How to water flowers when you leave. Vacation and flowers - how to care for and arrange watering for them

Decor elements 15.06.2019

Decor elements

Indoor flowers are beauty and comfort in the house, as well as fresh air enriched with oxygen. However, they require systematic care and proper watering otherwise they may die. This problem becomes especially relevant when you need a long absence, when you need to leave for a vacation or weekend.

It is good when there are relatives or close friends who could be trusted with watering flowers during the holidays. But in the summer they can also go on vacation. In order to save plants, it is better to familiarize yourself with the options for self-watering systems and how to use materials at hand in advance.

Plant preparation

A long break in the care and watering of plants is stressful, so you should prepare them for it in advance, make sure that there are no problems.

In the light, metabolic processes are more active in plants, so they consume more moisture. To slow down the metabolic reactions in plant cells, it is necessary to provide them with a more shady shelter - draw the curtains more tightly and remove the pots from the windowsill.
The soil under the plants should be well moistened, then wrap the pots with wet paper, and on top of it - plastic wrap.
Small flowers for the holidays can be closed with a glass or transparent plastic tank, but not tightly - air must flow from below for them to breathe. Evaporating moisture, condensing on the walls of the hood, will flow back.
Remove large buds from flowers that require more moisture, as well as dried leaves.
If there are diseased plants, they should be treated with preparations a few days before departure.
Ten days before the holiday, stop feeding.
Eliminate drafts in the room where the plants are located.
If the pots are standing in water, it is better to place coasters under them so that the roots cannot freeze.
Flowers will feel more comfortable in earthenware than in plastic.

Remote watering methods

How to water the flowers during the holidays so that they do not dry out and disappear from an excess of moisture? Travelers should take into account the following facts.

Plants in ceramic pots can be left for up to seven days or a little more using easy way: having sufficiently moistened the soil in the pot, it is necessary to wrap it with a thick layer of wet moss. In its absence, you need to put the clay pot in a more spacious plastic container, and between them pour a layer of expanded clay and moisten it well with water.
Plastic pots with moisture-loving plants should preferably be left in trays filled with water to a third of the height of the pot. From above, the substrate must be covered with wet moss or expanded clay.

well, water all the pots with excess before leaving them at home;
then you need to leave them in the pan for a while so that the glass has excess moisture;
collect all the flowers in the back of the room, as compactly as possible;
put pots with moisture-loving plants in the middle, surrounding them with more hardy ones;
place around as many containers with plenty of water as possible - evaporating, it will be absorbed by green leaves.

cover the stand with waterproof oilcloth or film;
put a soft, damp cloth on top of it - an old blanket, thick batting will do;
lower one edge of the fabric into a large container of water;
place pre-watered pots on the blanket;
flowers will absorb moisture from wet tissue thanks to drainage holes.

Wick watering

It is possible to organize continuous watering indoor flowers during the holidays with a wick of woolen twine. One of its ends should be put in a pot with a flower, lightly sprinkled with soil, and the other should be lowered into a container located above the pot and filled with water. This irrigation option is very convenient, but you need to correctly calculate the number of wicks depending on the size of the plant.
The wick method is often used for watering smaller flowers such as violets. But he requires transplanting them into a dish with a cord laid at the bottom. The pot itself is installed on a jar of water, the second end of the cord is lowered into it. Water, rising along the cord, provides soil moisture.

Since it is very convenient to water flowers with the help of devices that provide uniform drip access of water, thin tubes are often used for this purpose, for example, pharmacy droppers without tips. If there are a lot of pots, you need to tie the same number of droppers. Next, you need to tie a sinker to them and lower them into a large bucket of water. Put it on an elevated place, and place pots around, in each of which fix the second end of the tube. If you properly adjust the flow of water, you get an excellent self-watering system that helps out during departures.

One of the most simple options drip irrigation is a plastic bottle:
make small holes in it from two ends;
fix it upside down in a flower pot or above it;
adjust the flow of water by changing the size of the hole so that indoor flowers do not dry out.

