vacation

[usc886]

ok i'm going on vacation for about a week a little less, i have a few plants growing it's my first time, but so far so good. i'm going to start flowering when i get back, but i need to know if they'll be ok for a week, i dont think i'll be able to set up a good watering system, so i was just going to water throughly and then hope for the best, i've heard that i can cut the lights off but that will keep them from growing, and i dont want that. ok i geuss i just want to know if the plants will die if i dont water it for a week.

[BlazeIdo]

Put a water pump in a bucket of water on a timer. Figure out how long it takes for the pump to pump out as much water as you would use on a daily basis . If you can get a pressure rated dripper that will give you more leeway on the timer, and the drippers can basically be set to spray water. This will be better than the water coming out of the standard 1/2 pump tubing which could come out to fast if you dont have a short term timer. You will have to make a reducer to take the 1/2" tubing down to the standard dripper size tubing (airline tubing). I use a baby syringe cut off an inch from the end for my reducer on my ph doser, works great. Place the tubing end at the base of your plant. Split the lines for more plants...be creative...Peace

[usc886]

thanks for that but i really really dont have the money for all that i might be able to set up a simple way of getting water to my plant but basically would be more like having a constant slow drip of water, i dont know if that would be a good thing or not though, i figure at least the plants would get water. really i dont water daily sometimes not even everyother day, i'm waiting to water this time to strech out the time to see how long i can go without watering, (i'm just waiting for the top of the soil to dry, not the entire pot), but what i really want to know is if i can leave them for 5 or 6 days without water, and 24hour light, or if they would die

[BlazeIdo]

The whole setup would be like 30 tops with everything (maybe less). If you can pull and extra gram you almost made your money back.....but......Im strictly hydro so Im not familiar enough with soil to know how long it would stay moist. I tried to set up a gravity drip for my chameleon over a 7 day trip once, lets just say I dont have a chameleon anymore:( Pressure is hard to judge in that kind of situation for that long. Peace

[usc886]

yea i was really thinking against the drip system aswell, what i was thinking though is i could repot my plants in bigger pots allowing them to hold more water and be watered less often, there in about gallon pots now so it's probably not a bad idea anyway, anyone else have advice on this??

[BlazeIdo]

I just had a brilliant idea..IMO....Set up a wick system. All you'll need is a cut up old t-shirt, a bucket, and a way to prop up your pots

[usc886]

ok you may have to be a little more specific than that, do tell please

[BlazeIdo]

Capillary action will take care of the rest

[BlazeIdo]

let me right this up one sec

[BlazeIdo]

Heres the diagram I just drew. Really bad sorry

[BlazeIdo]

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[BlazeIdo]

......

[BlazeIdo]

Place the wick against the inside of the pots and then add soil and plants

[BlazeIdo]

You can use as many or as few wicks as you want.

[usc886]

ok i see what your saying here just have a couple of questions. first what exactly is the purpose of raising the plants??? i dont quite understand how the water will travel that far up the cloth, and second would that actually work without overwatering?? because honestly i'm just as scared if not more of that then them wilting a little bit. right now i think i'm leaning toward repotting them, what do you think is a one gallon container big enough, it should be now the biggest one is probably about 8 inches mabey less, the smalles probably 5 or so

[BlazeIdo]

One more thing, Use either a clean white cotton shirt cut into long strips, or nylon rope. Peace

[BlazeIdo]

Capillary action goes up so the plants have to be up. No it won't overwater, once thd plant uses up whats there it will replace itself. Yes it will travel that far but the shorter the better, that was just a bad picture. 1 gallon should be fine, but I cant see the root system. The theory is kind of hard to believe but how do you think plants uptake nutes? Peace

[BlazeIdo]

Also dont base your design off that diagram. Research wick systems and you can find many diagrams, explanations etc.

[usc886]

oh no i do understand that i just wasnt too sure about the water traveleing up, but i dont think that i'll be able to take the plants out of th pots inorder to but the wicks in, ya know??? i mean it will be difficult for me to do this, know what i mean?

[BlazeIdo]

You'll prolly have to repot in order to use the wick system.

[ericwt]

Get a larger pot, fill it with kitty litter (Natural, no additives or perfumes).

Transplant them in the kitty litter.

Water the heck out of them. Make sure the litter and soil is saturated.

Go on Vacation. Simple.
http://boards.cannabis.com/organic-growing/100139-organic-gardening-kitty-litter.html

[usc886]

yea i dont know about i'm not about to get rid of all the soil nuts and replace it with chem kitty litter mabey someother time sorry

[faithlessxxx]

lol

[ericwt]

I said natural kitty litter. Nor did I say get rid of the soil. All I said is put it in a pot with kitty litter.

If you read the link you would see it uses no chemicals.

Whatever it is your plants man. Let them die

[faithlessxxx]

Probably a neutral medium.

[ericwt]

Probably a neutral medium.

Exactly!

That is all it is. It will hold water well. As long as you get the cheap kind with no additives.

[usc886]

how about if i add some of it to the top of the soil it'll hold water and slowly seep into the soil??

[faithlessxxx]

Time to replant anyway. Replant to 2 gallon buckets, give a good watering, that'll make them happy for 5 days, 7 days they'll be fine but not too happy with you.