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Growing under Lights

Watering Plants While Away?

12 years ago

So I am very curious -- and of course, such knowledge shall come in handy should I ever venture forth on a holiday -- about how some other indoor gardeners water their plants? Of course by this I mean when you are gone for long periods of time, and there is no one available to come house and/or plant-sit?

I also want to try some things out for normal every-day watering as well, since I am not home for up to three days at a time for work, and my husband also works a lot since he owns his own business.

I started trying to find solutions to this problem mainly because buds and the lower level leaves of my pepper plants have been turning yellow, drying up, and falling off of my plants in the last few days. I have already found solutions to this problem - I'm going to be purchasing some Epsom salts tomorrow to try to get more Magnesium to my plants, as well as closing the vents to the room my shelf is set up in to keep the temperature more consistent, and fertilize less.

ANYHOO, hydro- and aqua-ponics are out of the question at this point...I don't have the room and I don't know how my husband would react to that idea anyways *laughs* however any commercially available products -- or jury-rigged ideas -- are very welcome, and thanks in advance!

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Comments (6)

phongdor
12 years ago
Two ideas come to mind:

Water Cooler Method:
Use seed trays or any containers to put both your plants and the reservoir in. Poke a hole near the bottom of a bottle (size dependent on how long you're leaving for). The height of the hole will determine the water level in the seed tray. Once the water level reaches the hole in the bottle, water will stop flowing and the water level will be maintained as long as there is water in the reservoir. Same idea as a water cooler.

Wicking Method:
Pot your plants with some cotton string dangling out of the drainage holes. Place the ends of the string in a tray or bucket of water, and water will wick up the string into the pot using capillary action. To keep the string from accidentally pulling out of the pot, I loop it through some non-slip mesh you can get as drawer liners in the kitchen department.

I hope this helps, you can use whatever method would work best for you. Water bottles if your plants might get root rot, cotton string if you don't mind repotting. Or hey, go for both and use a reservoir in a tray that feeds wicks :)
phongdor
12 years ago
I meant you can use water bottles if your particular plants don't mind having their feet wet (where root rot is NOT a problem)
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Hey everyone....Thanks for all your tips and experiences... Larry....How are you? lol..You are too funny...I once almost hired a kid to water mine until he watered my fakes plastic ones too... Danielle..Congrats on that...If I meant away for a week and someone forgot to water my plants for just two days, many would croak..I've thought of having just succulents, but I can't seem to do away with my fragrant ones... Linda..Yes it has been a while..What's happening? I hope your fish made it this year..Boy it was brutal...All mine did. The water never froze because I kept it turbulent..Thanks for visiting and your ideas.. I'm sure you would do that for me. You are so kind:-))) Planto..Thank you so much..Yes, it is a bummer..It makes my heart heavy with sadness..Such a good guy and destroying his family...I hope he recovers. He loves my plants and the thought of taking care of them got him and I excited.. Purple...I am so glad you got to go away and came back to no issues...That's my plan...I hope you had a great time..You needed it I am sure.. Yes, being able to wake up and go to bed any time you want is something I have not done in years...Not to have to look at the clock is a luxery..I miss those days. I live in Northern Ma...Just on the border of N.H almost near the coast....So it can get cold here still by May which leaves me no choice except to wait until the end of May when all are safe outside. Ia m hoping to go to Florida..Far from here. I tried that stay home and relax thing and it did not work out. All I wanted to do was work on the house and more..Not good. I am talking about sleeping on a beach for days or reading a book on a chair at teh beach or by a pool, maybe Pugs house, Laurs or Patty's..lol I get up at 5 every day, run a cleaning buisiness, then work full time..Work out 4 days a week after work at 8 pm and then care for my parents about that. I also care for my home, feed the birds, cat, fish and plants...lol MIke
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If these are outside, run a soaker hose and attach a timer to it. That's what I've got, it goes off twice a day for an hour each and keeps everything beautifully hydrated. It's also a much more efficient way of watering since it is slow and can seep in deep.
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Get yourself a small timer like you use for the Christmas lights and hook that up to a small water pump like found on one of those "water features" things you can set on the table in the living room. Give it a large supply of water via a 5 gallon bucket or larger and then put the output of the little pump into the bucket for the plant. If you set it up to catch the runoff from the container, you will not waste any water and the plant will get a watering once a day or whatever you want. I saw one set up for a single plant that used a childs small plastic wading pool with a small bilge pump and a return water catcher. It was good for 2 weeks plus for a single plant. Ted
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Comments (9)
If you plan on repotting, I highly recommend using these self-watering pots sold at WalMart called "Plant Spa" I use these for almost all of my plants and never have to worry about overwatering any of them. Whoever designed these pots knew what they were doing. Just as long as you use a fast draining soil, you'll have nothing to worry about. Even tho they're self-watering, only the "X" actually sits in the bottom tray. The rest of the pot remains suspended above the water and the "X" is surrounded by slits that allows the soil to breathe. Allowing the roots to breathe is just as vital as providing them with water, if not more so.
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nygardener
12 years ago
Ceramic watering cones or capillary mats work pretty well. I'd still have someone check every couple of days to make sure the water lines aren't clogged, the reservoirs aren't empty, etc.
khyberkitsune
12 years ago
I would suggest just getting a large water reservoir, say 20 gallons, and put in a pump on a timer, and run restricted-flow drip lines to your plants. 15 minutes of slow drip twice a day should set you fine for a week or so.
gardengalkc
12 years ago
My husband built an oblong box about 4" deep. long enough and wide enough to fit under 2 double 48" long fluorescent fixtures. Covered bottom and sides of box with pond liner. We cut up plastic garage storage shelves to fit inside pond liner. Each section (3 or 4 sections) needs a little space on side and end. Get Capillary cloth and cut so cloth will hang over into water. Fill container with water, put lights on timer and you should be good for a week or two. Depends on size of plants and water reservoir.
rokal
12 years ago
I have used both the wick method and capillary mat technique with good success. The wick method works great for larger individual plants and the capillary mat works really good for cell packs/starter plants.

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