Last updated on October 23rd, 2023 at 08:50 pm
After months of hard work, all you can think about is taking a vacation and relaxing! But before you do, you’ll have to deal with a tricky issue. Indeed, between friends who are leaving with you on a trip, family who are abroad and unavailable neighbors, you don’t have anyone you can trust to come and water and take care of your plants during your vacations. And after months of caring for your houseplants or plants in the garden and vegetable garden, you fear that all your efforts will be wasted in your absence. Discover some tips to help your green plants survive until you return.
Contents
- 1 Some tips for the survival of your plants during your vacations
- 2 A makeshift watering with a pierced bottle
- 3 Wick watering for your plants during the vacations
- 4 Jelly water for the survival of plants during your vacations
- 5 Oyas, the handy ancestral trick
- 6 Intelligent systems to be purchased commercially
- 7 Author
Some tips for the survival of your plants during your vacations
-Of course, plants need light to survive. Nevertheless, move the plants to a place less exposed to wind and direct sun. Their substrate will be less affected by dryness and the foliage will not burn under the sun’s rays. If your bathroom is bathed in natural light, this is the ideal spot: cool and bright!
-In addition to clay balls at the bottom of the pot, mulch the plant with bark, dried leaves, grass clippings, newspaper, etc. Mulching keeps the green plant moist and fresh.
-Surround the pot with insulation or newspaper to protect the soil from temperature increases.
-Take care to mow the lawn and trim the plant to reduce the evaporative surface.
-If you’re going away for more than three weeks, have the janitor or a special service water your houseplants until you return. Otherwise, you will find them dead for sure.
A makeshift watering with a pierced bottle
Make your own irrigation system out of a plastic water bottle. To do this, heat a needle and poke holes in the cap. Then fill the bottle with water, replace the cap and place the bottle in the ground with the cap in the soil. Here you can adapt the size of the bottle to the length of your vacation. The longer you go, the larger the bottle you will need. The water will flow out of the bottle in drops to hydrate the plants without drowning them.
Wick watering for your plants during the vacations
Very effective and useful for indoor plants, wick watering is based on the use of a cotton or wool thread for example. One places here a water basin, a bucket or watering can or large container in height (for example on a chair) and one places the plants below. Then we connect the water basin with the plants with the help of the rope. Push it well into the ground to help reach the roots of each plant without touching them directly. This will allow a water supply by capillary effect. This can allow you to be away for up to two weeks.
Jelly water for the survival of plants during your vacations
This is one of the lesser known tips. However, it is also one of the most practical and easiest for beginners. The principle is simple: one buys sachets of jellied water to be placed directly in contact with the soil. The water will then gradually turn into liquid, thus keeping the soil sufficiently moist during your absence. Moreover, these bags last for about 30 days, which is perfect for gardeners who are away for a longer period of time!
Oyas, the handy ancestral trick
This very old method is nearly 4000 years old and is based on the use of a handmade clay jar buried in the garden soil. The pot being a porous material, it will allow a sufficient water supply to the plants and a water saving of 60 % compared to a traditional watering. If you leave for one or two weeks, this soft water supply will allow you to take care of your plants without regular watering.
Intelligent systems to be purchased commercially
You are not a handyman or you are often or long time away? You can invest in tools for smart watering. This is the case of the drip sprinkler which has a flow adjustment. This autonomous system does not require electricity and is suitable for a small plant as well as for a plot of land by adapting the number of drippers. Outdoors, no more old-fashioned hosepipe! It is indeed possible today to program the automatic watering thanks to very simple applications. There are also simpler, as shown in the illustration, pots that have an integrated reservoir. This is to be used for plants that do not have long roots. This will keep the soil moist for 2 to 3 weeks.