Everyone deserves time off their work to enjoy time with their friends and families, or maybe just to be with themselves for a bit. However, if you’re a caretaker of a garden, this “me” time or leisure time can be drastically reduced. The popular dogma is that plants need to be taken care of like children in their infancy – you simply cannot take your eyes off of them.
This, however, is not true. There are several methods that can help you take time off of taking care of your plants, and have more time for yourself and your family, and spend your vacations without having to worry about your precious plants. Some of these methods are mentioned below, and you can adopt them right today!
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Empty Bottles for Watering Plants
Get a bottle of Sauvignon Blanc (or any wine bottle for that matter) and completely empty it into another waste bottle. These bottles will be used for plants that need watering every day. Puncture the cap of the bottle. You can use pliers to remove the shrapnel. Once the process is done you can use a nail for puncturing the hole. Try puncturing the cap from the inside rather than outside to minimize errors.
Now fill the bottle to the brim with water and see to it that the bottle has no damages. This method is one of the easiest methods you can adopt. Take the bottle and place it inside the soil so as it happens the water will get to the roots and start to grow.
This method is really efficient and time-saving if you have to leave immediately or if you are tired of watering the plant daily. It takes only five minutes for you to set it up and for it to work all you need is a bottle with an aluminum cap and a hammer.
Soak up in Bathtub
This is the method where you water the plant by literally bathing it in water. A slight caution though: this method is only applicable for tropical plants, plants that require a lot of water or the plants that don’t need sunlight daily. We can only use this method indoors in places like bathrooms or service rooms.
Firstly, fill up the sink and if you don’t have one, use a bathtub with water depending on the number of weeks you are planning to stay away.
Put on a cloth or towel over the water so that the tub or sink isn’t damaged or destroyed during the process. Place the plant on that towel.
See to it that the plant is placed in a correct way. This method is most effectively used when you aren’t available to tend to your plants for close to a week, as the water from the tub is absorbed into the plant for the photosynthesis process.
Houseplant bathing is an effective and easy way and it always works. The only thing you should be careful of is making sure the pot and the plant are not affected during this process as the position matters the most.
Water Wicking Drip System
This method uses a simple mechanism where you are linking the water and the plant through a cotton string. You should consider using this system if you plan on not being available to water the plants for months or many weeks.
The amount of water supplied to the plant depends on it’s time for it to get hydrated. First, you will need cotton that is cut into a string. The length of the string should depend on the distance of your plant from the water source. A cotton rope is used because it is one of the most absorbent materials that absorbs water.
A part of the cotton rope must always have a slight bit of slack at both ends so that it reaches under the surface of the medium.
Keep one end of the string inside the soil and the other end dipped in the water, and see to it that they reach as deep as possible for the plant to grow the right size.There should be extra slack at the end where there is more water.
After setting up this system, water the plants to start the process. This method can also be used where you have a large number of plants and you need one set up for the entire garden.
Plant – Saucer Setup
This method cannot be used at plants that need more water and need direct attention for the plants to grow. The Saucer method is used for having a good drainage system for the plant and for its growth to be maintained.
Select a saucer that fits perfectly to the pot or a little larger than the base so that you can pour water in it. The method helps support the plant by storing water in the saucer. The saucer must hold water of the plant as well as keep the pot under the balance.
The plant must be placed in the pot as much as it touches the water and also reaching to the soil. When getting a pot, see to it that it has a good drainage system.
Keep the saucer in the plants and soak it inside. Run the water under the saucer and place it there so that the water is reached to the system.
Always have a little extra water for the plant to grow. This method is used for plants that don’t require water like cactus or other succulents.
Plastic bag Greenhouse
This method is quite simple. All it needs is a plastic bag to cover the plant and place it securely. The method lasts for a much longer time than you would expect.
The strategy used to adopt this method must be followed correctly and the most important thing is that they must be placed at places where they are exposed to direct sunlight or use succulents as there are chances for it to shrivel due to overheating.
Firstly, insert the wood stalks into the corner of the pot, use four stacks as they are more than enough for the process. This is the base of our foundation that is the plant. This is set up as the plastic does not wrap up against the plant and cause any trouble for it.
Water the plant as you would do normally without overwatering it and keep it safe for the system.
Place the plant at a place where there is in direct sunlight so that the plastic bag doesn’t get heated up or burned. Then finally wrap your plant with a plastic bag that fits it correctly.
See to it that the stalks are placed correctly and not affected by the other plant. As the indirect sunlight touches it the water molecules that are about to evaporate are caught by the greenhouse bag and watered right into it.
Burry the Plastic Water Bottle
This is one of the methods that shows how to reuse plastic bottles effectively. In the plastic water bottle method, the bottle of the plant is placed near the system.
Drill six holes on the side of the bottle and three on the bottom of the pot. From these holes, water from the plant reaches to the roots.
Place the plastic bottle in the soil and make sure there is enough amount of soil in the system. From this peeking out of this system, the soil reaches and the water is watered effectively.
This plant has water from the bottle. Then cap the bottle so the water molecules don’t evaporate into the sky. This method can be simply used by refilling the water bottle.
Automatic Drip Irrigation System
One of the best methods you can use is the drip irrigation system. An automatic timer is fitted to a tap that opens and closes the valve as per the timing set by you. The water is then delivered to the plant using plastic tubes and drip emitters.
Installing them at your place or gardens is a simple task that requires very little effort. This drip irrigation system will continue to water your garden automatically for years to come. Check out Elitech Drip Automatic Garden Irrrigation Kit
The drip emitters come in different specifications like 2 litre per hour, 4 litre per hour, and 8 litre per hour. For example, a 2 litre per hour drip emitter will deliver 2 litre water to one plant in an hour. So if you open the water for 30 minutes, 1 litre water will be provided to the plant.
Having different drip emitters is great if you have various pot size. You can use high rated 4 litre per hour drippers for big planters and 2 litre per hour drippers for average size pot in your garden.
Apart from automatic watering, key benefit of drip irrigation is that the water is delivered directly at the root region. Sometimes the top soil may look dry even if you have been using drip irrigation. But if you just pry the soil, you’ll find that proper moisture is maintained in the soil.
These are just some of the methods you can adopt to water your plants while on vacation. But as you can see the best one is the Drip Irrigation method, because it saves both water and time. You’ll want to use it permanently and not just for vacation watering.
You can get drip irrigation kits from either the ElitechDrip website or buy the ElitechDrip irrigation kits from Amazon
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