Advanced Plant Care: What To Do Before You Go On Vacation

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You lucky duck, you're going on vacation! Your bags are packed but now there are some preparations to do to make sure your indoor jungle stays lush in your absence. Your first step is to assess the needs of your plants. Do your plants need daily misting or constant humidity? How many times would your plant normally need to be watered during the length of time you are going to be away for? Once you have assessed the needs of all your plants, you can successfully put together a plan while you're away.

If you are going away for a week or 10 days, most of your plants are going to be fine. Give them a good drink before you leave and expect to water them again as soon as you get home. If you are going to be gone longer than 2 weeks, there are some great hacks on how to water your plants while you are away. Some people will bury a length of cotton cord in the soil and will put the other end in a glass of water. So long as the water level is higher than the soil surface it will wick into the pot using capillary action. You can also put a wine bottle filled with water upside down in the soil. Poke a few holes in the cork so that the water is slowly released into the soil.

Maintaining humidity can be tricky while you're away, especially for plants that are accustomed to daily misting. A large capacity humidifier will be very handy in providing consistent humidity levels for several days. Invest in one that has a humidity control option so it will turn itself on if the humidity drops below a certain level and then turn off once the preset humidity level has been reached. But decreasing by your A/C or heat setting in your absence, the humidity should be easier to keep stable. Grouping plants together is a great way to increase humidity around your plants as they transpire. Just be careful as any pests can easily spread if plants are touching.

If you have sufficient lighting in your bathroom move the plants in there and fill your bathtub up with water. It is much easier to maintain humidity levels in a smaller room. Smaller humidity loving plants can be put into clear plastic bags to keep them in high humidity. If you are going to be away for more than 10 days, leave the bag untied at the top. If you are going to be away for 3 weeks or longer, consider getting a friend to come a few times to tend to your plants. If your friends is not very plant savvy, be sure to leave detailed instructions on which plants to water and mist, and which ones not to. Remember that it's usually easier for a plant to bounce back from under-watering than from over-watering. Labelling the names of your plants will be very helpful to your plant carer, 

We hope you enjoy your trip!