The main thing is to choose optimal size bottles for each plant. Due to its low cost and availability, this method is also widely used in gardens and orchards.

Use of hydrogels

There are special polymers that have the unique ability to absorb large volumes of water and then gradually lose it. Their soft granules are added to the substrate for indoor plants, so the pots do not need to be watered often. If you transplant the plants into such soil and water well before leaving, they will be provided with enough water and will not dry out.
Colored balls of Chinese hydrogel can be filled with water for several hours. The swollen granules must be mixed with the top layer of the substrate, and covered with moistened moss on top.

Automatic irrigation systems

Today there is big choice systems for automatic watering of plants. While on vacation, they can be trusted with flowers without fear that they will dry out.

The simplest of them and the cheapest consists of two parts. A ceramic cone with porous walls is installed in the ground and filled with water. It slowly hydrates the soil. With the help of a thin tube, water is supplied to it as it is spent. The system is extremely easy to use and reliable.

More complex devices have approximately the same mechanism of action and differ in price and time period during which watering is carried out. Basically, they consist of the following elements:

a capacious container for water and tubes through which it will be supplied to the plants;
special (not clogged with soil) tips made of porous material;
timer for automatic irrigation control;
a regulator that determines the flow of water;
a sensor that measures soil moisture;
pump for pumping water.

If you know how to organize watering during the holidays, you can safely go on vacation and not worry about the flowers temporarily left at home. However, the chosen method must be tested and adjusted in advance to be sure of its reliability.

Sometimes a seemingly insignificant problem may arise, which can create certain difficulties and slightly spoil the mood before such a long-awaited and desired vacation. We are talking about watering flowers and other house plants during your absence. For people who are not interested in floristry, this circumstance seems not worthy of attention, however, for amateur flower growers who put their whole soul into plants, this can be a big problem - our article is for them.

Before leaving, you should carry out a number of procedures that will help to significantly reduce the need for watering plants during your absence:

Flowers should not be fed later than two weeks before your departure. Flowers need water after feeding for better absorption of minerals.
Just before leaving, cut off the flowers, buds and leaves (not all, but so that the green mass noticeably decreases, but without prejudice to decorative look). A large amount of greenery contributes to the rapid evaporation of moisture.
Review each plant for diseases and pests - if you find a problem, take action.
Move flowers to a shaded part of the room, away from windows. Lower illumination and, accordingly, air temperature contribute to less evaporation.
Gather all your plants into a compact group by sliding the pots. In this way, you will create a microclimate with high humidity.
Just before leaving, water all the flowers with a little more water than you usually do (but do not fill it in), it is recommended to use the immersion method for individual plants.
An excellent solution would be to overlay the pots with wet moss.

Important! Plants in ceramic pots require more frequent watering than those in plastic pots.

Watering while on vacation

There are enough ways to water plants in the absence of owners. Many different devices industrial production presented on the market. But, taking this or that method as a basis, you can independently make a completely effective device that will replace you during your vacation.

Wick method great for some plants (for example) as a permanent watering method. Its essence is this: before planting a plant, a wick is placed on the bottom of the pot, folding it in the form of a spiral. The end of it is brought out into the drainage hole, and from there into a container of water.

In our case, we can resort to a slightly modified method: we put several wick rings in a spiral on the surface of the soil around the flower, sprinkle with soil on top. We lower the free end into a container of water located above the level of the plant. Pay attention to the neck of the container: if you leave for a long time, and the neck is wide, the water may evaporate.

Watering from a funnel

There are ceramic cones (funnel) - such gadgets are sold both with and without a liquid reservoir. Water in this case comes from a separate container.

The tip of the funnel is made of a special material based on clay, which gives off water depending on the moisture content of the substrate where it is inserted.

Depending on the height of the position of the reservoir with liquid in relation to the pot with the plant, the rate of water supply changes.

