Water Spikes - leaving plants for a week - anyone used them?

Has anyone used water spikes before when having to leave plants unattended for a week?



can anyone reccomend a make to get as i was going to stick my head into B&Q or homebase an see what they had...

No option of having someone water the plants so was going to give them a good watering then stick this in the night before we left for our holiday and hopefully come back to a healthy and relatively happy plant ...thats the plan anyway, pls feel free to add anything

schmoker said:

Has anyone used water spikes before when having to leave plants unattended for a week?

can anyone reccomend a make to get as i was going to stick my head into B&Q or homebase an see what they had...

No option of having someone water the plants so was going to give them a good watering then stick this in the night before we left for our holiday and hopefully come back to a healthy and relatively happy plant ...thats the plan anyway, pls feel free to add anything

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BUMP

Water spikes will keep the soil wet while your gone due to gravity as the plant transpires water from the soil the spike will replace it

better to use a wick system which will allow the plant to pull water into the soil when it needs it

you simply place a bucket of water near the plants with cotton strips (I like to braid strips of old t-shirts) that you plant 3 or 4 inches into the soil

so plant one end and put other end in bucket of water, got lots of plants use a big bucket or more than one

Move the lights further away from the plants or reduce the amount of light your giving them.

Also, maybe increase the humidity. That should slow the amount of water your plants use.

try wilkinsons (wilkos) they sell 2 for 99p but block all but one hole with silicon aka cheap bathroom sealent, the reason for this is because there is six holes and it just drains away withen minutes, i have been testing this method for 3 weeks now as i will be on holiday soon and trust me it works. one last thing give your plants a good water just before you go. hope this helps

it wont drain until theres o2 going up the spike pushing water out,they will work soak the shit out of them leave buckets underneath or a plate with some water in it and the spikes you should be fine,its good to have a trustworthy friend around too check on them,i would rather have em real wet for few days then dry for a week thats why id put trays with water underneath so they could use capillerary action before the spikes,if you cover the medium up with something that allows air threw but not light to avoid evaporation,good luck

I bought $30 worth of Aqua-Bulbs I saw on TV. Thought they would do the job while I took off
fishing in Canada. I gave them a test run before I left and it's a damn good thing too! The globes
pretty much emptied into my 2 1/2 gallon pots within hours. Don't bother with AquaGlobes.

BigSteve

totally forgot to reply and thank you all. will leave you all some rep, thanks again for all the suggestions. passed on the aqua bulbs as heard a few people say they just pissed the water out and were more marketing then function. FYI i found a couple of extra spikes for around £3 each and they will just about do a plant in flower for a week if you have no other option. 2 litre water bottle loaded and the plants watered the day before and it will just about see you through a week. although not idea, its a solution