. I’m in Alaska and we don’t have the quick Amazon delivery here. I’m hugely dissatisfied with this unit. Good luck if you buy one, it’s a roll of the dice if it will work correctly or not. And without any actual customer service from the company, at least Amazon will accept the return. I have several Aerogardens but their prices just keep going up, so I decided to try this Mufga after watching a review on YouTube. The Mufga has channels in the grow deck that waters the plant pods from the grow deck rather than just from the sponge soaking the water from below, just like an AeroGarden does. This was the selling point for me. Which is great - if it works. Problem #1 was that the water wasn’t being channeled to the grow holes. The water splashing in the unit seemed very loud, so looked inside the pod holes and only saw water splashing around under the holes just in the center near the pump. I somehow didn’t get the grow deck channel nozzle down into the white silicone sleeve that connects the growdeck channel to the pump, so water was shooting out of the silicone sleeve. I disassembled it and as you can see in the photos, there was no water actually inside the channel. When reassembling, I noticed that the bottom part of the channel doesn’t really feel like it securely attached to the grow deck, but I sniffed them together as best I could. Next I carefully, without really being able to see anything””, placed the deck on the unit, trying to make sure the channel nozzle was inside the silicone sleeve that is attached to the pump. I was able to do it. In the video, you can see the water is now flowing through the channel and flowing out at each pod hole, as it’s supposed to do. The water stream is weaker at some holes than others because the channel isn’t as securely attached there as it is in other spots, and there is still some splashing down around the pump, but at this point the water is flowing so I’m not going to bother with the extra splashing. Problem #2 is that the hole at the back and to the right of the light post is unusable because of the electrical wire to the pump. It blocks the plant pod from sitting flatly in the hole, and the plant roots will absolutely entangle in that wire as they grow. That is not a good thing at all. It’s sad because that spot has some of the best lighting. See photo with the red arrow pointing to the wire. Which brings me to problem #3: The lights. I have this sitting next to an AeroGarden Sprout, which is only 10 watts. The lights in the Mufga seem to be less powerful/bright than the lights in the Sprout even though it’s advertised as more than twice as bright at 24 watts. This was really surprising to me and is a huge concern. Also, the lighting seems noticeable weaker around the outer pod holes than in the center. I think they could have been more consistent in the light coverage. Problem #3. I didn’t get the stickers it advertises that come with the unit. Missing items. Now for the pros: While trying to fix the channels in the grow deck, I turned on the unit without the deck in place. The pump is very strong - strong enough to shoot the water out of the unit. The con with that is it squirted it right into where the lights attach to the unit. I was concerned about mixing water and electricity at that point, and ruining the lights. So be aware of the pump power. Only time will tell if this unit will last and how well the lights will work. I can’t actually recommend it yet. At this point, I will keep looking for higher end units when they are on sale. If I get a bountiful harvest from this unit, I may change my mind about it and will give and update.

Easy set up, quiet, seems to be working well. usually these inexpensive ones last me a year which is fine at this price. If it lasts longer, great. I have to use a flashlight to read the buttons and the water level but that is my poor eyesight and not anything about the garden itself. It is definitely quiet, one of the quietist ones I've ever had and I started with the most expensive of these table tops 10 years ago. So, good choice, great for entry level and for advanced knowledge people who have a small space. I'm growing kale because I love the taste. I actually may get a second one to go along side this one since I like to space out my veggies.