How Tower Garden Automates Lighting and Watering

Two of the daily tasks involved in growing indoors with Tower Garden happen automatically. Timers control both the grow lights and the watering cycle, so you don't have to manually manage either one.

One of the questions you may have if you're considering a Tower Garden is how much you actually have to do each day.

While a Tower Garden isn't maintenance-free, two important tasks are handled for you: the grow lights turn on and off according to a set schedule, and the pump circulates water and nutrients through the tower on a repeating cycle throughout the day.

For me, that's one of the things that makes growing food indoors manageable. With the lighting and watering schedules already taken care of, I can focus on the parts of growing that actually need my attention.

In this short video, you can see both functions in action, including how the water and nutrients circulate through the tower and over the plant roots.

The Grow Lights Run on a Timer

Plants grown indoors need enough light each day, but they also need a period of darkness. Photosynthesis requires light, while periods of darkness allow plants to carry out other important processes involved in respiration and growth.

Tower Garden recommends a minimum of 14 hours of grow light per day for indoor growing, with published guidance generally ranging from 14–18 hours depending on the crop and growing conditions.

I keep my Tower Garden lights on for 18 hours each day. They turn on automatically at 6 a.m. and turn off at midnight, giving my plants six hours of darkness overnight.

Once your schedule is set, you don't have to turn the grow lights on and off each day. The timer follows the schedule for you.

The Pump Automates the Watering Cycle

The second function controlled by a timer is the watering cycle.

Tower Garden has a pump inside the reservoir at the base of the system. When the pump turns on, it moves the water and Tower Garden Mineral Blend from the reservoir to the top of the tower.

From there, the nutrient solution rains down over the plant roots and flows back into the reservoir below. While the pump is running, that process continues, circulating the nutrient solution through the tower and over the roots.

The current Tower Garden pump timer has two preset settings:

• Indoor (I): 5 minutes on, 45 minutes off

• Outdoor (O): 3 minutes on, 12 minutes off

You simply select the setting that matches where your Tower Garden is growing, and the timer controls the watering cycle.

I grow both of my Tower Gardens indoors year-round, so I use the indoor setting.

This is another advantage I appreciate about indoor growing. Unlike an outdoor garden, the plants aren't dependent on rainfall or on me remembering to water them during a dry spell. The pump delivers water and nutrients on a consistent schedule every day.

Why Tower Garden Uses an On-and-Off Watering Cycle

There's another interesting part to how this works.

Tower Garden is an aeroponic growing system. Rather than having the plant roots continuously submerged in water, the roots are suspended in the air inside the tower.

When the pump is on, the nutrient solution flows down over the roots, delivering the water and nutrients the plants need. When the pump turns off, the roots remain exposed to oxygen rather than staying saturated in water.

That oxygen matters. Plant roots use oxygen for respiration, which provides energy for important processes including nutrient uptake and growth.

The alternating on-and-off watering cycle helps provide the roots with a combination of water, nutrients, and oxygen. So the pump timer isn't only about taking care of the task of watering. The cycling itself is part of how the aeroponic system is designed to work.

What Tower Garden Doesn't Do Automatically

Having automated lighting and watering doesn't mean you can set up a Tower Garden and forget about it.

I still:

• Check the water level in the reservoir

• Monitor and adjust the pH

• Add nutrients as needed

• Prune plants as they grow

• Watch for pests or other plant problems

• Harvest what I'm growing

But not having to manage the lighting and watering allows me to spend my time on the other important parts of growing that need to be done manually.

That balance of built-in convenience and hands-on plant care is one of the things I appreciate about growing with Tower Garden.

If you'd like to learn more, visit my How Tower Garden Works page. You'll see how to start seedlings in rockwool, add the Tower Garden Mineral Blend, and move seedlings into the tower, along with tips for choosing what to grow and where to place different plants.

Grow strong 🌱
Karen