I remove the light for each water change so I don’t have to tilt the plant or worry about dragging the roots. I agree it isn’t ideal and if the light could just swivel out of the way, that would make things easier.
For water changes I have a red bucket I bought on Amazon that is the perfect size to rest the insert while you quickly take the water basin out and clean it. It is about a foot deep and can safely protect the roots while adding the blue and green nutrients to the fresh water.
Right on, that’s what I was thinking:
You either gotta hold the plants down in there and tilt the unit with the light off, or take the insert out and rest it on something so the roots can dangle…
No easier way to do it imo.
Also, not sure what’s going on with my Start.
I turned it on at 6:30 PM last night to do the 8 hour cycle, as I want it to be on when my Grobo plant is on to avoid any potential light leak issues. Also relocated it to a different spot where my Start plants can get sunlight/light from my grow lamp for the house plants so the 8 hour cycle seemed perfectly fine.
I’m assuming it ran it’s normal 8 hour cycle which would mean off at 2:30 AM because it was off at 4:00 AM this morning when I got up.
My wife messaged me this morning and said “When is the Start supposed to turn off?”, as it turned on again apparently this morning…which was weird since it was set to the Short Day mode and turned on at 6:30 PM last night…? Why would it turn on again in the morning?
Not sure if this happened but if you moved the Start (aka unplugged the power), it resets to Long Day Mode (13 hours) if I’m not mistaken
Ah yeah I think you might be right about that as I power cycled it tonight…
However, it was doing some wonky stuff tonight… turned it on and it lasted for like 20 minutes and then turned off. Then it would let me push the button to turn it on and it would only stay on for like 5 seconds then turn off…
Decided to power cycle it again and I think I got it working now properly…
I thought I also noticed some weird issues with it not keeping time of the light cycles as well. For the first day or 2 it seemed like it was not staying on long enough or not coming on when it should have. I also unplugged the power and ever since it has been handling the timing just fine.
I did notice that the peat pods really absorb and hold water. I think it would be a best practice to remove the wicks once you see a taproot hit the water. If the wicks stay in, they continue to pull up water into the peat pod and it won’t dry out.
I removed the wicks after Day 3 with each pod having a tap root hitting the water line.
Are we suppose to remove the wicks? Does anyone else do the same thing? I didn’t know this
Don’t shot the messenger
The unit has 2 modes lights on for 8 hours or 13 hours. There is also a 30 min mode
In this same chat go back about 11 days ago you’ll see asked the same question and you’ll see Grobo’s official reply
I used my own judgement and removed mine in the Grobo start plant looked wet to me… the Leafs were speaking!! Lol
Thought I’d share my experience with the Grobo Start. I had 2 failed germinations recently - one with the coco pod/Grobo machine and one with the Grobo Start.
I planted 2 more seeds and both germinated successfully in a few days (pics below). I’m also trying to grow cilantro in my Grobo Start (@Bplatinum9 hehe).
I’m hoping to transfer the plant from the Grobo Start to the Grobo machine but I have a minor concern that the stalk seems lengthy. I noticed that the stalk being lengthy seems to be a common occurrence with Grobo Start users.
A huge plus for me is not having to use gallons of distilled water during the early grow stages with the Grobo Start. That’s a win in my book.
Thanks for the info! I’ll monitor the plant to see if it gets too wet and will remove the wick if needed
@Aang,
Did you already transfer?
Did you purchase the transfer lid so you dont have to remove holder?
You could have waited until early veg was over before transferring too, especially if you wanted to save on water! I still have my cilantro in the start! Lol! 
I haven’t transferred yet and I do have the lid. Planning to wait at least 1-2+ weeks before I do, maybe longer. Please let me know how that cilantro goes haha
Cool, I thought that first pic was your transfer!
My cilantro is still hanging in there even though I haven’t changed the water in two weeks, its pretending to be asleep right now! 
Haha it looks awesome. It grew from the last pic I saw!
Day 8/10 germination - My plant in the Start is leaning to the side. A small piece of the peat pod in the hole is helping keep her upright. Do I need to do anything? Can I let her continue to grow? Any advice or suggestion is appreciated. @Bplatinum9 @Stephen
This happens a lot! I usually anchor/stabalize by sticking a piece of the pod inside the hole to keep it upright until the stem gets a bit stronger!
If you started your seed out with the light extension on please lower it until the plant reaches the top of the light.
Stems will keep growing to reach the light and if it grows long too fast, it can be a problem! Hope this helps!
I haven’t used the light extension yet. I think she’ll be fine but I just wanted to check. Thanks! 
@Aang 2 out of 3 seedlings in my Start have a 45 degree lean too! I used the green garden ties to help prop them up. I think I needed to plant the seeds deeper into the peat pod.
