IKEA / Hydroponics / Krydda / BitterGurka

[Rich45s]

Dear Peter.
I’ve sent quite a few hours compiling this email / post and getting others input trying to come up with the reasoning behind why the hydroponics sections of the IKEA gardening sites were discontinued and still can’t understand what the legitimate reason was.

After the big fanfare that said ikea was introducing the hydroponics system so as to enable us urban and kitchen gardeners to be able to grow our own salads and herbs. This was vitally important to me during the pandemic as I was basically housebound for over two years and once I did find out these were to be discontinued it cost me both a serious amount of cash abs a lot of worrying knowing these were to be discontinued l found out these were to be discontinued and all the while being discontinued while being immunosuppressed and there not being a vaccine created earlier. I’d strongly feel that that could be classed as discriminatory and being able to grow my own salads and what not gave me the vitamins and minerals I needed. So I cannot for the life of me work out why the hydroponics being squashed was a legitimate reason. Especially when it was announced with a big fanfare and which meant I spent a significant sum of money on them only to then be discontinued which resulted in me losing a significant amount of money


To: Peter.jelkeby@ikea.com <Peter.jelkeby@ikea.com>
Cc: CUSTOMER.SERVICE@ikea.com <CUSTOMER.SERVICE@ikea.com>
Subject: Re: ‘Shielding’ / No live plant sales via website / Coronavirus  Hi Peter,
I hope you are well and the pandemic has now calmed down somewhat and your business is back to normal. 
You kindly passed on this email to one of your colleagues to have a look at and deal with but unfortunately due to Ill health I’ve had other things on my mind and this has had to take a back seat. 

Essentially the medication I take for a long standing autoimmune condition I have has the lovely added bonus of making me 100x more likely to get skin cancer and coupled with the pandemic and what not sadly I did catch a dose of skin cancer. Which resulted in having to have a finger amputated to be on the safe side. 
The good news is that everything seems to be fine. Bar having to go for three monthly check ups to make sure nothing untoward is happening. 

You kindly passed my details on to to one of your colleagues who was prepared to address any concerns I had and I attach her email to this mail - She seemed great

As someone who had to shield due to being extremely clinically vulnerable or whatever the phrase of the pandemic was. My garden and houseplants were a boon to my health both physically and mentally.

I was especially impressed that IKEA had bought out a range of various hydroponic staging areas, grow lights. Shelving etc to grow salad crops within the kitchen etc. so I went online and bought a fair few bits of kit so that I could hopefully have the freshest, tastiest, easiest growing salad and veg all from the comfort of my own home. so I didn’t have to risk other peoples germs going up against my compromised immune system. 

While I appreciate that selling growing plants from an online store must be fraught with difficulties not least quality control and many breakages especially at the seemingly cheap prices you are selling them for in store I do feel rather hard done by not being able to visit a store to stock up on plants due to still feeling I need to shield and not wanting to go and visit a big box IKEA store, so I’m at a bit of a loss

Would there be any way of making a one off exception to enable me to buy living plants online for delivery? 

While I’m annoyed that I can’t purchase living plants from your website I can seemingly understand that this would be difficult for you guys. - Although the likes of B & Q manage it. 

However what I’m most annoyed about is the fact you’ve seemingly discontinued ALL of your hydroponic gear so that when the two grow lights I have that are specifically designed for the shelving unit you made I’ll be left with a fairly useless bit of kit left with a powder coated shelving unit that’s not really much good for anything else. 

With climate change a very real thing and the issue of food miles being big news at present. Being able to grow at least salad crops of the cut and come again variety I would’ve thought a forward thinking company like IKEA would be at the forefront of this revolution. 

From my regular cursory looks on the IKEA website it appears you’ve done away with the hydroponics section completely. Leaving those of us early adopters who’ve spent not inconsiderate sums on shelving, grow lights, growing mediums, plug plants etc we are now left with essentially a white elephant. 

Does IKEA have any plans to reintroduce hydroponic means of veg and salad growing in the future or wasn’t it commercially viable to do? If so I’d be more than willing to test the products, make suggestions and use my membership of The British Cactus & Succulent Society to get a broad range of input

There’s countless stories across the internet like the one below 
https://theunconventionalgardener.com/b ... roponicum/

Which clearly shows there’s a need for at least some people to be able to grow their own veg and salad indoors. It’s cheaper than bagged, less wasteful due to only cutting what you need and is super fresh as it’s cut as and when it’s needed.

I mean you could set up this hydroponic set up alongside your cafes in IKEA so people can see and taste the benefits from this while also driving sales of self contained units and parts.

I feel ikea are missing a trick by discontinuing the hydroponics sections - the Aerogarden Range seem to be doing alright for themselves with a whole series of items from one person units up to big full sized family units. Now presumably they are not a massive money maker but the good will they will generate surely negates the potentially small mark up you’ll make on each unit. It could seemingly change the way those of us in small urban spaces consume fresh veg and salad. People can snip off the odd salad leaf or two to go into a sandwich as fresh as possible without needing to buy a big bulky plastic bag of leaves that tend to go mushy within hours of opening the bag

As an early adopter of this technology I feel totally let down that my initial not cheap purchase has been Forgotten about and left to go the way of the dodo. 

While I wish you would sell live plants directly on your website I can see why you won’t but I don’t see any reason not to sell hard furniture and grow light bulbs and the various other bits people can use to set up their own hydroponic projects. - I mean I’ve even seen self published ebooks that give lists of various ikea items that can be turned into DIY hydroponic kits. 
I’ve found your colleagues email now which I’ll attach to  this email which made her seem genuinely willing to help me on my quest to stock up on grow lights / bulbs that specifically fit the Krydda system and I’m sure you must have plenty of pieces of the various old hydroponic kits floating around your many warehouses so if it was at all possible to track these parts down then I’d be happy to pay for them.

Or to test out any new ranges you’d think of introducing. 

I’ve spent the best part of three hours on this email so you can see how important I view it, climate change and food production so would appreciate a similar level of engagement from you guys. I hope we can come up with some well regarded solutions to the many food growing issues we face today.,
Kind Regards,
Rich

As for the Bittersgurka - it’s not a stroppy mate of Johanna Lumley but another large plant pot / lamp that fits 3/4 9” pots in which has its own grow light in the cowl that’s over the pots. Giving the plants some decent light and also works nicely as a desk lamp. Thinking it was about £30 and I want another one but can’t find one