What care do my plants need to thrive?

Oliver is designed to make growing plants as easy as possible. No daily watering. No chasing the sunlight around your home. And no emergency attempts to revive a half-dead basil plant on a Sunday evening.

Oliver takes care of most of the work for you. Your role comes down to a few simple tasks.

Topping up water

The foundation of all life—and basil, too.

Simply refill the water reservoir whenever the Olí app tells you it's time. Oliver then delivers exactly the amount of water your plants need.

Cleaning the water reservoir

Every now and then, we recommend cleaning the water reservoir to keep everything running smoothly and maintain ideal growing conditions.

A quick rinse and the removal of any deposits are usually all it takes.

Pruning and thinning your plants

Sometimes your plants grow a little too well.

If several seedlings emerge from the same capsule, you may want to thin them out slightly so the strongest ones have enough room to thrive.

Regularly harvesting and trimming herbs also encourages fresh growth.

So yes—harvesting is really just plant care in disguise.

Harvesting throughout the growing cycle

Herbs and many other plants can be harvested continuously as you need them. In many cases, they'll keep producing fresh new growth.

Once a plant reaches the end of its life cycle, simply replace the capsule with a new one and start again.

What if something doesn't look right?

Occasionally you may notice slower growth, yellowing leaves or other minor issues.

The good news is that most of them have simple solutions.

Take a look at our guide to common growing issues and their solutions, where you'll find practical tips for preventing problems—and fixing them quickly if they do appear.