Green Divider Care & Maintenance

Care & Maintenance

Maintenance
Green Divider Electrical

Overview

The Green Divider functions on a drainless system. Put another way, water goes into the box but does not come out. This makes periodic maintenance important: letting the Green Divider sit and run for extended periods can cause complications. We recommend doing a cursory check on the boxes once a month using the guidelines below:

Basic Care Routines

Plants adapt to watering routines over time. As a baseline setting, each box should receive 7 minutes and 30 seconds of watering per week. Depending on plant choice and ambient factors such as available lighting, you might need to adjust these settings. For example, we recommend doubling this amount for especially thirsty plants such as Box Ferns. When environmental factors suddenly shift (such as when the AC comes on in the Spring, or when the heating comes on in the Fall), you will likely need to adjust your settings accordingly.

1. Understand Your Zones

The Green Divider has four independently controlled irrigation zones. Each zone controlls water to a different box. Use the app to set different schedules for different plant types (for example, arid vs. wetland species). See how to set an irrigation timer.

2. Monitor Plant Response

Plants will generally adapt to a reasonable watering range, but you must check them periodically. Manual timers do not make the system maintenance-free.

  • If a box is direct planted, check the bottom level of the box using a moisture meter, wodden chopstick, or your finger.
  • If the box is using nursery pots, visually inspect the planter liner for accumulated water.
  • If the box is using sub-irrigation mats, check the indicator. The boxes need to go through periods of dry-out for rest, so ensure that there are periods where the boxes are empty of water. With sub-irrigation, it is important to not keep the boxes full with water at all times.

3. Confirm Water Uptake

If the unit is planted with nursery pots, verify that each pot is drawing water by ensuring there's no significant pooling of water inside the planter inserts.

  • Pooling water for multiple days inside an insert = overwatering → reduce run time.
  • Dry, wilted, or crispy leaves on plants = underwatering → increase run time.

4. Recommended Starting Schedule

  • Run Time: 2 minutes 30 seconds
  • Frequency: 3× per week
  • Pump Output: ~100 ml/minute

This equals 7 minutes 30 seconds/week ≈ 750 ml/week, slightly under 1 liter per zone. Adjust based on plant performance and environmental conditions.

Refilling the Tank

The tank holds approximately 6 gallons or water. When the tank goes empty, users can be alerted either through in-app notification or by the red LED indicator light at the bottom of the base box on the Green Divider. On average, the tank needs to be refilled every 6-8 weeks.

Steps to Refill the Tank

  • Remove the wooden lid on the base box.
  • Remove the cap on the stainless steel tank.
  • Refill the tank with approximately 6 gallons of water. We recommend a watering cart or a 2 gallon watering can. If refilling with a watering can, point the nozzle of the watering can away from the electronics in the center of the box. If possible, always use reverse osmosis or treated water for the long term health of your plants.
  • Replace the cap on the lid of the tank.
  • Replace the wooden lid on the tank.

Fertilizing

For plants to look and perform their best, they require being fertilized on a regular basis. Using any topcoat fertilizer such as granular fertilizers, fertilizer sticks, or fertilizer tabs to the manufacturer's recommendation is highly suggested.

However, to keep the irrigation lines clean and to prevent build-up, we recommend against adding liquid fertilizer directly to the tank.

Remove & Replace the ILCU

From time to time, you may need to remove the ILCU—whether it’s due to damage, a malfunction, or a loose cable that’s easier to reach with the unit removed. The module was built for easy access, so taking it out and putting in a new one is simple.

Watch the installation video or follow the instructions below for a quick walkthrough.

Remove the ILCU

  • Disconnect the Check Valves from the ILCU Cage.
  • Pull the ILCU Cage up and rest it on top of the tank.
  • Disconnect the irrigation tubing from the pumps.
  • Disconnect the four cables (Power Cable, Liquid Level Sensor, LED Indicator, and LED Light Connector) from the ILCU.

Replace the ILCU

  • Connect all four cables (Power Cable, Liquid Level Sensor, LED Indicator, and LED Light Connector) from the ILCU.
  • Connect the irrigation tubing to the pumps. The long tubing coming from the tank connects to the input (left side) of the pumps, and the shorter tubing coming from the ILCU Cage connects to the output (right side) of the pumps.
  • Place the ILCU Cage back into the box.
  • Reconnect the Check Valves to the corresponding tubes. Check Valve #1 connects to the left-most tube, Check Valve #4 connects to the right most tube.

How to reset the ILCU

Step 1 — Disconnect the Power

  • Ungplug the power to the ILCU, This is most easily done by disconnecting one end of the Transformer Brick.

Step 2 - Hold down the Mode button

  • With the power disconnected, hold down the Mode Button, which is the small circular button between the LED Light on the ILCU and the Light Button.
  • While holding down the Mode Button reconnect power. The LED light will flash between 4 colors quickly, then rapidly pulse blue. One the blue pulse slows down to one pulse per second, let go of the Mode Button. The ILCU will now be reset.
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