How to make sure my plants get enough water when I am away?

I am going away for a week or two and dont have friends or family nearby to water my plants. Is there something I can buy from the store which will keep them watered?

How to make sure my plants get enough water when I am away?
Check out the following products from Gardeners Supply: Precision Drip Spikes, plant sitter, Caretaker 1. All are vacation watering products. Good Luck !! http://www.gardeners.com/Vacation-Wateri...
Reply:Get a timer for automatic watering or a trusty neighbor.
Reply:Go to the plant store and ask . . I think there is that Miracle Grow Moisture Control that may work though
Reply:if you water them rigth before you leave you shouldnt have many problems i dont think
Reply:Yes you have a couple of options. You can purchase moisture cyrstals which swell when you water them and continue "watering" the plants while you are away. You can also purchase water tubes in the garden section which you fill with water before you leave and they slowly drip water into your plants. You can also "make" water tubes yourself by filling up plastic containers, poking a tiny hole in the bottom and the water will leak out the same. I've found milk jugs work well for very large bushes and shrubs in the ground and butter containers work for smaller container plants for a week to 10 days.
Reply:Get a drip line or soaker hose and a timer, if you have a multiple timer you can hook it up to your water spigot and more than one hose and it can come on for certain amounts of time daily. They also make bulb water holders. These are pretty neat.
Reply:Nope, there sure isn't. What about a next door neighbor? Or, you could take your plants to a friend or relatives house.
Reply:You could put them in large plates or short containers full of water. Fill a 1 or 2 inch tray or dish or whatever with water and put your plants in there. I've done it, it worked.
Reply:If you are talking about indoor houseplants most of them can go for a week or two with out water if you try to schedule a good watering before you leave. Alas, some cannot go that long and there are automatic watering gadgets you can buy at lowes or home and garden specialty stores that will help you out with your problem. You can also gather them together and put them on trays of pebbles with water not touching the bottom and they will get water through osmosis and evaporation and humidity in the air. Or put them all in the bathtub together and they will keep each other company and not dry out so fast if you have any light in your bathroom but my advice to you , dear heart, is to make some friends that you trust to help you out when you are in need Good Luck
Reply:Get a couple of big two litter soda bottles with the lids (for your outside plants). Get some pliers and a small nail and get the nail hot. Burn one or two holes into each cap.

Fill the bottles with water and screw on the cap nice and tight. For the outdoor plants, you will want to bury the bottles about half way up so they dont fall over. This also will make the water drip slowly into the soil, down bellow nearest the roots. The will keep the roots moist, slowly, and keep the water from evaporating. You can do itfor your house plants too, but put a drip pan underneath and I would recommend using smaller bottles and holes in the lids.

The rest of the time the plants should be fine.
Reply:You can probably find a better selection online by looking up 'hydroponics' in any search engine. You can get drip irrigation systems that are set on timers and just make sure you have a receptacle that holds enough water for the time you'll be gone. I'll be facing the same problem this august so i'm looking in to building one myself. All the ones I've seen so far are pretty pricey, but you can kind of see what the general components are and how they set them up.

Hope that helped.
Reply:There are mechanical timers that you can buy at most garden centers %26amp; discount stores that you put on your faucet %26amp; hook your hose up to it. The water will come on at the same time every day for the amount of time you set. You can use a soaker hose or a drip system, which isn't very expensive %26amp; is easy to install. Be sure to try it for a few days before you leave to make sure you have the timer working the way you want.
Reply:Hi!



This is a site you can buy a "waterer" for while you're gone.:



http://marketplace.hgtv.com/View_Listing...





I don't have the money for that, tho'. For your potted plants, what you can do is set up a watering system that's pretty easy.



Set some big containers with water in them next to the plants. Get some kind of cotton (long strips of cloth a couple inches wide, cotton rope, etc.). Put one end in the bucket and the other end at the base of the plant. (It helps if the water container is higher than the plant.) The cotton wicks the water (draws it out), and gravity pulls it down to the plant. You could use it for the outdoor plants, too, if it's not too hot. (I'm not sure how much water and how large the cotton needs to be for those conditions.) This is just using science - tried and true.



You may want to experiment with it before you go, so you know how much water to leave.



Good luck.
Reply:If they are potted plants, water them well and mulch before you leave and put them all in the shade so they dont demand as much water.



For plants in-ground, you can get a perforated drip hose and run it near the plants on the ground and then cover with mulch. This is kind of irresponsible in drought conditions however, so you may want to ask your local hardware or garden store if they have a timer for watering.



You could also mulch heavily with grass clippings, straw, or humus and water heavily before you leave and hope they can make it while you are away. If you mulch well, they should.



Shade cloth will also help preserve moisture while you are away. Don't use cloth so heavy that it will block out all light- you are trying to reduce the plant's demand for water without killing them. You will pay a price of reduced growth during that time, but at least they'll live.

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