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The Winter Garden

winter vacation watering

timetraveler zone 9b Melbourne Beach, Florida

11 years ago

How do I water my indoor herb garden while I'm away for a week? My plants are growing under lights in 4 inch pots and I also have some seedlings in 2 inch pots. How do I construct a watering system? or is there one I could purchase? The air here is very dry.

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Comments (3)

susanzone5 (NY)
11 years ago
Give the seedlings to someone to watch. They are too delicate to last. One time I took my two trays of seedlings with me but that was a car trip. They did fine on the back window ledge. lol.

I leave my plants for 2 weeks sometimes, by watering heavily for 3 days till the soil is totally soaked and then I leave a half inch of water in the saucer. The plants usually make it through. Some are wilted or too wet, but recover. The ones that don't make it, well, I just toss and replace.

Make sure your plants are not rootbound...transplant to bigger pots and use plastic or ceramic, not clay, which dries out too fast.

Enjoy your vacation! You can always buy new plants.
Tiffany, purpleinopp Z8b Opp, AL
11 years ago
Your vacation has probably already come and gone, but next time, turn the heat down. When the furnace runs less, it will dry the air less, and plants use water much less quickly when it's cold.

Another option could be a wick system.
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timetraveler zone 9b Melbourne Beach, Florida
Original Author
11 years ago
Thank you susan and purpleinopp for your suggestions. I leave in a week for my vacation. I had to plan so far ahead because where I live, the choice of gardening supplies and plants in winter is very small. I bought an "egg-crate" from the hardware store and capillary matting online. I'm testing a system where I fill a tray with water, layer several egg-crate pieces and lay the capillary mat across the top, with its sides hanging into the water. So far it seems to be working, although the top of the soil in my 4 inch pots dries out after a few days. I wish I could turn the heat down more, but my pipes would freeze.

This post was edited by timetraveler on Sat, Jan 12, 13 at 12:17

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