How to Water Plants While Away For 2 Weeks; 9 Ways to Keep Houseplants Alive During Vacations
Are you going on vacation for a couple of weeks?
Is your work taking you away from home for extended periods of time, and you don’t know how to water your plants while away?
Don’t worry!
Whether you have one precious plant you’ve inherited from grandma, five, or over 100, (like I do), in this article you’ll find the right way to keep your plants alive while away!
I’ve experimented with different methods and different products throughout the years, traveling back and forth to my natal country.
Just recently, I was away for three weeks and left all my 100+ plants behind…
At my return, I determined that this last “watering plants while away method” I used was the best one yet! You’ll have to read until the end to figure out which method it was…😜
You won’t be able to pick and choose one way to water plants vs. another. It really depends on the type of plants you have, their size and the actual quantity of plants you have in your home.
On thing is for sure though; the most important part of keeping your plants alive while you are away is to PREPARE EVERYTHING BEFORE YOU GO.
So, please! Make sure you don’t skip the “Before you go” Section of this article!
One last important word; I am not affiliated to any of the products recommended in this article. I recommend these specific products because I am either familiar with them, I’ve used them, and because I trust their brand’s quality.
before you go
This section is for those who have a lot of plants in their homes, (over 10, and will most likely need the help of a third party to water their plants). If this is not you, you can skip to the “9 Ways to Keep Plants Alive During Vacations” section.
Strategizing and planning is everything, implementing after a plan, is easy!
Your job is to make their job of watering your plants as clear and easy as possible, especially if your house is a jungle!!!
Last year I left my husband in charge. He managed to only kill 2 plants out of 100+, which is pretty darn good, if you think about it! (He’s actually darn proud of it!!).
That’s because I made the job super easy for him!
How?
Take a look below!
(If you go around the house telling your plant-sitter what your plant needs are, without any clear organization or instructions, there will be way more than 2% plants killed!!)
group your plants by type & needs in the right spot
Provided that you have more than five plants, you need to gather all the plants you have dispersed throughout the house in one easy spot for your plant-sitter to water.
It’s important that this spot is easily accessible to your plant-sitter, but that it’s also ideal for all plants’ needs; plenty of bright light, without direct sun and no drafts of any kind.
In addition, if you have different types of plants with different watering needs, try to group them separately, leaving clear notes or indications on what they need.
(Grouping plants has the added benefit of increasing the surrounding air humidity, which not only is highly beneficial for many plants’ species, but it also results in less moisture evaporation, hence the need for less water).
In this corner of the house, I gathered all the tropical plants that I water with distilled water, and left plenty of jugs to cover the period of time I will be gone for.
I gathered all the water propagations on this pony wall so that my friend can top up all the low jars only in this spot.
leave clear instructions & notes
For me, the Dining Room table is the best central spot for watering my plants while away. It can accommodate a lot of plants, it’s easy to access all around to water the plants, and it has a lot of bright light without any direct sun.
Placing plants in different spots for your plant-sitter to water is not enough when you have a lot of plants as they are probably very different in kind and needs!
It’s great to group them by plant type and watering needs, but it is also important to leave sticky notes with reminders!
For example; some plants need the same light and type of water than the majority, but others may only need water every two weeks. If that’s the case, leave a sticky note next to it!
In this picture you can see pink post-it notes next to a Mini-Orchid and an Air Plant. That’s because the Mini-Orchid gets one ice cube a week rather than water, while the Air Plant gets sprayed rather than watered.
give your plant-sitter a tour
Pictures, organization and instructions are great, but your Plant-Sitter, whether is a Professional Service you’ve hired, a family member ,or a friend, needs a tour of your plants BEFORE you leave.
Ideally, the tour needs to be done AFTER you’ve arranged all the plants for her/him, so that they know what to expect.
They can ask you any questions ahead of time, rather than panicking while you are gone and you can stretch the importance of your grandma’s plant!!!
This site meeting is also important to show your plant-sitter how to access the house and lock it again, where the bathroom is, where to get all the tools needed to care for your plants, and when to go water the plants.
give your plants a good water
Finally, the day before you leave on your long vacation, or extended leave, give all your plants a good water, so that they can thrive until your plant-sitter goes to your home to water them.
9 ways to keep houseplants alive during vacations
1. glass bottle method
This method of watering plants while away works great when you have very little plants and many glass bottles with metal screw caps. Wine bottles with aluminum caps are ideal for this.
All you need to do is to create 5 small holes in the cap.
You can do this by placing the cap upside down hammering a nail through the cap in 5 different spots until it creates the perforations.
Fill the bottle full of water. Screw the cap back on.
Dig a hole in the plant’s pot deep enough for the bottle neck to fit through, and place the bottle in cap first.
Your plant will be slowly watered by the bottle.
2. plants bath
Another good method to keep a good amount of plants watered for a long period of time is to place them inside a bath tub filled with water.
The only issue with this method is that a consistent amount of moisture provided by keeping the pots in water for a prolonged period of time, it’s not good for all plants.
I recommend to place an old beach towel at the bottom of the tub to avoid any scratching of the tub surface. Terracotta pots and soil can be abrasive against the bottom surface of the tub.
