FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

As the summer holiday is fast approaching, I will be going away for 40 days. I was wondering how to water my plants while I'm gone. The idea I had was to use a water tray and build a tent out of cling film over the plant, so the water can condense back into the tray. The only problem with that is the plants might cook under the heat.

What do you guys do when you are on vacation?

I like to joke that I can't vacation, simply because my plants need to be watered every day.

But when I do actually vacation, I have a friend or family member stop by and water them for me.

My outdoor plants are all in trays. What I did was over the course of a few weeks I would fill the trays and see how long it lasted. What I found was that with a full tray, full Sun, and no rain the water would all evaporate after 3-4 days and I would have another day or two before I really needed to water them. I was leaving town from Monday - Saturday so that was fine.

Now we ended up having 2-3 inches of rain and torrential down pours so my plants got more than enough water.

I would do test runs if time allows to see exactly how long they last in trays. Then plan accordingly by having a friend come water them a day or two before they really need it.

There are many different ideas for keeping your plants watered while you're gone. Such as sticking a cotton or nylon wick into your pot(s) and placing the other end of the wick into a container of water. There are also those glass balls that you can fill up with water and stick it into your pots as well. Wal-Mart sells a couple different types of them in the Garden Center for real cheap. If you're growing them outside, then maybe you can temporarily move them to a shaded location, so that they don't go thru all of their water as fast as they normally would out in the direct Sun.

Or, place a water pump in a big container of water, and put the pump on a time-switch (like 5 mins a day).

Thanks for the suggestions guys . I can't rely on a friend because my friends either go on holiday themselves or live quite far away. The pump/wick I can' t get in short notice. I guess I'll just have to bring my plants inside to shorten the sunlight level to 2 hours a day to reduce water loss. Anything wrong with my plan?

If it's around a week you're fine moving them in. Just be sure to not over water them, maybe a couple inches in a tray.

Just think, when we order plants via mail they can easily spend 3-4 days if not more inside a box and are fine.

The vacation will last 40 days . Any chance of survival?

Buy a couple of these watering globes from Wal-Mart, they're only about $1 each. You won't run the risk of them overwatering your plants because the water only comes out slowly, as the soil dries. Maybe use them in conjunction with the tray method. The water will only be released after the water in the tray dries up first.

What tom said, thats what i would opt for.

after some googling i found:
If your bathroom is fairly bright, you can use the “bathtub method.” Place your plants on bricks in the tub, fill the tub with an inch or two of water (not enough to reach the top of the bricks), set your plants on the bricks, and cover the bathtub with clear plastic.

This might be able to work as well, but im not sure what is worst, chance of moulding, or dried plants

but u could spray them with fungicide before doing so.

Thanks tom, I think I'll go with that plan . Not sure there are any Wal-Marts around my area, though . My bathroom is as dark as a cave so it's a no-no for the bathtub method, but that sound like a good idea nonetheless.

Snap Traps wrote:Thanks tom, I think I'll go with that plan. Not sure there are any Wal-Marts around my area, though.

Ah, I seen that you lived in the UK, but I guess that it just didn't quite register, HaHa...

I live in Arkansas, where Wal-Mart was first started. And over here, you can't throw a stick without hitting one of their stores, because they're everywhere. Any store with a garden center should carry some sort of water globes like these.
Good luck with your plants, and have fun on your vacation.

I used those water globes on other plants in the past and they didn't hold enough to keep my plants watered. They're really not meant to keep plants watered much more than a week in my experience. Unfortunately, I don't know what else you might do. Definitely do a trial run first if you can though. Could you have a neighbor check on them weekly or so and top them off or something?

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Do you have a fishtank or something where u can put them in?

Cause watering is so much easier (even automated systems) when there in a fishtank or higher tray

tom_e_boi wrote:

Snap Traps wrote:Thanks tom, I think I'll go with that plan. Not sure there are any Wal-Marts around my area, though.

Ah, I seen that you lived in the UK, but I guess that it just didn't quite register, HaHa...

I live in Arkansas, where Wal-Mart was first started. And over here, you can't throw a stick without hitting one of their stores, because they're everywhere. Any store with a garden center should carry some sort of water globes like these.
Good luck with your plants, and have fun on your vacation.

Thanks tom . I found these on Amazon as well: http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00BUOOTRU/r ... =dradis-21.

mnwatson1 wrote:I used those water globes on other plants in the past and they didn't hold enough to keep my plants watered. They're really not meant to keep plants watered much more than a week in my experience. Unfortunately, I don't know what else you might do. Definitely do a trial run first if you can though. Could you have a neighbor check on them weekly or so and top them off or something?

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I agree, they look more like ornaments than a functional watering mechanism. The ones I'm going to buy are said to "WATER PLANTS PERFECTLY FOR UP TO 2 WEEKS!"; not sure about that but it's my last resort .

I don't trust most of my neighbors in my house, I just feel they might abuse the plants in some horrid way or form . The ones I can trust are either going on holiday with their kids or are too old to even do their own gardening...

Sander wrote:Do you have a fishtank or something where u can put them in?

Cause watering is so much easier (even automated systems) when there in a fishtank or higher tray

Sadly, I don't. I used to have a fish tank in Singapore but it's too heavy and fragile to move here and my collection is too large to fit in it.