Watering plants when overseas

kuregtr · Post by **kuregtr** » January 7th, 2014, 11:16 pm

Hi

I will be going overseas for 2 weeks. How does one water their plants?

Thanks

Ash · Post by **Ash** » January 7th, 2014, 11:37 pm

Hi,

If you plants can be moved, I would recommend boarding them at a bonsai nursery. Have a look at the Ausbonsai directory to find the most suitable nursery near you that offers this service. There should be plenty in Melbourne. If your collection is too large to move it would be worth installing a good automatic watering system and getting a reliable family member or friend to check daily that it is operating properly. Some people put them in trays for short trips away, but trays of water will not last for two weeks.

Good luck!

Ash

Josh · Post by **Josh** » January 7th, 2014, 11:43 pm

3 options really...
1. Have a trusted friend water for you. I say trusted because they need to understand what watering means. It's not just a sprinkle.
2. Pay to have someone look after them for you
3. Set up an automatic watering system.

I went away for a week over Christmas/new years. I bought 2 battery operated automatic watering units from Bunnings for around $55 each. I set up 2 lines to water the trees. I figured by having 2 separate lines if one fails I don't loose everything. Came home to find all plants (including freshly potted) all doing fine. I had the timer set for 5mins at 6:30am and 5mins at 7pm. I had plenty of sprays in each line so 5mins got everything well and truly wet.
There was a thread on here only a week or so ago with heaps of info about this. Have you tried doing a search on here

You haven't said how many trees you have so hard to say what is best..

Josh

Post by **kcpoole** » January 8th, 2014, 5:24 am

Or a combination of Josh suggestions

I rely on auto watering, but make sure I have somone look in every 2 days to confirm they are working

Isitangus · Post by **Isitangus** » January 8th, 2014, 5:58 am

I was Way for 10 days and my plants look better than when I'm home! Set up basic tap timers and some splitters and then good old soaker hose. I also setup soaker hose on the lawn. My settings were 10 minutes every 24 hrs. Also gave a sprinkle of seamungus.
Had the parents check in every few days.
If you setup a watering system do it at least a week before hand. This give you the chance to tinker with it and ensure it works, this will lead to peace of mind on your trip-it also frees up more time for preparing/packing!

kuregtr · Post by **kuregtr** » January 8th, 2014, 11:17 am

Thanks for the tip. I probably fix the auto watering system and also ask a friend to check on it once in a couple of days.

AusBonsai