Grandma’s Secret Garden. Photo credit: Dealzer.
Thanks to the ever advancing cannabis legalization effort, more and more states are declaring the plant a legal product. Along with that growth comes another highly desirable effect — the advancement of the home growing unit. Something self-contained, these units allow a legal cannabis user to save a lot of money by growing a few of their own plants.
Sadly, lower retail costs for cannabis have not come down as once hoped. We can obtain high-quality products, but not for cheap. Like many of us, I began looking around for an alternative to paying such high prices for high-quality flower. As a result, home growing is now the rage.
Over the years I have tried both indoor and outdoor efforts with mixed results. A decade ago, grow lights were expensive, threw off enormous heat, and ran up the electric bill to a point equal to the retail cost of the product. Not a desirable result.
Besides the problem with bugs — especially aphids — balancing the pH of the soil and water, and making sure the timer is working properly are among the things that one must manage.
When simple online ordering and delivery came along, home growing took a back seat. But that’s no longer the case. Now, there is now a plethora of home growing units to choose from.
Searching out What’s Needed
When beginning the home grow journey, one must first assess how much space is available for a unit and where it can be placed for easy access. Growers must also ask themselves: ‘how many plants should I have? Should I use soil with a watering system or hydroponic? An HPS bulb or an LED light? Which one costs less in electricity used? What’s my budget? How much product do I expect to grow? What about smell or sounds?’
I went right after these questions as I searched the web for complete kits for amateur growers. Nothing complex — just self-contained, plug and play, with maybe some assembly required. Believe me, trying to assemble the parts and elements needed one-by-one will only lead to wasted time.
I assembled a list of good prospects and began to reach out to some of the top suppliers of home grow kits and elements.
I was determined to buy the package that sounded the best when I had completed the research.
Among the companies I researched included:
Dealzer
Grandma’s Secret Garden 6.0 is a four-plant hydroponic LED system in a beautiful cabinet. It includes all the latest advances in components, combining the best grow light with hydroponic, soil-free growing. Just add water and seed and nutrients. The home-friendly cabinet is inconspicuous and looks great anywhere. Free shipping all the time. $995 or make an offer.
The Bud Grower
The company offers complete kits with a grow tent and an HPS bulb. They have both soil and hydroponic systems priced about $600-800.
They currently offer free shipping during the pandemic. Their basic kits grow one to three plants like the popular Signature series. It can come with a 150 watt HPS bulb and is in a 2’x2’x60” tent structure. There are large flap openings for easy access and large front windows to watch them grow. They also offer LED kits at a higher price with 600 watt lights. Sale prices are currently in progress.
TopOGrow
Topo Grow is also a tent and LED light, but not a complete kit. It costs about $311. They do feature designs for large grow tents that offer big viewing windows. Most unique is their series that has a no-fan design. This creates quiet growing.
Grow Ace
This is also a tent package with either soil or hydroponic versions from $779-2800. (Now on sale for $599). They also offer both HID lights and LED lights. The LED lights always cost more, but produce more in less time and use less electricity. They also offer advanced spectrum grow lights designed just for medical plants. As always, price is usually the issue.
Almost all the packages only require water, seeds and nutrients and some are turnkey designs. All these prices are subject to change, so potential buyers should check the price currently listed on these websites. They all also offer discounts.
Dealzer’s Grandma’s Secret Garden 6.0
PRICE $995 retail
After careful consideration, I am settling on Dealzer’s Grandma’s Secret Garden 6.0 as it is ideal for my needs. It will produce 2 to 3 pounds of usable flower per cycle, according to the company.
First of all, it comes assembled and packaged as a really nice wood cabinet, not a big tent. It can fit in as furniture in any room. Put a nice vase on top. The noise level is like an aquarium coming from the small fans on the back side. Additionally, there is no odor due to the filtering system. The advancements are impressive. It uses hydroponics so all one needs is water, seed and some nutrients. No soil to deal with. Adding nutrients and water maintenance is required about once a week.
There is one trick to learn. That is how to bend the plants so they can grow to full strength within the 3-feet-height and 2-feet-width of the cabinet’s dimensions. There is a video instruction on how to do that. This allows growing room for up to four plants at a time without the obvious 6-foot-tall tent taking up space.
LED lighting is definitely the most economical for the electric bill and there is no heat generation to worry about. It’s easy to set up and will save it’s cost within a few months, at least for regular consumers like me.
Another important factor in my choice was the immediate help available and responsiveness online. Several of the other companies did not respond to my inquiries.
However, the company’s owner, Albert Farajian, answered me promptly. He promised to walk me through what I needed to know. Although it was more costly than some other home grow units, the cabinet and the service makes it all seem like a bargain.
Additionally, Dealzer is a veteran-owned U.S. company. Shipping is currently free, another bonus on this package. Their site also says customers can make an offer, something less than the list price of $995. They aren’t kidding. It’s a competitive market.
The Winner
After my package arrived after three business days, it was obvious. Grandma’s Secret Garden was the best for my needs. It combines ease of setup; the best lighting and hydration techniques; and comes in a beautiful cabinet that’s gonna look cool in any room. It is worth noting that the unit is heavy; it weights 64 pounds. With a flexible bidding arrangement it can also be the most cost effective. Just talk to Albert Farajian.
Rating: 5/5 emeralds
Written by Paul Peterson
Leave a Reply