I Tested AeroGarden Nutrients vs Water… and Wow

Written By Kiri Martin

What Happens if You Grow Hydroponic Plants With Only Water?

If there’s one thing I love, it’s a good experiment.

This time I decided to test something simple but surprisingly dramatic:

AeroGarden nutrients vs plain water.

Now obviously we all know that hydroponic plants need nutrients to grow, but I wanted to actually see the difference side-by-side and share it with you guys.

And wow… the results were way more extreme than I expected.

So I fired up two AeroGarden Sprouts, planted the same crops in each one, and let them grow under the exact same conditions — except one got nutrients and one got only water.

Let’s talk about what happened.

WHY I DID THIS EXPERIMENT

One of the biggest mistakes I see beginner hydroponic gardeners make is topping up their systems with only water over and over again without replacing nutrients often enough.

When you do that:

  • nutrients get diluted

  • plants become deficient

  • growth slows down

  • leaves start looking sad

And sometimes people don’t realize the issue until their plants are really struggling.

So I thought this experiment would be a fun visual reminder of just how important nutrients actually are in hydroponics.

THE SETUP

For this experiment I used:

  • Two AeroGarden Sprouts

  • Tiny Tiger tomatoes from Moonglow Gardens

  • Tropicana lettuce from West Coast Seeds

  • Tap water in both systems

  • AeroGarden nutrients in only ONE system

I placed both units in the same location so lighting and environmental conditions would stay as similar as possible.

A QUICK HYDROPONIC TIP 🌱

One thing I always recommend:

Cover any unused pod holes.

Why?

Because hydroponic systems contain:

  • water

  • light

  • nutrients

Which basically creates the perfect environment for algae growth.

I use AeroGarden covers, but honestly:

  • golf balls

  • 3D printed covers

  • foil

…all work too.

WHY I PRE-MIX MY NUTRIENTS

One thing I mentioned in the video that’s really important:

When I top up my hydroponic systems, I usually pre-mix nutrients into the water instead of adding plain water only.

Why?

Because if you constantly top up with just water, you slowly dilute your nutrient solution.

And once plants get larger and start feeding heavily, they can absolutely start struggling before the 14-day nutrient reminder comes around.

This experiment ended up being a really good visual example of that.

GERMINATION & EARLY GROWTH

Both systems started out pretty similarly.

In fact, during the seedling stage, the plants in the water-only system didn’t look too bad.

That’s because seedlings initially rely on nutrients stored inside the seed itself.

The tomato actually handled the lack of nutrients better at first because tomato seeds are larger and contain more stored energy.

The lettuce?
Not so much.

Tiny seeds = fewer stored nutrients.

THE RESULTS AFTER 47 DAYS 👀

Honestly… I expected a difference.

But I did not expect THIS much of a difference.

Water-Only System

  • severely stunted growth

  • pale leaves

  • tiny lettuce

  • struggling tomato

Nutrient System

  • thriving lettuce

  • flowering tomato

  • vigorous growth

  • healthy color

The nutrient-grown tomato had already nearly outgrown the AeroGarden Sprout.

Meanwhile the water-only plants looked incredibly sad.

WHAT THIS EXPERIMENT TAUGHT ME

Hydroponic plants rely on us for basically everything.

Unlike soil gardening, there’s no reserve of nutrients for them to pull from.

So if the nutrients aren’t there…
the plants simply cannot thrive.

This experiment also reminded me that:

hydroponic nutrient schedules are not always one-size-fits-all.

Especially with larger plants, nutrient dilution can happen quickly if you’re only topping up with plain water between feedings.

MY NEXT EXPERIMENT 🧪

Because apparently I can’t stop experimenting…

Next I’m testing:

  • AeroGarden nutrients using ONLY the standard 14-day reminder schedule
    vs

  • Adjusting nutrients based on pH and EC measurements

And yes, I’ll be tracking:

  • pH

  • EC

  • plant growth differences

Because I genuinely love testing this stuff out and learning alongside you guys.

FINAL THOUGHTS

These aren’t perfect lab experiments.

I’m just a girl who loves growing food hydroponically and testing things out.

But honestly?
That’s part of the fun.

Sometimes the best way to learn is simply to try something and see what happens.

And this experiment definitely reminded me just how important nutrients really are in hydroponic growing.

Kiri Martin https://www.therealindoorgardener.com