Summer is here and it’s time to take a deserved break. It’s time to pack your bags and go to the beach, to the mountains or, ultimately, anywhere without stress. But, what we do with our plants if no one can water them while we are off? There are a few tricks for watering plants while we are gone that keep them hydrated until we come back.
We must avoid our plants dying and try to keep our plants as healthy as we do during the rest of the year. One easy solution would be to ask a friend or neighbor to irrigate them twice a week, but during holidays it’s difficult. If we go on holiday for a short time (a week) we can prepare the plants and keep them ready until our return. If we are planning a longer trip, there are also some tricks to prevent lack of water in our plants.
Prepare our plants before we go
If we are going to be away of home only for a week, we can leave them without any irrigation system. However, it’s important to follow some advice before we leave so that upon our return home we see little damage in plants and they are easy to fix with our usual care.
First of all, we have to water them well before leaving to maintain the maximum humidity for as many days as possible, but without flooding the plants and also never put them into a bowl full of water directly in contact with roots, because they will rot.
We have to put the plants in a cool place where sun and heat don’t affect them constantly. This way, they will benefit more from the environmental humidity and they won’t get sun dried. If you have indoor plants, you must put them in a room with dim light and some ventilation.
If we cut back the biggest leaves, dry leaves and branches before going on holidays, it will also help our plants to keep better humidity and they will be stronger without constant water.
Automatic systems to irrigate
If we stay away of home for more days, we have to find alternatives to irrigate the plants. But also following the steps explained in the previous paragraphs before leaving. If we have outdoor plants in our garden or terrace, it will be useful to install automatic irrigation systems.
A sprinkler system or drip irrigation installation in the garden or terrace will allow us to program watering for all the plants during our absence. They are also useful during the year. But if we don’t have the budget, or they are indoor plants or in a balcony, we can use home remedies that will help to maintain plants hydrated.
Homemade systems to irrigate plants
We can easily create a watering system with a plastic bottle. It consists of a drip irrigation system that will provide constant water to plants but without flooding them. We have to open a hole in the cap (just as big as a water drop), fill up the bottle and put it upside down, staked in the soil of the pot, and the water will be provided gradually to the plants roots. The bigger the bottle, the more water that will be provided.
We have to put one bottle in each pot or near each plant, so we guarantee all the plants will have enough water and will be hydrated during our absence.
There is a similar homemade system, but using little clay cones. They are dispensers that we have to screw in the bottle, and then stake in the soil with the bottle upside down. As in the previous system, water will be provided to the plant drip to drip, but there is a difference: the clay. This material has microporous qualities that guarantee that water will be better dosed.
Plants always need quality water
With these tricks to irrigate plants during our holiday, we avoid problems caused by lack of water. In summer, plants suffer more problems due to high temperatures, so irrigating them when we are off on holiday is important for taking care of them. However, water quality, water without chlorine, is also very important for their care. That’s why we shouldn’t forget to always use clean water, treated by filtration systems. These systems can also connect directly with the installations of automatic irrigation systems.
Now we can pack our bags and start a happy holiday, knowing that our plants will be well hydrated and healthy for the days or weeks that we will be gone.
