I've been a hydroponic hobbyist for over 5 years now. I grow all my melon and tomato plants hydroponically. But for all my other vegetables I just use containers or raised beds. I was at a farmers market not to long ago and saw this lady selling the tower system. I thought it was a very nice commercially designed tower until I saw the price tag. I think you would be better off with the Earthtainer. 1. In terms of Pests the only real pest you avoid are soil born pest. Any pest that you would have in an outdoor garden such as aphids, spidermites, catepillars will still exist. 2. The difficulty will be controlling the nutrient solution. Depending on your water supply the PH level can/will change very rapidly. Once your PH levels are off your plants will suffer. If you stick to their 1tier system and not their extended tube system then the resevoir is large enough to provide a decent buffer from PH swings. But if you use their extended sytsem your PH levels will swing often and quickly. Every time your PH levels change you have to add PH down or PH up solution, mix the solution, test the solution. If you are still off you have to repeat. 3. If you are interesting in growing your own vegetables just to supplement what you currently buy, I would suggest an Earthtainer. Its a nice passive hydroponic system you can purchase or construct. If you interested in tinkering with hydroponics you can try a system called "DWC" which only requires a 20gallon rubbermaid tote with lid, an aquarium pump and air stone, your nutrients and testing supplies.

@ PupillaCharites & happy_fl_gardener - fascinating thread, thanks! I was taken by surprise at a Spring Garden show where TG had a booth - I fell for it! But I'm not disappointed as I'm having fun with it. I come to realize that I really have a keen interest in growing plants, ones I can eat especially, and now have a complete fascination with hydroponics as a growing system, so I came here to learn. Its time I start thinking about buying more Tonic and like others, I'm looking for an alternative b/c Yes, the TG tonic seems expensive and I get the feeling I can find an alternative. My goal is to build some of my own designed hydroponic units just for fun. But the immediate goal is to find a alternative feed before I head out of town for a few weeks and have to leave my husband with the TG which is currently loaded with veggies. There's a LOT to look up here - many recommendations so I'm going to check them out today and determine whether or not I have time to get my hands on these and do what I need to over the next few days. If I don't, I'll have to resort to going back to TG for the tonic but I'm pretty sure it will be the last time. NOT at all slamming the system or the company - it was expensive but I am having fun with it. I bought it for fun and not as a way to make money. I'm a boring banker and certainly don't need to get involved in MLM. Tx again everyone. I'm going to enter my link here. I am NOT actively selling the TG and I can't say I disagree with what some of @ PupillaCharites describes as their marketing program. I agree with you and so what I did was start a blog to track my experience with the TG as well as other crazy challenges I'm having living on a lot full of clay. As an FYI - I am almost out of the complete hydroponic beginner category at the moment. But what a blast I'm having with all the ideas I'm getting from all the hydroponic literature I've been reading. If I had a HUGE aquarium I could use fish poop as a fertilizer like they do at Epcot! Tx again all for the great conversations and debate. Here is a link that might be useful: The Wonky Gardener

Thanks, Johnny... the width is something I hadn't considered. I'm planting with 2' spacing so I think I'm going to get the 18" Texas Cages. I don't mind a little pruning but won't do anything near what i did last year. I was doing SFG and really pruned... didn't work for me so well and my friend in Oakland who just threw some maters in a box of American Soil had 8 foot plants that just produced all season non stop. I'm in Walnut Creek and with our heat out here I expected better results than I had and I was totally jealous of my easy-going friends success and here I was all detailed with the SFG approach and it was a total failure. Are your seedlings in yet? Do you plant anything other than tomatoes? (I'm also struggling a bit with how and when to plant my other veggies like squash, beans, chard, and still leave room in the garden to transition to things like broccoli for fall, etc.) I can't seem to find any reliable date from the master gardener program about when to plant things. Do you go by frost dates? And did you get that crazy hail a couple days ago? We did here, and now I realize why the proverbial "they" tells us not to plant maters too early. thanks for your help! -kmama

I've seen how commercial growers grow on horizontal strings--kind of like a fence. For what it's worth, I grow mine on *vertical* strings, via vine clips. Gives you a lot more control for keeping them off the ground. I prune off the lower suckers but let the higher suckers grow, so as to encourage fruiting at a convenient height.