Did you know? purifies the air in the room, harmonizes the general aura. but given plant has a negative biofield - make sure that the flower is not near the bed. But he will feel great in the kitchen: chlorophytum is able to absorb up to 70% of carbon monoxide.

Watering through drainage holes

The method is as follows:

It is necessary to water the plants well, and then put them in a wide container, for example, a basin.
At the bottom of the container, you need to pour 2-3 cm of water and pour a layer of expanded clay (10-14 cm, water it well) around the flower pots.
The containers should be without stands, therefore, in order to avoid freezing of the root system, make sure that the pots are on the expanded clay layer, without directly touching the water.

Keep in mind: there are certain risks in using this method - even if there are pests on one flower, they can infect other plants.

The method is especially good for flowers in clay pots and in ceramics. In order for it to show the greatest efficiency, the soil in flowers should be covered with a layer of moss. In this case, the plant can freely, without any shocks, transfer up to three weeks without owners. You can also supplement this method with drip or wick irrigation.

There is also a capillary mat for drip irrigation. This is a hygroscopic mat made of a special material, which is placed on a layer of garden film, its edge is lowered into a container of water, and pots with plants are placed on it, of course, without pallets.

Important! Don't buy for home use capillary geotextile: it is made from recycled waste and designed for industrial applications.

Drip irrigation

Exists a large number of varieties of this method, below we will talk about the simplest, but quite effective and popular:

Make it in traffic off plastic bottle holes, fill the bottle itself with water and hang the cork down. It is necessary to calculate so that water drips from a height of 6-8 cm with a frequency of 1 drop in 20-30 seconds. This should be done in advance so that the system is ready and adjusted for your departure.
You can stick a bottle with a cork with holes in the ground. This method requires careful adjustment. If you are going to resort to it, experiment in advance with the diameter of the hole and, accordingly, the speed of the water supply. Try to measure (by the amount of water that has left the bottle) how much moisture the plant received in 1, 2, 3 days, and whether the soil is sufficiently moistened.
More complex system can be made using droppers: one end of the dropper is lowered into a container located above the level of the plant, the other (needle) is near the plant. The advantage of this method is that you can regulate the supply of moisture.
A method similar to the previous one, only natural threads or strips of fabric are used instead of droppers. In this case, it is not possible to regulate the supply of moisture, but it is believed that the plant itself takes the amount of water it needs.

Video: how to organize drip irrigation for indoor plants

A hydrogel is a polymeric substance that absorbs water in quantities many times its own weight. The data is different, but various sources the proportion of the weight of the gel to the mass of absorbed moisture is given from 1:100 to 1:250. This substance absorbs water, and then gradually frees itself from it, giving it to flowers.

The hydrogel is available in the form of granules. There are also products with fertilizers in the market. Their manufacturers claim that the effective service life of such pellets is 35–50 months.

Before you leave your plants unattended, soak the hydrogel in water for 8 hours. After that, put the swollen gel on the soil and cover with moss. In the event that the roots of the plant do not come to the surface, you can lift the top three-centimeter layer of soil and put the substance under it.

Did you know? Popularity is due to its pronounced antibacterial properties. Almost all anaerobic bacteria (streptococci, staphylococci) are afraid of this flower, just likemosquitoes and flies insummer time. It is widely used in medicine - not only folk, but also traditional.

Alternative Methods

Of course, do not forget about such options: take the flowers to friends during your absence or ask someone to come in for watering. Circumstances may arise here when the person to whom you entrusted the care of your flora wants to play it safe and flood the plants. Not everyone understands that sometimes excess moisture is worse than its lack. You should explain this in detail to a potential assistant, but do not overdo it so as not to scare the person with responsibility.

You can try to find a person who professionally takes care of flowers, for example, via the Internet: there are enough offers in this segment of the service sector. Or you can try to negotiate with someone you know not on a monetary basis, but in exchange for a return service - to look after the flowers during their vacation.

Video: watering flowers during the holidays We looked at the basic techniques and methods that allow you to water your flower garden during the holidays. If you decide to make the device yourself, we remind you once again that it is better to test and configure it in advance. If you want to invite a person from outside for a responsible procedure, you should once again consider the safety of this method.

