As an apartment dweller, I love the idea and hoped the best for this product, but my mother got one and went through 3 motors in 3 months. It is now sitting in her basement.

Maybe she has just struck out with faulty replacements, but she is the only person I know who has one. Can anyone on here verify their quality?

BMJ, I read your post about the motor problem with the AeroGarden and I encourage you to call the company. I know that they had some issues with motors early on and that they are now using a new motor/pump system. If you call their customer service department tell them that you had an issue with the pump and they should send your mom a new base with the new pump at no charge. I guess they had to get the kinks out of the design but my understanding is that the new pump sustem eliminate the problem.

This may sound foolish, but using such a setup as described above could have substantial fuel savings:

Consider all the fuel that is expended to harvest, process, transport, store, and then finally sell a product. It's daunting. Growing certain vegetables at home would substantially cut back on emissions even if a growth light is used.

I was always intrigued by these, but are they considered "green"? They use electricity for lights and pumps to achieve (albeit enhanced) what occurs naturally.

There is NO WAY anything that uses growth lights can be considered green, unless your electricity comes from wind or solar (and even then you are taking power away that could be replacing coal). Remember that the easiest way to track down marijuana growers is to look for residential homes with extraordinary power use. Growth lights chew through power.

If you want to grow tomatoes at home: (1) buy a pot, (2) buy a type of tomato that needs less light, and (3) put the pot on a window sill.

Don't forget hydro energy. Before you go off about the grow lights, you should do some research. The standard AeroGarden grow lights require 26 watts each and the whole system (lights and pump) use up less than 60 watts. So I think I have to agree on GreenPlease's comment that this could be more energy saving than buying herbs or other produce that get's shipped accross the country. I find most herbs and salad greens get thrown out anyways because the quantity sold at grocery stores are more than most people would use up at one time. Wasteful? Yes.

I have attempted to grow tomotoes inside my apartment and have yielded a dissapointing 2 small tomatoes. This picture above is extremely enticing (although maybe its a marketing scheme). I think arguing whether if this is green or not is just too extreme. If I grow something myself isn't that reducing pesticide use (if not organic) and transportation emissions? I am interested if people have had success with this.

I'd consider it green in running, if you use a 100% renewable energy contract. Whether the energy costs are worth the control over fertilization and pestizide is up to one self.

You can find helpful advice at the Aerogardeners Community