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Hello, I have some beautiful plans in my balcony and I will go 15 days on holidays. I was wondering if you have any ideas how to water them , something like DIY as I don't have water near the balcony.. Cheers
Hello, I have some beautiful plans in my balcony and I will go 15 days on holidays. I was wondering if you have any ideas how to water them , something like DIY as I don't have water near the balcony.. Cheers
Only 2 ways to get enough water for that long a period.
1. Have someone come by
2. Attach a timer on a hose. Either a soaker hose or regular hose opened slightly. They even have smart timers now where you can control it through your phone via app while you are away.
You could consider calling a pet sitter/house sitter to just come however often for the plants only. That way they can stay in the light you like. We had a great pet sitter who turned lights on and off like we were at home, took in mail, took care of the animals, even mailed us a prescription we forgot. Sometimes there was a big rain and they positioned outisde plants and other things as they could. These days, people may be looking for more of these jobs.
Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
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There are plastic rainwater collection barrels that hold 66 gallons available for about $70. Then there are battery operated timers, for about $30. Then a sufficient quantity of drip system parts may be another $20.The only problem is that you need gravity, so the barrel has to be raised onto a strong table. The investment allows you to go away many times over the years without worry. I have all of my 70+ bonsai trees and my vegetable garden on drip systems with timers and can go away any time for any length of time without worry.
If your plants are not worth $120, then just let them die and get new ones when you return.
We have two Toddler sized rigid plastic wading pools. My wife sits her potted flowers in the pools, then fills the pools to half-way up the side of the pot when we are gone for extended periods in the summer.
Works great!
Stems that get submerged in the water will rot but the plant will stay healthy, alive, and recover quickly. You may be able to avoid this problem by covering the pools with a plastic net first, then cut holes in the netting just large enough for the pots. This will keep any dangling stems up out of the water to avoid rotting.
If possible bring them in the house. Put them in the bathtub. Put an inch of water or less in the tub. Leave the light on.
This ^ is exactly what I have done on occasions that I wasn't able to hire a caretaker to come water my indoor or patio plants if I was going to be away from home for more than 1 week.
Ideally it would be good if you could hire somebody to come water the plants a couple of times but that might not be possible. If you have too many plants to put them all in the bathtub another alternative is to purchase one or two small children's inflatable or hard plastic wading pools that will fit on your balcony. Inflatable is best because it's flexible so you can force it to fit inside a narrow balcony if necessary.
Put all the plants into the wading pools and give them all a really good watering so they are soaking wet and the water is draining out of the bottoms of the pots. Then add another 1 inch to 2 inches of water into the pools because when they're outside you need to allow for more rapid evaporation. Don't put more than 2 inches in the pools though otherwise your balcony may not support a lot of water weight. The plants should be okay like that for a couple of weeks but not much longer than that because after 2 weeks the water will be all gone.
The plants should be okay like that for a couple of weeks but not much longer than that because after 2 weeks the water will be all gone.
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Not to throw a damper on this idea (sounds like a good one, actually), but have you considered how this set-up could create a huge mosquito breeding ground? In my area, this would be a big problem.
Location: Formerly Pleasanton Ca, now in Marietta Ga
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ImmerLernen
Not to throw a damper on this idea (sounds like a good one, actually), but have you considered how this set-up could create a huge mosquito breeding ground? In my area, this would be a big problem.
Use mosquito bits in the water.
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