Powerplant Mini: First impressions

December 2, 2008

The power plant is a new countertop hydroponic garden.
Recently I wrote about a new countertop hydroponics system called the “Powerplant Mini” from Prepara. They were nice enough to send an evaluation unit so I could let you all know how it all works.

After getting home from FedEx, I tore into the package and opened up the box. Here is what waited for me inside;

The Powerplant Mini
AC adapter
2 x Nutrient Vials
2x grow sponges
3x Humidity Domes
Seed Cover
sweet basil seeds

I must say it was smaller than I had assumed. That’s a good thing though because it fits nicely in my windowsill. It looks similar to an XBOX360 in its looks and actually looks quite a bit like the HD-DVD add on for it.

For the first grow I decided to just run it with what came in the box. I do have several types of nutrients and additives, as well as some CFL grow lights and an LED grow panel, but I’ll leave those out of the equation for now. So I mixed up the nutrients, moistened the grow sponge, and went to work placing several seeds in the sponge.

I used mainly the sweet Basil it came with, but some of the seeds slipped out and there may be too many in one spot. I also grabbed a couple of hot chili pepper seeds, and green pepper seeds from the chili I made for supper.

I have absolutely no expectation for the green peppers as the system wasn’t really designed for something like green peppers. I have hopes for the chili peppers, but the seed I used weren’t of the best quality so I’m quite interested to see how both types turn out.

So its all seeded, in the windowsill, plugged in (the pump is fairly quiet too, about 1/3 as loud as a typical aquarium would sound like) and it has the seed cover placed on it. Now hope fully we’ll see some growth by Monday.

Overall I was fairly impressed with my first experience with the Powerplant, and the only real issue I had was the seed cover. Its made of cardboard, and my first instinct was to throw it away. Over time I can see this getting lost and/or beaten up. Not a big deal though, In the event it goes missing I can just cover it with something else to germinate. Maybe I’ll grab an HD DVD or 360 game and toss it on top just to confuse people.

I will post some pictures as soon as there is something to take pictures of.

Matt

More info about the Powerplant Here

Written by Matt · Filed Under Featured