going on vacation

Hi,
Im taking a holiday for 3 weeks and dont trust anyone enough to tell them about my little hobby, i am growing using 20L oxypots and the plants are about 2 weeks into flower. I know in the time i will be away they will run dry and was wondering if there is anything i can do to make the plants survive but drink less while im away so i can resume back to normal when i get back....will upping or lowering the PH level make them take in less....new grower so i would appreciate anything which might help me.
Also is there anything i can add to my feed which will help prevent root rot.
Much appreciated in advance

are u serious? is this an indoor soil grow? theres prob thing u can do for a few days but they not going to look after themselves for 3 weeks. what about stretch? isn't it dangerous too with lights? omg

The only thing I can think of is you could mix a lot of water crystals into the soil. They are a super absorbent polymer with a sand like consistency when dry, when soaked they swell to about the size of small grapes (or crushed ice, depending on type/amount you soak them). They hold water that plants can use, and they wont drown plants so you can effectively use them to store extra water in the soil. I use them for germination and I actually have a couple small plants growing in just water crystals and they are doing pretty well, so I can testify that they won't hurt the plants, and they take a really long time to dry out. Also as an added bonus, because they swell when wet and shrink as they dry, they can help the soil stay aerated and stop it from compacting as tightly. Hope that helps.

You need to make a drop feeder system, that will slowly drip water, like a drop every few seconds. Try it out for like a week before you go to make sure it is enough and that it won't over water.

That's probably your only option for that long man. That or just get someone you trust to take care of them while you're gone. That's what I had to do for Christmas.

Won't a drip feeder cause a ton of salt buildup? I don't know how "gimmicky" they are, but I know plenty of people who use these with decorative houseplants. At least they would get the water close to the roots. Unless you can jury rig a killer drip system, you might want to consider something like these http://www.amazon.com/Aqua-Globes-AG011706-Watering-2-Pack/dp/B000FHAJ90

3 weeks is too long. even with an automatic drip system that was dialed in properly, i still would advise against it for reasons of safety. if this was an outdoor grow, id be all over a drip system for something like this.

id just chop them down and start over when u get back.

there are gator bags for outdoor trees. there is probably a device you can buy or make one. mb a 2 liter bottle with a couple pin holes in it. this is done all the time. i'm more concerned with the lights then the water. good luck though.

be aware fire is a danger
you'd need a timer , submersible, air pump and stone, a manifold , and tubing.

a good idea is an overflow tray w/ capacity larger than that of your feeder reservoir. if anything happens (timer stays on?) it won't flood your house
a better idea is a reliable timer that is set properly, I like the digital ones with the battery inside.
you could do a setting, say twice a week.
calculate how much water it uses in said watering

multiply that by amount of days watered.
this is how you determine reservoir size, you don't want the pump running dry. account for water lost due to evaporation.

clear water will stay the longest, so using a top dress of some soil with a little slow release fertilizer should work well.

the most reliable drippers i hear of are HALO drip rings. make the drip setup and wa-laa, you're good. setup the drippers off the manifold that runs off the submersible. a 10-20$ submersible should work great. halo likely gives u a GPH per ring that you could use as a guideline to buy a submersible.
same idea goes with other brand drippers

air pump to regulate water temp+oxygenate.
put air pump and water reservoir in an area around 65 deg F, to keep the water at that temp (maybe a few deg above, or below, no biggie)
run lines over into the tent to help with temperature issues, if this might be an issue.



3 weeks of flowering growth especially 2 weeks in could be bad, unless familiar with stretch cycle you could possibly guess the proper light height. this is what could cause the fire (if you do the watering setup safe + legit)

Bad planning, my friend! I've put off growing for almost a year because I didn't have a 6-month chunk of time when I wouldn't be away for at least a week in there. Never leave the grow.

Given the amount of time you'll be gone, it's probably smartest to cut them down now and start again when you get back. If that bothers you, then bring someone in that you can trust. If you don't have someone you can trust, then cut them down. It would be irresponsible to try to run your lights for 3 weeks without being on site to look for problems.

If you still don't want to do that, then give them a huge watering before you go, push them over to a window, turn off the lights and hope that when you return you'll be able to revive them. Think of it as an experiment. Good luck!

Hi thanks all for the replies....using an oxypot bubbler so no soil but i didnt thing about the growing risk of fire....made me definately change my mind about leaving them that long....even thought the light is in a cooltube it's still not worth the risk....much appreciated for pointing that out to me guys...it will pain me cutting my girls up, probably just take a few clones and put them in the air propogator while im away and they should be rooted by the time im back.

Get yourself a Battery operated "Hose Timer"
Garden hose in [might add a low pressure RV regulator] to your grow room...
Hose timer in line....
Turn water on and watch how long it takes to fill a 1/2 gallon, or quart if you wish...
Time the fill up....
Then run a manifold of short garden hoses to each plant...
Measure and time the hose run...
Adjust as needed on each plant... maybe get a valve for each plant...for hose end...
Home Depot/Lowes sells hose timers
Hope they don't die on ya....

http://www.homedepot.com/b/Outdoors-Garden-Center-Watering-Irrigation-Sprinkler-Timers-Hose-Timers/N-5yc1vZ5yc1vZc63g

Like one of these

I was away for 9 days. When I left I was at week 5 of flower. I set my light and made sure to cinch all hangers. I used a product that allowed me to water my girls with out being there. I could have been gone 2 weeks using 2 devices for each plant. Worked flawlessly. You can add as many as you want to the plant. They are for soil only. Im not sure I can post the name of the product.

How far along are they? I would hate to cut those bitches down man. And fwiw, when I was thinking of a drip feeder I was thinking no nutes, and also thinking for soil.

What's your budget like? How many plants? Do you have a buddy that can come by?

At Walmart they have these cheap desk lamps for $10. I'd get one for each plant-- even if it only lights up part of it, it would still give the plant a chance to photosynthesize some sugars and starches (as long as they aren't in flower) and I guarantee 1 of the 23-watters would be enough to keep a pretty damn big plant alive. And way less risk of fire hazard; tantamount to leaving a light on inside so no one comes snooping around.

And I dunno how your system is set up, but like with my aeroponic system it doesn't matter what size res I use, and it fits outside my tent. So if I was going to leave for more than a week I would buy like one of those huge 50 gallon bins and fill that bitch up. My system is recirculating, and with the lid on tight I lose very little to evaporation.

But still, if you don't have somebody to come by like twice a week then I would probably still consider culling them. How old are they again? Are they in veg?

Thcsafc said:

Hi thanks all for the replies....using an oxypot bubbler so no soil but i didnt thing about the growing risk of fire....made me definately change my mind about leaving them that long....even thought the light is in a cooltube it's still not worth the risk....much appreciated for pointing that out to me guys...it will pain me cutting my girls up, probably just take a few clones and put them in the air propogator while im away and they should be rooted by the time im back.

Click to expand...

This is smart and safe. You know they're females, so you will have a 100% productive grow when you get back. Best outcome you can hope for!

Well this is not a good situation but it can be done. You need a small water pump a daily multi time timer and if you have money an auto ph doser. You run lines to each pot. You set the timer after a few test runs to come on say like every 3-4 days for a timed length you have to figure you should know by now how often you water and how much. This will then go on and off as setup to prive pre mixed nutes. You can set up 3 different supplies and 3 different timers and pumps so each weeks mix gets used. Ph might be a bit off just set it and keep fingers crossed.

If you don't have time to test your going away set up for a good week first, I would forget it and go the cloning route. Sorta sucks but so it goes.