Going Away for christmas vacation!!! Help!

[usng]

hey,
I've looked everywhere on the web for ideas for watering my plants while I'm gone for christmas vacation. I'm gone for about 2 weeks. I saw the constant drip mechanism, but I've read that constantly watering your plants causes root rot. is 2 weeks long enough for this to happen. And I was wondein if leaving them in a hydrogen peroxide solution would supply enough water while keeping the roots rot-free (good idea?). any advice would be kool. thx

usng Reviewed by usng on 12-19-2006. Going Away for christmas vacation!!! Help! hey, I've looked everywhere on the web for ideas for watering my plants while I'm gone for christmas vacation. I'm gone for about 2 weeks. I saw the constant drip mechanism, but I've read that constantly watering your plants causes root rot. is 2 weeks long enough for this to happen. And I was wondein if leaving them in a hydrogen peroxide solution would supply enough water while keeping the roots rot-free (good idea?). any advice would be kool. thx Rating: 5

[Perp]

I have heard of people using 2L pop bottles with a couple pinholes in the bottom and on in the top to slowly let the water drip out. Don't know if it will last the full two weeks though. If you got time until you leave then I would test it to see how long it takes to empty the bottle.

Alternatively you can always set up a pump on a timer but that will cost some money and there is always the chance of mechanical failure or flood.

I wouldn't leave them in hydrogen peroxide.

[TheGreenFog]

I agree with Perp as far as the H2O2...you don't want to leave them "IN" H2O2. You can possibly add it to your res if you are not using organics.

Are you doing hydro? Soil?

Soil would be MUCH easier. Hydro...ehh well, it will be a challenge for 2 whole weeks.

Soil: Just get a timer. Have the timer water them from a light solution res once every couple days. Easy as cake.

Hydro: Timer, but you will need more water in your res. plus you would normally want to switch out/fill up your water after a week, so you may be pushing it.

I still recommend a lighter diluted solution than normal so you don't have any burn problems that you cannot fix while away. 2 liter bottle is not reliable. Timer: much more reliable. Not 100%, but much closer.

Yes, rootrot can happen in 2 weeks...even less.

So, more info? Do you have a log?

:rastasmoke:

TGF

[usng]

Thanks for replying Perp. Yeah. I''ve heard of that little trick too. My concern like I said before is root rot, if I were to use some kind of device like this. Has anyone tried these methods before, without any problems?

Ummm, also, yeah I was sketched out at the thought of leaving em in peroxide, but I was wonderin if anyones tried that one for a long period of time either...

Oh, and I was thinking of a wick system as well, but Im so paranoid about killing my babies... First grow - besides this, going good.

Any help would be sick. thx

[usng]

Whoa, sorry GreenFog. totally didn't see your responce there. so, yeah I'm growing in 5gallon pots, about 5-6 weeks old, all in veg. I have 3 100W CFLs, can switch to 6 CFLS & 2 40W growing fluoros, but it gets too hot in there, and my fans are too loud to turn up all the way. Im gonna get a new one soon, but can afford it yet.
my babies are about 7 inches high and I've started LSTing them last week, and they're growing great. staying small & bushy - almost stunted looking so Im gonna find a micronutrient replacement for them. (wow, tmi i think)
so anywho, theres 3 of them, in soil, and I dont have a log cause it can be kinda heat - especially since I dont know how to use a proxy server yet. again, thanks for the help. I hope this info helps.

oh, and I was looking at the timers, look great, but were all for about $50 or so (a little much for me right now), and Im not sure if I can find one around here at this time of the year. :noel:

[TheGreenFog]

Well, sounds ok, man. You are using soil, so you shouldn't have too much of a hard time setting up a timer. What do you mean "hard to find a timer this time of year??" It's Christmas time, they're everywhere. Ever seen "Home Alone?"

Well, anyway, you're gonna have to set up a pump and a timer to water your plants. Since you are in soil, you should be able to get away with watering them once every 2-3 days or so. Set up a 10-20 gallon res, with a small pump, some tubing with splitters, and a timer. You can get controlled drip heads to drop at whatever rate you want (i.e. 1 gph or so). Just open the pump all the way, hook up the drip system, and plug it into a timer. Set the timer to go on for 15 minutes or so once every few days, and you will be set. You have your lights on a timer right? Other than that, I only see problems with your LSTing....................ohh and lighting

What I mean by that is, if you aren't there to keep up with it, they can get away from you big time. You just started LSTing them, so they should start to shoot out more branches anytime now, and you will want to keep an eye on them. Being away for a couple weeks, you will have to hope they don't stretch too much or otherwise go crazy on you.

By lighting, I mean that you generally have to raise the lighting/ lower the plants every couple days during veg, especially when using flourescent lighting, so you might come home to some scorched tops. I would hate to say keep the lights further away, because they will stretch that way, but otherwise, they will grow into the light and burn, unless you keep it relatively cool in there, and even then, they will experience some heat stress.

Seems like quite a quandry you're in there, man. Hope you get it figured out. I told you what I'd do for the watering, but now I'm more worried about the lighting than the watering!

Hope some of this helped. It's not advice, by any means, just what I would do.

:rastasmoke:

TGF

[the yeag]

sorry no link...i am in a hurry but google plant watering machines.....i have seen a watering unit that has a 5gallon resorvoir and can water up to 3 times a day you set time date amount it will do it. it cost around 75 $

[TheGreenFog]

Sorry, yeag but that sounds impractical for his situation. He is in soil, therefore, no need to water 3 times daily. More like 3 times weekly. And a simple timer ($10), pump($10), tubing($5), dripheads ($3), and res ($5) will cost much less than that watering machine, plus, he could then set it up to be permanent with simple maintenence.

Just my :twocents:

:rastasmoke:

TGF

[usng]

Sweet, thanks guys.
I thought it was going to cost a lot more than that to put together a pump system! :upsidedow I'll go looking for some pumps tonight at an aquarium store and home depot. As for my lights, yeah I've thinking about it, and I've got some plexiglass that I'll just put between the lights and the plants. This will keep the plants from getting too close & burning if they go wild on me and grow out of control. The last thing I'm worried about, is if the males begin showing signs of sex while I'm away! I'd hate to be stuck, cleaning and disinfecting my room, and growing some seedy shiza:cursing:
Well I'll see wat I find tonite and Ill let cha know tommorrow. thanks again guys.

[TheGreenFog]

Yea, sounds like a plan, man. That plexiglass might rob a few lumens, but it's worth it to save the evil plant-burn.

That setup I described should be decent for what you need. Like I said, you're lucky you're not using hydro! That's much harder to deal with.

As far as your plants turning male and pollinating your room...I don't think you have to worry about that, but then again you never said what stage they are in. Flowering? What week of flowering?

You also never answered my other question...are you using timers for your lights??

:rastasmoke:

TGF