For several years I have been using primitive and effective method"automatic irrigation". I put a stand next to the plant at the height of the pot, fill a container with water with a 3l jar, 5l canister, depending on the volume of the pot and the plant's need for watering. I cut a ribbon, approximately 1 cm wide, from pure wool fabric (cotton, bandage is possible) and 1 m long. The ribbon is well wetted (soaked) with water, lowered completely into the container and immediately pulled out to the desired length, placed around the stem with a ring. The irrigation system is ready. Do a test run before using it. By using different widths of fabric strips, you will achieve a certain amount of water supply. Make sure that the strip touches the bottom in the container.

The plant is installed in a basin on a stand 5-10 cm high, in which case excess water will drain to the bottom of the basin. Use the tape (wick) for no more than 3-4 weeks, salinization (contamination) of the pores (fibers) of the fabric occurs.

Any lover of flowers, at least occasionally, but had to part for a while on long term with your pets especially in summer. And before going on vacation, many probably worried about their health. After all, you want to return home to find your flowers unharmed. What's the best way to keep them while you're away?

It is necessary to prepare flowers before the holidays

It will be nice if close people or neighbors agree to take care of the plants. But, if they are not, then before leaving it is best to prepare a little for this. Two weeks before departure, it is best to stop feeding for the time being, and about ten days beforehand, do a “physical examination” of plants to exclude the appearance of pests and diseases. Damaged and dry shoots and leaves must be removed. Three days before departure, remove the buds from the plants and large flowers, it is even desirable to remove part of the leaves - this will make it possible to save the strength and energy of the plant. The room where the flowers grow, it is desirable to partially shade: when low light life processes will slow down and less moisture will be needed. But you can not leave them completely without sunlight! Close doors and windows so that there are no drafts.

Watering flowers while on vacation

Watering plants during the holidays is very important point it is best to entrust it to a reliable person or arrange automatic watering. The easiest way is to soak the soil in a pot with water on the day of departure and cover it with damp newspaper or cellophane on top, this will retain moisture for about 10 days. Small flowers can be covered with a cap made of plastic or glass bottles, but in such a way that they go beyond the edge of the dish and allow air to pass from below. Moisture, evaporating, turns into condensate, after which it settles on the walls and flows into the soil.

A closed plastic bottle must be stuck into the soil by 3 cm, holes must be made in the lid and at the bottom of the bottle with an awl. It is filled with water, which will gradually moisten the soil. The dimensions of the holes must be selected with the help of experience, for this, check its operation in advance in advance, and if necessary, change their size.

Taking a woolen thread, cord or bandage, one end must be buried in shallow soil, and lower the other end into a container of water installed above the plant.

For plants that are harmed by a lack of sun, you can use this method: lay a fabric that absorbs moisture well and several layers of paper on the bottom of the pelvis. After that, install pots with plants in it, and you need to put the basin in the bathroom. The tap must be slightly opened, so that the water gradually drips.

In pots with a small drainage hole, it is easy to water by laying cloth or felt in them, one end of it must be lowered into a container of water, which is set slightly lower than the flowers are.

We transport plants to the country

During the holiday season, some of the flowers can be taken with you. But it is undesirable to immediately transfer them to the garden: you can burn the leaves in this way, for several days they need to stand under the roof so that they get used to the air.

Individual plants can be safely planted directly into the soil, it is necessary to take into account how much they need the sun. Coleus, croton, cacti and geraniums, light and open spaces, and ferns, begonias and fuchsias love a little shade. Plants such as abutilon, hibiscus, hydrangeas, roses, and oleander are best planted in their pots, which are dug a little into the soil.

Vacation Flowers - Tricks

Ceramic pots perfectly support the most suitable temperature regime, and the plants that grow in them survive loneliness much better than those growing in plastic containers. If the plants are installed side by side on the floor, then automatic watering will become more convenient. And it will be easier for a friend who came to water the plants to do this.

