Many flower growers, being away, worry about their pets, who remain for quite a long time without care and attention. You can ask friends or neighbors to water your flowers while you're away, but there are other effective ways to keep your plants hydrated while you're away. Consider the most popular ways to autowater indoor plants.
Providing water regime for flowers
You can just water the plants well before leaving and put the pots in basins of water, which will help keep the soil moist for a week or two. This method does not require any financial investments and is available to everyone. But more effective would be an automatic watering system for houseplants, which will allow the flowers to survive your absence for two or even more than three weeks.
How to prepare flowers for your absence
Every grower knows that plants well pre-watered can live withoutadditional watering up to two weeks. Plants must be prepared for your departure, namely:
- remove plants from window sills to reduce light and thereby achieve less evaporation of moisture from the soil;
- from plants it is necessary to cut off all flowers and buds and thin out the leaf mass;
- pots should be placed more tightly, which will create additional moisture around the flowers, the ideal solution would be to install the pots in a pallet or basin, on the bottom of which a layer of expanded clay is poured, well moistened, flowerpots should be placed on wet expanded clay, and a few more centimeters should be poured on top water;
- ideal if you can make a transparent film cap over the flowers like a small greenhouse, this method is very good, however it is somewhat stressful for plants, and if you are away for a week or more, then prepare cuttings of your favorite flowers that can be put in a jar of water.
Organization of independent moisture supply
The automatic watering system for indoor plants is a constant supply of moisture to the roots of plants in the amount they need. The homemade greenhouse described earlier will work much more efficiently if you add an additional source of water that will uninterruptedly supply your flowers with life-giving moisture for several weeks. Consider how to make automatic watering of indoor plants at home. You can apply the simplest, "handicraft" option. For example, in ordinary large plasticFor water bottles, you can make small holes in the lids. Settled water is poured into the bottles and turned upside down, while setting them between the pots. Moisture will seep drop by drop to the bottoms of the pots and moisten the expanded clay on which the flowerpots stand. The holes must be large enough to allow water to flow out. You can determine the desired diameter experimentally. Now you need to determine the size of the bottle, which is necessary for the uninterrupted supply of moisture to the bottom of the pots. The size of the bottle depends on the size of the earthy clod in the pot. For example, large pots should be surrounded by several large bottles of water, but plants in tiny pots will not work this way at all.
Industrial automatic watering devices
If the funds allow you, then you can install an automatic automatic watering system for industrial production. Aqua Globs are the most common, and they consist of a special glass bulb, which is connected to a ceramic cone. This cone is immersed in the substrate, thereby achieving uniform wetting of the substrate. The cone has a porous structure, from the pores water oozes into the soil drop by drop. If the tub with the plant is large, then several pieces can be used. Usually, the cones are connected to the water supply using a special rubber hose. Another industrial system that provides automatic watering of indoor plants is also popular - Gardena. The device functions with a pump, a timer and tubes, it is capable ofprovide water for up to 36 plants at the same time.
Other ways of getting water
The most popular indoor plant watering system is connecting flowers to a container containing water using makeshift wicks. You can use cords, ropes, woolen threads, as well as twisted most ordinary bandages. One end of a homemade wick is lowered into a basin or other container of water, and the other end is attached to a pot, fixing it in the ground with a peg or clothespin. A difference in capillary pressure is created, due to which water flows through the wick from the basin into the pot. Automatic watering of indoor plants with wicks is a very effective and common method of continuous moisture supply.
Autowatering safety
To completely eliminate the possibility of drying the earth in pots during your absence, both home-made and industrial automatic watering systems should be tested in advance. For example, it is worth checking how well a homemade wick conducts water and how much water is in the basin. It may easily turn out that the basin of water will be empty in a day, and this is inevitable death for your flowers. It is very important to decide in advance on the desired size of the bottles so that your plant has enough moisture for the time you are away. You should also decide on the height at which you need to put a basin of water so that the water passes well through the wicks.
Capillary mats
Great water solution for plants- These are capillary mats, which are mats made of hygroscopic material. You can see capillary mats for sale in many speci alty malls and they are relatively inexpensive.
You can spread this capillary mat over any surface, such as a large table or wide window sill, but one end must be dipped in a container of water. Under the rug, it is imperative to lay an oilcloth so as not to spoil the surface of the table with moisture. If you cannot lower one of the edges of the mat into a container with water, then you can cut off strips from it, moisten them with water, and then put one end under the mat, and lower the other into the container. These strips will work like homemade wicks and conduct water. For automatic watering of indoor plants, pallets are also produced that work like capillary mats. They consist of a deep tray and a shallow inner tray, as well as a capillary mat. Water is poured into a large tray, a small tray is placed in it, which is lined with a rug, and then flowerpots with flowers are placed on it. The rug will always draw water. This watering is good because the flowers are guaranteed not to start rotting roots.
In conclusion
Having considered in detail all the proposed options for automatic watering of indoor plants, you will undoubtedly choose the most suitable one for yourself, which will help you protect your favorite plants from drought. If you don't have the funds to buyindustrial production system, then you can easily make such a device yourself, which will be no worse. Thanks to the considered methods, you can easily organize automatic watering of indoor plants. Moscow, Petersburg, Sochi, Paris and other amazing places on earth are waiting for you! Travel without worrying about your plants getting in trouble.
