Hydroponic Tower Benefits
Grow fresh produce at home with the ALTO Garden GX Hydroponic Tower Garden. Designed for convenience, this vegetable tower uses hydroponic techniques, allowing you to grow plants indoors without the need for soil. With a base measuring just 20 inches by 20 inches, the GX tower only takes up 2.5 square feet of space, yet offers the same growing capacity as a 25-square-foot garden by growing plants vertically. This 10x space efficiency is just one of the many advantages of using a vertical grow tower.
The ALTO Garden GX Hydroponic Tower with Grow Lights has adjustable grow lights which can be moved closer to, or farther away from the tower to accommodate different stages of plant growth. Having these lights makes it possible to have a flourishing indoor garden. Because hydroponics does not use dirt or soil, the tower provides a clean growing space inside your home. Hydroponic growing has many other benefits including faster yields compared to growing in a traditional garden. Water is also recycled up and down the tower for exceptional water efficiency.
Watering
Watering is powered by an included water pump which sits in the reservoir tank below. Water is pumped to the top of the tower and irrigates the roots of each plant as it makes its way back down, and into the reservoir. This cycle repeats, recycling water up and down the grow tower like a fountain. The GX tower delivers precise watering to all 24 pots to ensure even growth.
With traditional growing methods only a small fraction of water used is actually absorbed by the roots. Most of the water is lost in the soil. The recycling process used by hydroponic towers results in a 95% water savings when compared with growing with traditional soil.
A common misconception is that you have to leave the water running 24 hours a day. But actually – it's better to set watering intervals instead of running a continuous flow. A typical watering interval would be to water for 15 minutes on, then 45 minutes off, for 14 - 18 hours a day (less hours when it's cooler, more hours when it's warmer). This break in watering exposes roots to the air in between watering intervals. This helps because roots can more easily absorb oxygen from the air, than when underwater. This is known as "aeroponics" which is a specific type of growing method within the hydroponic umbrella. These growing efficiencies are why systems like the GX Tower can produce 3x faster yields.
Hydroponic Tower Construction
The GX Tower Garden comes in 6 layers with 4 pots per layer. This gives you 24 pots to plant lettuce, kale, arugula, strawberries, peppers, chives, parsley, tomatoes… and many other types of veggies, fruits and herbs. The pots were designed to be spaced widely apart which provides ample room for growth, without having the plants crowd into each other. When plants get crowded they often compete against each other for light and water which leads to stunted growth. With the GX Tower, each of your 24 plants will have plenty of room to grow and mature until it’s time to harvest.
Made from high quality, food-grade polypropylene – the tower components have been designed under the strictest standards to ensure the healthiest food for your family. The ALTO Garden GX Tower Garden is completely BPA free. Each layer of the tower measures 2 millimeters thick. Due to its thickness the tower will not crack, warp or deform and will provide years of durable and sustainable farming. Each tower layer is one solid piece, 360 degrees around. This one-piece design has several benefits including outstanding leak prevention to protect your floors.
Grow Tower with Lights
You can think of light being like food for plants. Light triggers photosynthesis, which is a process when plants use light to create food. More specifically – plants use light to synthesize sugar (food) from water and carbon dioxide in the air. We discussed watering earlier, and how the roots of the plant are exposed to air in between watering intervals. Having light is just as important as water and air for healthy plants. The amount of light and type of light should be considered too. Adding light is the final component so your plants can grow and thrive.
The LED grow lights on the ALTO Garden GX Tower Garden use white LEDs to provide broad spectrum lighting. This ensures your plants receive all the light frequencies needed for plant growth. Light frequencies are the range of wavelengths which light can be transmitted. Visible light for example, has a wavelength range of about 380 - 760 nanometers. Although the light appears white to the human eye, it does carry the complete spectrum of light. It provides a nice balanced light which supports the the varying stages of plant growth - from young seedling to maturity.
Sunlight for example – appears to your eyes as white light. But in reality, sunlight emits all the wavelengths of the visible spectrum! You just need a prism to see. As sunlight passes through a prism the light refracts, or bends, at different angles. Because refraction causes each wavelength to bend at slightly different angles, the colors become visible as the light exits the prism. This is why when you shine sunlight through a prism, you can see all the colors of the rainbow.
This broad spectrum lighting is important because plants need different wavelengths, at different stages of their growth. For example – while blue light works well for young plants, blue light alone will not support a plant’s blooming stage. This is why ALTO Garden GX grow lights are designed to cover the complete spectrum.
