Harvest Cleaning
As you harvest your plants, it’s good to wipe down the side of your Tower Garden with a wet rag. This keeps residue and algae from forming.(Don’t leave empty ports uncovered or you’ll get algae in the water. Cover them with plastic bag material or cardboard can work as well.)
Between Growing Cycles
Every 45-60 days, you’ll want to drain the tank and re-fill with fresh water, add nutrient, and balance the pH. This can be done between growing cycles. For example: If you grow lettuce for 5 weeks, once you harvest the lettuce, drain and fill the tank. If you grow herbs, which take longer to grow, drain and fill the tank after 60 days even if the herbs aren’t ready to harvest.
Deep Cleaning the Tower Garden
It’s important to take your Tower Garden apart and clean it at least once a year. The more often you do this, the easier it is to clean. I used to use soap and water and even vinegar, but I’ve begun to use citric acid and found it very easy to use. Here are the steps I take.
The tub will get deposits from the plants and nutrients. It’s normal to have stains that can’t be cleaned, but the more often you clean it, the less likely it will be to stain.
Place the sections of the Tower Garden in the tub and fill it half-way with water.
Use 1 cup of citric acid. The brand doesn’t matter, but I used Milliard Citric Acid.
Pour in the citric acid and finish filling the tub, mixing citric acid as you go. Fill the tub as full as you can. Let the pieces soak for at least an hour. The dirtier the rub and pieces the longer you should let it soak. Take pieces out and wash/wipe down. Put more pieces into the tub. You don’t need to put in fresh water or citric acid.
Turn over the base and soak the section attached to the base. You can pour some water on top of the base. If you have a large enough tub, you can soak the pieces and the base in the tub.
The pieces might still be a little stained, but they’ll be much cleaner and without a lot of scrubbing or mess.