If you are vacationing during the summer and planning on turning off your air conditioner you may want to move your plants to a room that usually has a cool constant temperature. If you will be turning the air conditioning down or even off while you are away, move your houseplants to a part of the house where the air temperature will be relatively cool and constant. A bathroom is an excellent place for your houseplants. If you are going to be gone more than a couple of days you can place a large sheet of plastic in the bathtub or shower, put several layers of newspaper on the plastic, place the plants on the newspaper and turn on the shower just long enough to get the newspaper wet then close the shower curtain or door to keep in the moisture. If you are planning on being gone more than a couple of weeks you may want to have someone check on your plants.
An outdoor solution for
vacation watering is a
drip irrigation system for the garden. Soaker hoses are another option for your garden beds and all the landscape plantings. All of the above can be placed on a timer and set to when you want everything watered. It would be a good idea to have this set up a couple of weeks before leaving on vacation to make sure the watering schedule is set up the way you intended. It is always a good idea to set your timer for watering in the early morning hours so the sun will not evaporate the water. It is also better to water the plants right at the root and not at the leaves. Your soaker hoses and many of your drip system watering heads will supply the water right to the roots.
Adding organic matter such as compost to your soil will help it to retain moisture easier. Mulching the surface of the soil in the garden or outdoor container plants will minimize evaporation. If you use self-watering planters they have a built-in water reservoir that will provide enough water for about a week or more depending on the weather. Always take good care of your plants; healthy plants will need less fertilizer, water, and pest controls. If you keep up with thinning, weeding, pruning, and controlling pests you can get by with watering less often.
There are several products that can be purchased to help solve your watering problems. Polymers are small white granules that can be inserted into the soil near the roots of your plants; make pencil thin holes about 2 inches deep near the roots, insert the polymers and fill with soil, then water thoroughly. The polymers will retain water and once the soil begins to dry out they will release moisture to the roots of the plants.
A couple more ideas for your
vacation watering solutions are watering spikes that have a dial with settings to release a half ounce and upwards a day and will hold a 1-or 2-liter plastic bottle. Another device is a
watering cone of terra cotta that can be inserted into the soil of your houseplants that has a small hose attached along with a water reservoir that hangs over the side of the container. The terra cotta will absorb the moisture and release it when the soil in the container begins to dry.
