Vacation soon...need ideas on watering

Morning Rollers,

In need to start planning for my thanksgiving vacation and how I can keep my girls watered during the week I'm away. Currently I have 2 Lemon OGs in 5Gal airpots, 3 (2 OG Kush/1 Shunk #11) in 1Gal pots and 2 seedlings (1 Jupiter OG/1 Black Widow x Blue Lemon Thai) in peat pellets. I plan on potting up the seedlings to 1Gals. I'm not super concerned about the 1Gal pots since those dry pretty slowly. Just need some advice about keeping the airpots moist. Right now I water/feed every 3 days and on the third day the airpots are very dry. I was thinking about testing the plant watering globes but thought that may make the soil more damp than necessary. Thoughts???

the bottom line

....Growers Don't have Vacations!

ps try those silica watering crystals

good for 5-7 days, lay them on top of the soil

good luck

vostok said:

the bottom line

....Growers Don't have Vacations!

ps try those silica watering crystals

good for 5-7 days, lay them on top of the soil

good luck

Click to expand...

Thanks vostok! I'll look them up. I assume they would be easily removed when I return? They wouldn't mix with my soil? Correct?

i also say try experimenting with the water globes

if they dont work in your experiment you can come up with alternative solutions.
depending on how much time you've got

Mm...thats why I say 'leave them on the top'

to scrape off on your return

but give the plants a good soak in a bath for 15 minutes before you depart

then sprinkle them crystals/globes on the top half an inch think is good

I have had great luck with this set up. If you don't have a huge garden it works great. I have left 12 plants for 3 weeks at a time with no issues.

http://www.amazon.com/Claber-8053-4-Programs-Automatic-Watering/dp/B000U5YFR4

A few years ago I wanted to go camping so I set up a couple of these http://www.raindrip.com/container-kits

They worked perfect after taking some time to adjust them (adding/removing emitters, setting on times). The larger pots (5 gallons) got 4 emitters and the smaller pots (1 gallon) got 2 emitters.

A few weeks ago I had to leave the state for 4 days to visit my dying dad. I mostly use large tubs (18 gallons) so those can go a week to ten days without water. For the cloth bags I wrapped them with plastic to prolong the drying. They along with the 1 and 1.5 gallon pots got over watered the day I left and did just fine.

Blumat watering probes should work too. Look it up on amazon.

I am in the same boat. I have a 5day vacation coming up with the wifey. Would it be insane to leave my grow cabinet unattended for 5days? Watering should be covered with the blumats, but i am afraid my plants would touch my CFL and catch on fire?

sunni said:

i also say try experimenting with the water globes

if they dont work in your experiment you can come up with alternative solutions.
depending on how much time you've got

Click to expand...

These suck. Tried them last thanksgiving.

ButchyBoy said:

A few years ago I wanted to go camping so I set up a couple of these http://www.raindrip.com/container-kits

They worked perfect after taking some time to adjust them (adding/removing emitters, setting on times). The larger pots (5 gallons) got 4 emitters and the smaller pots (1 gallon) got 2 emitters.

A few weeks ago I had to leave the state for 4 days to visit my dying dad. I mostly use large tubs (18 gallons) so those can go a week to ten days without water. For the cloth bags I wrapped them with plastic to prolong the drying. They along with the 1 and 1.5 gallon pots got over watered the day I left and did just fine.

Click to expand...

This is my first grow using this setup, and so far it's been fantastic.

If you are using smartpots here's what I have done in the past. Water your plants as normal up until the day before you leave. Then get a trash bag for each pot & place each one inside the trash bag- use good thickass plastic bags so they won't leak- and then water until there's a puddle formed in the bottom of the bag. Twist the bag end around the base of the main stalk of each plant, blow in some air & zip tie that shit. Your plants will be fine for 6+ days but be sure you take them off or open them up when you finally get back home to avoid anaerobic conditions.

Thanks for the advise everyone! I'm testing out the globes since my mom had some laying around at her house..I just soaked them down and poked the globe in about 6in deep. So far after a day and a half the water level hasn't moved so we will see how long this will hold them. If this doesn't work out I'll be doing some early Christmas shopping on Amazon. Also may plastic wrap the sides of the airpots when I leave

Loads of cheap DIY vids on YouTube using soda bottles and droppers. I've tried using those globes before but found they don't really hold enough water

Or can't you just setup a timer, cooler filled with water, and some drip tubes? Vostoc is right, no vacations while in the middle of a run, you have responsibilities lol. Also if you switch to hydro no more issues lol.

Wick system.... rez for of water and string

Budley Doright said:

Or can't you just setup a timer, cooler filled with water, and some drip tubes? Vostoc is right, no vacations while in the middle of a run, you have responsibilities lol. Also if you switch to hydro no more issues lol.

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I used to grow using Hydro. There are plenty of "problems" to deal with so you cannot leave for an extended amount of time. I had to measure ppm daily along with topping off the rez since water evaporates relatively fast even with a lid.

In my opinion Hydro requires more attention than soil.

ButchyBoy said:

I used to grow using Hydro. There are plenty of "problems" to deal with so you cannot leave for an extended amount of time. I had to measure ppm daily along with topping off the rez since water evaporates relatively fast even with a lid.

In my opinion Hydro requires more attention than soil.

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I was actually semi joking as its all in what suits everyone. I can leave my system for 7 days without a hitch unless power goes out then that could be an issue lol, if more than a day they would freeze to a crisp .

Budley Doright said:

I was actually semi joking as its all in what suits everyone. I can leave my system for 7 days without a hitch unless power goes out then that could be an issue lol, if more than a day they would freeze to a crisp .

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Very cool!

I had a small rez at 18 gallons so it varied daily with uptake and evaporation. After the flood I had decided I had enough Lol.

Yup hear ya lol. Put a safety over flow in to stop that. I run low pressure sprayers.