FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

When I move out of my home to college, my CPs wont have a home anymore, and no one to care for it. Im wondering if anyone would kindly take care of them for 4 years+ while im at college, and when im out of college, will I be able to get some of them back?

Also in the near future, I will be going on vacation durring summer (the hottest months in CA)... is anyone able to give suggestions as to what to do then (I will be away for ~ 4 weeks, no one to take care of plants). I do know a few forum members who might take the offer to take care of them while im away, but not sure if they want to do it

Thanks for your thoughts freinds!

group all your plants into trays, the more plants per tray the better.

foam box's can be had virtually for free, and work great too.

next, get a large plastic tub to hold water, one with a lid to prevent evaporation.

put a small fish aquarium pump into your plastic tub (water reservoir) and have it on a short timer so it pumps water up to the foam trays in the evening

a hole 1/4 way up the foam container will allow excess water to run out so your plants dont get flooded out... and if your real keen you can channel that water back down into the water reservoir for re-use.

you'll need to set it up at least 1-2wk in advance so you can monitor its levels, and set the timer accordingly.

if your real creative you can do it for free, using a toilet float level setup and gravity feed, so when the water drops it'll allow more to flow in.

This is genius! Did you use this for yourself when you went on vacation?

What a great idea!
As for taking care of plants while your at college, I'd offer but live a bit over 2 hours away. If your in a pinch and can't get an LA grower to care for them for 4 years, I'd certainly take it up

I don't live very far away from you, (like 15 minutes) I'll gladly look after them.

Eric is a better pick than me probably but just because he lives closer

Eric wrote:I don't live very far away from you, (like 15 minutes) I'll gladly look after them. ;D

Thanks Eric I will go to you if I need to!

bombsboy wrote:This is genius! Did you use this for yourself when you went on vacation?

not at all, its just about the only 'automated' way i thought of.

of course if you can leave them with someone nearby or have someone come monitor them, it'd be the best solution.

On oblivions Idea, I have one similar but you don't need a pump. Instead you place a container above the tray. Fill it with water, it will be gravity fed. Level it even with the depth you want inside the tray. When the water evaporates, it will refill, or if its timed.

It could just have a certain amount of drainage. So if it were continuous for parts of the day it would always be at 1/4

Many valves have timers. You could see how long it take to fill up 1/4 if you don't want to precicely make them level with eachother for sychronized gravity fedding, so it fills 1/4 each time. You might not need a pump.