i always do well with aloes but this over winter and spring i had a lot of cacti and succulent casulties. my hoya has done well as have my spider plants-i just leave them alone pretty much-my purple heart, my pothos and phildendrons, dieffs-they've given me as many babies as my spiders! the snake plant is a goodie and my agave has done well, too. i've murdered a beautiful orchid-but my others are doing well-i tried a potted mini rose and it died a long slow death :*( the song of india kicked the bucket within a week and i had this awesome zebra plant that died in a month...i'm doing so-so with my tropical INDOOR hibiscuses...i think they may be mad at me for bringing them inside now that summer is over. i had a really gorgeous moses-in-the-cradle that looks like craaaaap that u'm trying to bring back. and THEN there was the rather unfortunate plant stand crash that made my poor african violet retarded and stunted...but i'm hoping it recovers :) currently i'm trying to save a violet, a mini rose bush, and 2 potted mums from my job. if anyone has any suggestions, let me know! these poor plants need all the help they can get!

I DO love bougainvillea...but I do not neglect mine...this past summer I had over 20+ inches of rain in July and Aug. and part of Sept was very wet also...and my pot stayed wet for weeks on end and all the leaves dropped...I thought the plant died...but, I changed the pot and repotted it and luckily it's growing again and is blooming again... Very Nice TC Kris and Mike!! For me it would have to be my Jades and Succulents and a couple of my very large Hoyas that get neglected the most... Rhizo, that Hoya story is hilarious!! You must have had either Lacunosa or Carnosa, one of those I'm not thrilled about the smell of the flowers either...it always reminds me of hint of a dirty litter box,lol... This picture is from January 2013...when it was looking pretty good. Doesn't look as good as it did then but its coming back :o)

Please don't try to compensate by leaving water sitting in drip saucers, in case that wrong thought creeps into the mix. Those few 3-4 days' watering plants, maybe those should go to a relatives' house? That sounds like a lot of watering for winter time. My plants have gone from getting a drink every few days while outside to some taking 3 weeks to dry in the house. If they really are dry in that short time, I would wonder if they're getting fully saturated when watered, or if the root ball has become hardened, hydrophobic (where water runs off but doesn't soak in?) I'm also concerned there might be very little soil and mostly roots in these pots. Probably not something you'd want to address right this minute, I know I'd be too busy, but mentioning it to consider, and in case you don't know that this could also plants to dry very quickly. If there's any of that, it's something you'd want to correct with a root trim and repot when practical (which isn't when you won't be there for 2 weeks.) You could get some of those gel balls, get them fully saturated, then put a layer or little pile of them on the soil surface of the quickest-drying plants. I say the balls instead of the broken crystal kind since the balls would be so much easier to retrieve later. (A coffee filter, piece of paper towel, or some kind of little mesh bag could also help with removing them from the pot later, anything permeable.) That said, I would give them a good drink, turn the heat down to about 55-60 & not worry about it. (I would pick each one up after watering if possible, to make sure it's gotten heavy, fully saturated/moisture absorbed evenly throughout root ball.) That's what I've always done (and it's that cool in here a lot of mornings during the winter while we're here anyway since we don't run the central heat. 64 in here at the moment, after frost outside last night.) As temps go down, so does moisture usage. The shorter days of winter also cause most plants to grow less quickly and use less water because of that as well. Plants aren't usually as thirsty as we think they are. I would also be very suspicious of the moisture meter. I'm sure you'll get some info about wicking too. You might end up doing a combination of things, depending, as said, on what these plants are. I'm curious too. Knowing that could help folks give you more specific advice.

Day length in winter being shorter, sure. Light intensity being weaker, not necessarily. I have more direct light coming in my south windows now than when the sun is higher in summer. I can keep sun lovers in those south windows now that might struggle there in summer. Things I keep in cooler rooms might need less water, but otherwise I pretty much keep the same regimen year round. That said, there will be some plants that shut down or slow down in winter, but not all. It depends on the plant and your conditions. tj