Leaving for 7 days, will they be okay?

Hey everyone, I'm going away for seven days. I usually water my plants every three to four days and by that time the soil is completely dried out; I don't wan't them to die because of a few extra days. The plants are outdoor so I'm hoping it'll rain, but I don't want to depend on that. I'm also going to have to transplant them into bigger pots before I go so that just enhances my problem that my plants will need water. I will be leaving about a week after I transplant so hopefully that will be enough time for my plants to settle in.

What should I do, just give them a whole bunch of water before I go? Will the plants be fine without water for that long?

if you water now every 3 - 4 days and you plan on bigger pots then you may make it a week. but if not........... that would suck. there has got to be a simple drip system you could set-up temporarily. i just don't know of one off hand. wish i could help.

Put trays under your pots and fill them just before you go.. and or put a slow leak container on top.

You can get an automatic drip system with a timer and the hose+mini sprinkler heads for about 30$- I use them for my basil and most of my small container vegees .

Make a sloe leak system yourself... make one tiny hole at the bottom of a nice round pot and let it leak JUST before you leave so it might leak 2 days if the hole is really small. that leaves the plant 5-4 days without water... thats what i would do. but then again i would ask for advice on here about that.

An automatic drip system sounds good, but could i find one that doesnt need to be attatched to a hose or power? Something that could be run off of batteries or something? After all I am growing in the middle of a field!

one_hit_wonder said:

An automatic drip system sounds good, but could i find one that doesnt need to be attatched to a hose or power? Something that could be run off of batteries or something? After all I am growing in the middle of a field!

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There are many that use batteries, you can screw them onto any faucet with threads instead of a hose.Just remember to turn the faucet on after you set it up. I'm not sre how big your plants are but you could set it to go off for say 5 minutes every other day.

5 gallon bucket, slightly elevated, small trickle hose coming out the bottom. maybe?

fdd2blk said:

5 gallon bucket, slightly elevated, small trickle hose coming out the bottom. maybe?

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That could work but could easily over water to death.You would have to have already tested the system and verified how much water drips out per 24 hours I would think.

do a rain dance on your fourth day away,make sure the rain gods knows it is for were you left and not were you are.i know a shaman who swares by it,but he tends to swear alot come to think of it.

What about one of these type things?

Never tried them myself, but seems like they might do the trick -

Rittenhouse | Self-Watering Probes - for Vacation Watering

dude if you grow outdoors you might want to constier using large pots and growing in them you can place a tub around the pots and fill it up with water that way you can go up to 9 days without you haveing to water them. The water needed to keep the soil moist will bee osaked up from the bottom.