After a long vacation, flowers that were in the shade should not be immediately put on sunlight, this must be done gradually.

Hooray! Finally the long awaited vacation. All thoughts are occupied with the upcoming trip. Just don't forget to take anything with you. And at some point it dawns on you “How to leave indoor flowers without watering for two weeks?”.

How many indoor flowers can be without watering.

There are no options with relatives and friends who find time to come and water home plants. It is not always possible to use the help of loved ones. Therefore, we are looking for other solutions on how to save indoor flowers when going on vacation.
Some types of indoor plants need daily soil moisture, and some flowers are able to endure a two-week drought.

plants such as cyperus, calamus, azalea require a large amount of water.
the soil should be constantly moist (but without stagnant water in the soil) for begonias, alocasia, calathea, lemon, oleander, ivy.
ornamental houseplants need to be watered when upper layer the soil in the pot will dry out a couple of centimeters. Dracaena, clivia, monstera, palm trees, syngonium, columna, aspidistra, aglaonema, it is important that the soil dries out between waterings.
but before the next watering, the soil should dry completely at the hippeastrum, gloxinia, zygocactus, crinium, caladium, philodendron. Cacti do not need moisture at all during the winter season.

Knowing how much moisture and how often your plants need it will give you an idea of how long you can leave potted plants without watering. And if the question is in your absence for up to five days, then after watering the houseplants, you can safely leave and not worry about how to leave indoor flowers without watering.

Read Wikipedia about indoor flowers and their care.

How to save indoor flowers without watering.

If you leave home for two weeks, then we do not recommend leaving indoor flowers without moisture. Otherwise, upon arrival, you will have to re-buy your favorite plants.
There are two ways to protect indoor flowers during the holidays. One of them involves spending family budget and the other with minimal cost.
To risk leaving indoor flowers for a long time without watering, without any financial investment, you can do this:

indoor plants need to be prepared for your absence. Leaving home is a joy for you, but stress for flowers.
we carry out pruning of buds and blooming flowers. So we will help the plant not to waste its strength for flowering during the "separation" from you. Now they will direct all their forces to maintain their vital functions. Plus, you still won’t see the flowering itself.
for this period, we reduce the moisture consumption of the plant by thinning the leaf mass. You will have to make a sacrifice, because indoor plants will lose their decorative effect. Some of them will take a long time to recover, but it's worth it.

indoor flowers in ceramic pots need more water than in plastic pots.

we rearrange the pots with houseplants from the window sills to the floor. Preferably in the far corner of the room. This is necessary so that the plant receives less light and heat. Reducing the amount of light and heat leads to a decrease in the amount of moisture evaporated by flowers. And, as a result, the plant consumes it minimally. Upon your return, be mentally prepared for the fact that you will not recognize your home oasis. Without proper heat and lighting, indoor flowers will slow down their growth.
We put pots with indoor plants close to each other. Thus, a mini-greenhouse is created, which will keep the humidity around and in the middle of it a little higher. The only thing I want to warn you about is that if you place indoor flowers in this way, you increase the risk of disease of all plants in the presence of an already sick one. After all, it is not always possible to immediately determine the presence of diseases or pests on any one flower. And then the affected flower will “reward” all other houseplants with the disease.

You can ensure the actual watering of indoor flowers on vacation as follows:

put all home plants in a large bowl (basin, baby bath, pallet). Cover the bottom of such an impromptu pallet with a thick layer (at least five centimeters) of expanded clay. Fill the expanded clay up to half with water. And put flower pots on a wet layer. Fill the gaps between pots with expanded clay or cover with wet sphagnum moss.

sphagnum moss is a good accumulator of moisture. As needed, the plant takes moisture from the moss.

to perfect the source of moisture for your indoor plants, we create a greenhouse. We cover all the flowers in the tray with a transparent plastic wrap. If there is no large piece of film, then you can create individual moisture keepers by putting plastic bags on each plant. Make an exception only for plants with fleshy or pubescent leaves. Such as Saintpaulia, Pelargonium, Kalanchoe. Otherwise, they will rot or become moldy without regular ventilation.

if you are worried about the effectiveness of any method of watering indoor flowers during the holidays, then prepare cuttings of your favorite plants. Until you return, they will sprout roots in a jar of water.

