Since then, I’ve tried a variety of smart gardening devices from the brand, which has been founded in Hong Kong since 2007 but expanded to the US in 2019. If you’re shopping for a plant lover or gardener this holiday season, these are the products I have had the best success with in my home and gardening setup and would buy myself.
late pot
LPH-SE Senior Hydroponic Growing System
The 12-pod LPH-SE Senior, featured in my indoor gardening guide, has been a trusty tabletop companion for many months, producing organic baby chard that can be clipped every few days for fresh salads. (Food doesn’t get more local than greens grown just inches from your dinner plate!)
The LetPot app is kind of funky, but it’s not needed once you set the timer for the 24-watt LED lamp, which moves both up and down and flips for easy cutting access. A pop-up gauge tells you at a glance what level the water is, the pump runs automatically every 30 minutes, and instructions on when and how to add nutrients are right on the bottle. (Includes two bottles of dehydrated nutrients.)
I’ve tested LetPot as well as some AeroGarden, and while AeroGarden’s app, design, and interface are a little slower than LetPot, the end result is the same. LettPot’s LPH-SE is not only less expensive than the comparable AeroGarden Bounty, it has room for three more plants.
late pot
100-watt grow light
Second on my list of Late Pot hits is the brand’s grow light for house plants. (Although it would also be perfect for seedling trays.) It also works with the LetPot app, but like the LPH-SE, the app isn’t entirely necessary once you’ve set the timer, and if you don’t want to deal with the app at all, there’s a corded remote that lets you turn the light on and off and even adjust the light intensity.
The powerful 100-watt light can either hang from the ceiling or sit on its telescoping stand, rotating around 360 degrees to shine exactly where you need it. (Keep in mind that 100 watts is quite hot – you won’t want it too close to any leaves.) I appreciate that the light itself is large (2 x 3 feet), so it keeps the plants from getting too leggy. One downside to note: While the description says the stand can extend up to 72 inches, it actually only goes up to about 60 inches, so if you have taller plants, you’ll want to keep that in mind — or use the hanging feature.
LettPot’s SS Pro Seed Starter is fairly new, but promising. It’s still in pre-order, but I’ve been using it for the past few months to grow onions, carrots and parsnips. A full-coverage, 24-watt light (12 x 7 inches) sits on a plastic ventilated dome, which rests over a seed tray. The tray is installed in a shallow container, with a 24-watt heating pad placed beneath it. Fill the container with water, add whatever medium you want to the tray (you’ll have to buy it separately; I used expandable seed starting soil, $12), and plant your seeds.
The LetPot app’s Auto mode will recommend a temperature range and light duration based on what you’re growing and turn the system on/off accordingly, or you can manually choose your settings. A temperature and EC sensor (electrical conductivity, which measures dissolved solids – essentially, the amount of nutrients available to plants in your soil) goes into the soil, and a digital screen on the front tells you everything you need to know at a glance: the current temperature, EC level, and how many days it’s been since the seeds were sown. The LetPot claims a 99 percent germination rate, and while my germination rate wasn’t that high, I appreciated that the finished seedlings were significantly healthier and less leggy than plants grown with only a little light. The power adapter is noisy when the lights are on, the temperature and EC sensors sometimes give some dodgy readings, and the auto-mode washes out whenever it’s unplugged, but if those minor niggles don’t bother you, the SS-Pro is unique in this area and worth a look.
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