FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

Hello everyone! I've recently increased my carnivorous plant collection from 2 easily portable VFTs to include some massive Cobra Lilies, Sundews, and Pitcher Plants. Needless to say I don't and probably won't be able to lug them around with me when I go places, but the summers get so hot and dry here in Texas that even if I leave my plants sitting in three inches of water for a couple of days they'll be bone dry when I get back (lost my last batch of VFTs that way).

I've been thinking about some kind of drip or spray system, but have really no idea what direction I should go. Was hoping you guys could tell me what kind of solutions you guys might have come up, since I don't want to lose my plants on trips, or if I accidentally forget to water them one day.

Thanks!

How long are you trips? Around two weeks is probably the most you could get away with without a watering system. For getting through the two weeks, start with large pots. Bigger pots will hold in moisture for longer. Packing your media fairly densely will also help it retain more moisture, but too dense isn't good for VFTs. A climate-controlled greenhouse would be a good solution as higher humidity would reduce the evaporation from your pots...but that's an expensive solution. I had toyed around with ideas of an elevated rain barrel and a sprinkler timer valve that opens and lets gravity do the work to water my pots through a drip system, but ultimately I ended up just buying some fluorescent lights and growing them indoors. Before a trip, I'll make sure they need watering just before I leave then set them in a tray of water right before leaving.

Everything you've mentioned I've considered, and have been arriving to the same conclusions. I can't grow indoors due to my toddler - right now I've got them all outside on a table out of his reach.

My pots are all very sizeable - see the pictures at my link - but I'm concerned that evaporation will take a large bit of it. Perhaps I should just get a big watering tray, fill it up and put everything in it, and see how long it takes before the plants need water. I have 3-day weekends, so most trips won't be longer than that. I can't imagine being gone for more than 2 weeks ever without having someone watch them.

Thanks for the quick response!

Picture link: http://www.flytrapcare.com/carnivorous- ... otoid=8267

Oh ya, I would think if you put them in something like a 10x20 tray filled with water that would be plenty to get them through a 3 day weekend. You could try moving them to the shade while you're gone too.

Update: end up getting a tray - this one. One day with my plants sitting in it used up about 2 inches of water (~80F, 6 hours direct sun). Going to have to bring them inside when I go out of town, maybe even put some of them in another watering tray.

Wow, that's a lot. I bet a lot more is just evaporating straight out of the tray than is flowing through the pot & plant. The tray being black probably doesn't help with that.

Ideas:

1. Use only a few pots per tray. That way the tray can hold more water and the rest of my ideas might work.
2. Put the pots in the center of the tray and cover the unused margins with some shipping plastic wrap. Maybe put something white between two layers of plastic to shade the water.
3. If you have taller pots, paint the outside of one of the 1020 trays white. Turn it upside down to make a lid for your water tray and make cutouts in the lid for your pots to sit in.
4. Same idea as the previous one but use a piece of styrofoam as the tray lid.

Bringing them inside for a few days while you're gone wouldn't be a terrible solution either though. Especially if they're in a sunny window.

I like your suggestions on cutting down water evaporation - I had similar thoughts as well, but I hadn't really put much thought into how. Plastic wrap might work alright, provided I can figure out how to make it cover with all my pots.

However, given the normal amount of water I normally go through I'm thinking a lot of it really just is how thirsty my plants are. Even without my tray, it is not uncommon for me to use 1/4 of a gallon of water per day to ensure none of my plants dry out by the end, and it hasn't even reached full summer temperatures yet.

I might have to put out two different trays, one empty and one with my plants, fill them up the same, and see how much they differ by the end of the day. That'll give me an idea of my plant demand vs evaporation. Hopefully I can figure out, and maybe come up with some relative percentages that I can share for other growers with hot, sunny climates.