We immediately warn you that after you return from vacation, you will need to remove the packages from the flowers gradually. Accustoming a houseplant to low air humidity and constant ventilation in open form, should be done within a week, then removing, then putting back the mini "cap".

if you can't find a potted plant tray, place plant pots in the tub.

You can ensure a constant supply of moisture with the help of plastic bottles. To do this, we make small holes in the lids. Then we pour water into the bottles and place them upside down either on the tray between the pots of indoor plants, or directly into the pot itself. Leaking drop by drop, the water will moisten expanded clay, moss, or soil.

moisture through the holes in the cap of a plastic bottle immediately into the ground is good for large indoor flowers in tubs. For small plants, the bottle watering method is not suitable.

many of you have heard about the following method. It consists in passive watering with improvised wicks. We twist the bundles of ropes, laces, woolen threads, bandages or cotton fabric. We lower one end of such a wick into a container of water, and stick the other into the ground. At the same time, the water container should be above the level of the flower pot. Due to the difference in capillary pressure, water will begin to flow to the plants.

for orchids during your vacation, an acceptable method of moistening is that the plant feeds on moisture from the bottom. A pot with an orchid is placed in a container, on the bottom of which you pour a little water and pour drainage.

Irrigation systems for indoor plants.

Watering indoor flowers during departure can be entrusted to industrial production devices. Such systems will cost money. But the acquisition of such technologies will pay off at least by the fact that upon returning from vacation, you do not have to re-buy new indoor plants.

autonomous watering systems for indoor flowers are called Aqua Globes. The simplest ones are a glass flask that is connected to a ceramic cone. The cone sinks into the soil to ensure uniform wetting of the earthen coma. The capillary-porous structure of the walls of the cone allows water to seep into the ground drop by drop.

before installing both homemade and industrial humidification systems for indoor flowers, test the speed and volume of water supply. And then adjust the necessary "pressure". This is necessary in order not to flood the plants and prevent the soil from drying out.

The Austrian Blumat system is distinguished by the fact that the lower part of the conical cone is made of special clay, which is able to react to soil moisture and independently maintain the necessary moisture in the ground. A thin hose is also connected to the cone, the other end descending into a container of water. As soon as the soil in a pot with a houseplant dries out, the system will begin to supply water drop by drop. The amount of water is regulated by the level at which the water container is located.
for passive irrigation there are capillary mats on sale. Such hygroscopic mats are sold in garden centers and large supermarkets in the departments of houseplant care. The operation is very simple. Laying a pallet or even kitchen table with plastic wrap, place a capillary mat on top and place pots of indoor flowers on it. Dip one of the edges of the absorbent mat into a container of water. Water will saturate the mat, and houseplants can easily absorb moisture into the soil through the bottom of the pot.

by cutting the capillary mat into strips, you can use it as harnesses for passive irrigation.

Having picked up any of these ways of watering indoor flowers during your vacation, you will not leave your home oasis without life-giving moisture. And upon your return, the flowers will thank you with lush growth and flowering. Because they will miss you just as much as you do.

Video about do-it-yourself automatic watering methods

Ready-made types of automatic watering of home flowers are designed for irrigating plants during a long absence of the owner and flower growers:

Name	Device	Operating principle
Micro-drip irrigation	An electronic timer regulates the process of water supply through tubes, the ends of which are fitted with special tips (inserted into the soil of each flower container).	The device is connected to a centralized water supply or equipped with a liquid reservoir. Built-in devices regulate the time of supply of life-giving moisture to the flower pot, the level of soil moisture.
Cache-pot with automatic watering	Consists of a decorative planter and two containers, one of which grows home flower and the other is filled with water.	The system works on the principle of communicating vessels. Saturation of the substrate with water occurs in a microcapillary way. Liquid seepage occurs from below or from the sides (depending on the design of the planter). A special float-tube shows the water level in the storage tank.
Ceramic cones	Several ceramic cones have plastic caps connected to soft tubes through which fluid flows.	Cones are inserted into the ground flower pot, and the ends of the connecting tubes are lowered into a container with liquid. As the soil dries out, water is automatically supplied from the reservoir to the substrate.