Photo Credit; Canva
Hey Plant Loving Woman!
Are you a middle age mom?
Do you constantly feel overwhelmed and anxious?
Do you believe in the healing power of nature?
To reveal your #1 Personal Houseplant that best
helps you reduce your anxiety.
3. automatic plant waterers
I’ve used these guys in the past and they worked wonderful.
It’s definitely worth the purchase if you have a handful of plants. However, if you have many plants and they are quite big in size, you may want to consider other options.
Photo Credit: Amazon.com
Place the ceramic cone into the pot and deep into the soil. Fill a jar full of water and place the other end of the plant waterer at the bottom of your water jar.
As the water into the clay cone is drawn into the dry soil, it creates a vacuum effect, pulling more water through the supply hose.
4. mini greenhouse
The idea of a mini green house can be implemented in many different ways depending on the plants’ type, size and quantity.
You can go from a home made plastic bag system, to a glass sealed terrarium, to a mini greenhouse kit that can accommodate multiple plants.
The idea is to create a very humid environment with its own micro-climate, just like into a sealed terrarium.
If you have one or two plants, simply place four stakes at the four corners of the pot to function as tent supports.
Find a clear plastic bag that is large enough to cover your plant and pot.
Water your plant and cover it with the bag, placing it in a spot without direct sunlight.
The humidity created into this greenhouse will evaporate to the top, making little droplets of water which will in turn fall into the plant.
The same concepts applies to a glass terrarium and a mini greenhouse kit you can purchase in any big box store or online.
Photo Credit: Amazon.com
5. drip system
The drip system is an alternative solution to the glass bottle, water spikes or bulbs, and even automatic plant waterers.
They are just a different system that requires a more invasive soil intervention as they need to be planted deeper into the soil and closer to the root system.
Once again, this system is suited for people that don’t have many plants.
Photo Credit: Lee Valley
These wells are planted next to the roots to ensure that water is delivered without run-off or evaporation. Fill with water through the exposed spout.
6. self watering planter
Self Watering planters are planters with a built-in sub-irrigation system. They provide water to the plant from the bottom, rather than the top.
These planters have a built-in water reservoir at the bottom, from which the roots can draw water when they need it.
The gauge sticking up of the pot tells you when the reservoir is out of water and it needs to be refilled. This way, there is no guesswork for the plant parent.
This system is particularly effective for both black thumbs and long vacations!
7. watering spikes & GLOBES
I have a dear friend, that like me, often has to travel back to her home country for extended periods of time.
While I am her plant-sitter, she also relies on tools like these ones.
She has several citrus plants and giant Dracaenas and these water spikes seem to work quite well for her plants! In-fact, while I water her Jades and other plants, I also refill the bottles attached to watering spikes every two weeks.
Photo Credit: Amazon
This is a terracotta watering spike. It is used to support either plastic or glass bottles. The porous terracotta material allows water to slowly seep through, maintain the soil moist for a good period of time.
Photo Credit: Amazon
This glass bulb is filled with water and inserted deep into the soil, so that the plant can draw moisture from it once the soil starts to dry out.
8. professional plant-sitter
If you have way too many plants and don’t want to burden any of your family or friends with watering plants while away, you can hire professionals to do the work for you. Almost every big city has a business offering plant-sitting services.
During my research, I stumbled upon this wonderful web-site; Plantsit.com.
This is an example of the services that can be offered to plant parents deserving a vacation.
If your community doesn’t offer anything similar to it, you can post an add offering money to plant-sit for you; it can be an excellent job for an eager teenager!
9. friend (my favourite!)
I’ve tried tools, I’ve tried family and just recently I’ve tried a friend!
It turned out to be the best way to keep me plants not only alive, but thriving too!
She even got into competitive mode against my husband and wanted to beat the 2% mortality rate. And she did! None of my plants died, and they all thrived!!
I prepared everything for her the way I described in the “Before You Go” section and gave her the complete tour before leaving!
(If you choose this route, make sure you read the “Before You Go” Section!)
My friend text keeping my up to speed on my plants’ health with pictures to confirm my plant is ok.
(Here she gets competitive with my husband!)
Another message from my plant-sitter friend two weeks later. You can’t beat a friend when it comes to plants’ care! ❤️
And that’s all folks!
I am sure that whether you have one or 100+ plants, you’ve found a way to keep them alive during your vacations!
Feel free to shoot me any questions, should you have any!
Disclosure: This Blog contains affiliate links, which means I will make a commission at no cost to you, if you make a purchase after clicking my link.
Hey Plant Loving Woman!
Are you a middle age mom?
Do you constantly feel overwhelmed and anxious?
Do you believe in the healing power of nature?
To reveal your #1 Personal Houseplant that best
helps you reduce your anxiety.
Distilled water for tropicals? There’s a good chance I missed one of your previous articles about using that (so much information to read, so little free time to in which to read it!). Can you provide a link? THANKS!
Hi Craig. I only use distilled water for those tropicals that are prone to brown tips, such as Calatheas, Marantas and Peace Lilies…
Here’e the link to the article on how to water plants.
https://blog.mytastefulspace.com/2019/10/30/watering-indoor-plants/