The grow lights can be adjusted closer or further away from the tower. When your plants are younger, move the lights closer. Then, as your plants grow you can move the lights further back. This ensures your plants are getting the optimal amount of light no matter where they are in their growth. You can also rotate the lights around the grow tower to provide more even distribution. This adjustability lets you fine-tune your lighting.
The lights have a built-in timer which automates your lighting. The timer can be set in 15 minute increments - at the 15th, 30th, 45th minute and also the top of the hour. A good lighting schedule to start with is 12 - 14 hours on, then 10 - 12 hours off. Start here then adjust this lighting schedule as needed. Keep in mind that it's important for plants to have a dark period as well. Just like humans, they need their rest time too! Leaving the lights on 24 hours a day is not good for your plants. That's why the built-in timer is so important. Plants like a regular schedule they can get accustomed to.
Harvesting Video
Assembly Video
Product Specifications
- 24 pots: 6 layers x 4 pots per layer
- Made from food-grade, BPA-free polypropylene
- Dimensions with LED Lights: 20” x 20” x 66” (with wheels)
- Weight with LED Lights: 26 pounds (empty)
- Reservoir tank capacity: 10 gallons
- Tower cylinder diameter: 8”
- Tower wall thickness: 0.08” (2 mm)
- Net pots: 2.1” (inside diameter)
- Horizontal distance between net pots: 6.5" (center to center)
- 1 year warranty on parts and defects
What's in the Box
- All tower components
- Reservoir tank w/ wheels
- Broad spectrum LED lights w/ built-in timer
- Water gauge
- Water pump
- Timer for water pump
- Net pots (x24)
- Rockwool cubes (x30)
- A + B plant nutrients (10 oz each)
- pH test pen
- Germination light
Product Downloads
FAQ
It’s a compact vegetable tower designed for growing fresh produce indoors using hydroponic techniques, without soil.
Vertical growing allows the GX Tower to provide the same capacity as a 25-square-foot garden, maximizing space efficiency.
With a hydroponic tower, you’ll save a lot of water because water is recycled up and down the tower. Since plant roots are suspended in air inside the tower, roots will have more oxygen exposure which helps them grow fuller and faster. Because there's no soil it's also a lot cleaner, especially to use as an indoor garden. Here are some other benefits:
- Automated watering
- Automated lighting
- No need for pesticides, herbicides or GMOs; grow organic food at home
- Vertical gardens take less space; great for people who don’t have a yard
Yes, they are! If you look closely - most of the pictures of towers on the internet, plants are photo-shopped into the tower! Quite frankly, this is because their towers don't work very well. But our plants are real. We germinated our seeds as described in the germination section of our website. We transfer our plants into the tower approximately 2 weeks after sowing.
Plants grown hydroponically do not grow at a steady rate. Rather – it’s more like a slow climb and then a sudden increase like a hockey stick. Between weeks 3 and 5, these plants grew tremendously.
Seedlings do not come included. Live seedlings often don’t arrive well when shipped through UPS or FedEx (especially in the hot summer months). If they do make it, they can arrive wilted or in poor shape which stunts their growth and taste.
We advocate learning how to germinate yourself. A germination tray and 30 rockwool cubes come included to help you get started. Use seeds of your choice. It’s easy to do and once you learn, it’s a skill you’ll have for the rest of your life. Read the germination section of our website to learn how. Don’t rely on a third party to ship you seedlings every month. Knowing how to germinate gives you more power and more flexibility in what you can grow. Plus – it’s a lot cheaper you'll save lots of money in the long run.
Yes, you should mix nutrients into the water of your reservoir. Plants in traditional gardens get their nutrients from the soil. These nutrients include nitrogen, calcium, magnesium and potassium. Likewise, your hydroponic plants will need these same nutrients so you should add them to the water. The basic type A + B plant nutrients work very well. This will help your plants have the optimal levels of natural nutrients to fuel their growth.
A timer for your water pump comes included with the ALTO Garden GX Tower. If your plants were germinated in rockwool, we recommend starting with a watering interval of 15 minutes on and then 45 minutes off, for 14 - 18 hours a day (14 hours when it's cooler, up to 18 hours when it's warmer). If you germinated in sponge cubes, we recommend 15 minutes on and then 15 minutes off, for 24 hours a day. Sponge cubes need more frequent watering because they dry out faster than rockwool. Adjust your watering schedule as needed. For example, mature plants need less frequent watering than younger plants. In the warmer months - you should increase your watering because water evaporates more quickly when it's warm.