Watering flowers during the holidays will not require the presence of a person if you build a simple device with your own hands. Drip irrigation from medical systems for droppers is one of the methods of automatic watering, the advantage of which is the ability to adjust the rate of water flow to the root of a houseplant. Automatic watering of flowers in pots is done like this:

Drill holes in a plastic tank (for example, a 10 l canister) at a level of 1 cm from the bottom. There should be as many of them as there are indoor plants. The diameter of the holes should be slightly smaller than the lumen of the dropper tube.
Dip the edge of the medical system plastic catheter into boiling water. Wait until it softens and insert into the opening of the canister. Do this procedure with all tubes.
Treat the joints with any sealant, for example, waterproof glue to avoid leakage.
Draw water into the canister and fix the container with liquid 1 m above the level of indoor flowers.
Insert the injection knot (without the needle) into the flower pot close to the base of the plant stem.
Using the clip-regulator of the medical system for droppers, adjust the rate of fluid flow from the canister to the root system of the green pet.

Homemade remote irrigation methods

Watering indoor flowers during the holidays by remote irrigation is based on a metered intake of water from materials that can accumulate moisture and then gradually release it. Expanded clay is great for this. First, you need to keep it in water for several hours to saturate it with liquid. Pour a layer of moisture-absorbing drainage into a large pan (basin) and place flower pots on it. Pour expanded clay between the containers for plants so that the porous material covers them by ½. Pour 2 cm of water into the bottom of the pan.

One of the most simple ways remote irrigation is to use a plastic bottle. A small hole is made in the cork with a thin hot nail. The bottle is filled with water, turned upside down and deepened in this position into the substrate. Moisture will gradually seep through the hole, moistening the ground. Such a device should be made in advance in order to adjust the rate of water supply by selecting the ideal cork puncture diameter.

Watering indoor plants in the absence of owners can be carried out with a wick irrigation system. Its use is more suitable for moisture-resistant representatives of the flora, because the soil in the pot will be constantly wet. Prerequisites for effective moistening in this way is the light structure of the substrate in which root system plants. Step-by-step instruction:

It is necessary to prepare: a flower pot, a water container, perlite (styrofoam), a synthetic cord with a diameter of 2 mm.
Put a perlite (foam) layer of drainage on the bottom of the flower pot.
Pass the wick through the drain hole in the pot and lay its coil on the drainage surface. Important! The spiral of the lace must be between the drainage and the soil. If the turn of the wick does not touch the ground, but gets lost between the perlite (styrofoam), the irrigation system will not work.
Fill the pot with soil and plant the plant.
Water abundantly indoor flower.
The water container should be of such a diameter that the pot enters it by ¼ and is fixed at the top without touching the water. The end of the wick must be immersed in the liquid.

In order for indoor flowers long time could remain without watering while the owners are on vacation, they use hydrogel - polymer granules. 1 g of this substance is able to absorb 200 g of liquid and gradually release it to the substrate with the plant. The use of hydrogel as an additional source of moisture is only suitable for indoor flowers that require frequent watering.

If before vacation, make 3-6 holes in the substrate of the flower pot with a pencil (depending on its volume) to the very bottom and pour 1 g of hydrogel there, after abundant watering, you can leave the plant for several weeks. Moisture is enough for the normal existence of the flower before the arrival of the owner. With the help of a hydrogel, you can significantly reduce the frequency of watering indoor flowers. To do this, when transplanting a plant, you need to mix the soil with polymer granules (3: 1).