Menu

Final trip preparations are in progress. Wanted to share a small, seemingly trivial matter, but it’s important to Laura and me. We have lots of plants at home, ranging from small African Violets / Orchid, to large Elephant Ear plants we bring in during the winter. How do we keep all the plants watered during such a long trip (4+ weeks). Our daughter has graciously agreed to come to our home in the middle of the month to water the plants, but still 15 days is still too long between watering for most plants. Well, the delicate African Violets and Orchid have been transferred to family / friends for care. Other smaller potted plants will be placed in large trays and I’ll fill the tray with 2″ of water so they can soak up the water from the bottom. For larger pots, I’ve tested several self-watering options. One is terracotta hollow spikes you insert into the pot and then place a wine bottle into the spike upside down. The water in the wine bottle will slowly seep out through the porous clay spike in the soil, keeping the soil moist. I’ve been testing this for the last month and it appears that if you water the pot well and then apply a full bottle of water, it will last about 2 weeks. You are supposed to be able to use a variety of bottle sizes, such as liter plastic bottles, but they make me nervous with such a short neck. The wine bottles are very secure in the clay spike. I found mine on Amazon for about $20 per six spikes. Two bottles are needed to keep an 8-12″ pot moist. But for the larger pots (12-24″), I need more water than what 2 wine bottles can provide. Blumat Plant Self Watering Stakes proved to be the answer. These are also terracotta spikes that have a plastic cap with a tube running out that goes into a bucket of water. It acts as a siphon to pull the water from the bucket into the spike and then into the soil. No pump to fail. I can take a 5 gallon bucket full of water and feed 3 large pots with 3 Blumats in each pot for at least 2 weeks. Then just add water to the bucket. Blumats cost vary by the quantity you buy. At quantity 16, its costs about $3 each.