The LED lights for our ALTO Garden GX Tower come with a built-in timer. To start, we recommend setting your timer to be on for 14 hours a day, followed by a period of 10 hours of darkness. Adjust your lighting schedule as needed. Keep your lighting schedule at a consistent time every day, e.g., 6:00am – 8:00pm every day. Plants prefer a routine light / dark schedule for best development.
Since watering and lighting schedules are handled through the use of timers, running your GX Tower is highly automated. There are some maintenance steps we recommend however, to ensure your garden runs smoothly for years to come:
Weekly:
- Check water levels to ensure there's enough water in the reservoir tank.
- Check pH levels to ensure they haven’t drifted out of range. pH levels should remain between 5.5 and 6.5.
- Keep roots away from the water pump. Trim any roots that may be dangling into the reservoir tank.
Monthly:
- Check the drip holes in the tower to make sure they are free from debris. You can use a toothpick to poke through the holes to dislodge anything.
- Clean the water pump. Unplug and rinse with water to clean any debris.
Semi-annually:
- Disassemble the tower sections and clean with warm soapy water.
We have created an assembly video for your convenience. The video is just above the FAQ section on this page. Here is a link to the video as well.
The included owner’s manual also includes a complete assembly guide. All parts for assembly come included in the box.
If you need any help with tower assembly, feel free to call us at 818-940-1140 or email us at contact@altogarden.com - we would be happy to help!
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Fantastic!
We love our Alto Garden tower. It grows so fully and there is plenty of room for our lettuce and herbs to grow. Our basil plant is huge! We had a small countertop Aero Garden before but it is too small for real gardening and the pots are like two inches apart. The watering is also different with this system because it drips water over the roots instead of submerging them. It is really an aeroponic tower. The roots look look a lot healthier they are gleaming white. Fantastic system well designed.
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Alto grow lights
The grow lights don't stay in the socket or together well. They need some kind of plastic clip to go over the junction to secure them. I've had one come apart but luckily the bulbs didn't break when it fell.
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Fan Favorite
Very pleased with my grow tower. Simple to use and it grows well. I have some fresh basil growing and the aroma is fantastic. Had some friends over recently and they were so impressed had a lot of fun explaining how it works. They're calling me the garden techie now. Definitely winning some new fans at my house.
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Pretty Good
Tower looks good and the wheels are a huge plus. Assembly was a little tricky getting the first layer right. Support rods need to be positioned just right to attach the higher layers. Had to try a few times. The instruction manual could have been more clear. Got everything working now. Water seems to be flowing down the tower fine.
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Alto Tower
Good tower grows well. Transferred lettuce, kale and basil about two weeks ago and they are starting to take off now. Fun watching it grow and excited to harvest and eat.
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Great tower, great price
Researched a bunch of towers and narrowed it down to the Tower Garden and ALTO Garden. They are pretty similar systems and work the same way but the ALTO Garden has a much better price! So I purchased one and couldn't be happier. It grows well and there is plenty of production for my family. We are harvesting now and it's hard to keep up because it keeps growing back. Highly recommend. Going to germinate another tray of seedlings this weekend so they'll be ready for transfer. I think it's important to time your germination cycles right so you have your next batch ready to go. This keeps your tower growing all the time which means more eating!
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Fun to grow and looks great
I am really enjoying this hydroponic tower. Once you get your seedlings transplanted into the tower it becomes quite hands-off. I have it in my home office and it's nice to look at everyday watching the plants get bigger and bigger. Plus the tower must be giving off a lot of oxygen with 24 plants growing out of it so it's like a natural air purifier. Definitely plan to grow all year round with it.
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Good product and customer support
Happy with our tower and customer support. My tower arrived missing the wheels. I called customer support and they were terrific and sent out a package the same day. Transferred my seedlings into the tower a week ago and they are doing great. The automated watering and lighting makes it super easy. Can't wait to start harvesting.
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ALTO Garden GX
Love this grow tower. Assembly was easy and the automation with timers makes it really hands-off once you've transferred your seedlings (the included rockwool cubes are great BTW). Really fun to look at my tower every day and watch it grow.
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Tower Gardening
Really great product and grows so well. As a lifelong gardener it's been a fun pivot to hydroponics. It really distills down what is needed for plants to grow (1) light and (2) nutrient absorption. That's it. I love the simplicity of this system.
