Prepping Your Indoor Plants For Your Vacation

Vacations are meant to be fun, exciting, and most importantly, relaxing. Depending on your job, you may have saved up your vacation days in order to have a longer vacation. With that in mind, you will definitely try everything in your power to ensure your vacation is stress free. Despite your best efforts, vacations can be very stressful. From transport to travel restrictions, to airport security and packing, a lot needs to go right for your vacation to go smoothly. One thing you might not have thought about when preparing for your vacation is your plants. Sure, you’ve got someone lined up to come everyday and take care of your pets, but is anyone coming to take care of your plants?

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The last thing you would want is to come home from a nice, relaxing vacation and see all of your beautiful plants wilted and yellow. You have put time and effort into caring for your plants, it would be a massive shame to see all of that go out the window because of a vacation.

Understand Your Plants

The most important thing you need to do is understand your plants and their needs. One plan for one plant may not work for another. Knowing your plants’ needs will ensure that you give them the proper care while away on vacation. Certain plants don’t need a ton of care to begin with, while others are particularly picky. If you are interested in learning more about low maintenance plants, check out this blog from Soltech Solutions detailing some of the best plants out there that require less care than others.

Self Watering Plant Pot

These self watering pots take a major chore out of plant care: watering your plants at the right time.

These aren’t just useful for those busy plant parents who don’t have the time to get a consistent care schedule down. Self-watering plant pots work through a method called capillary action. The self-watering plants hold water in a reservoir and a wicking tube. Water is removed from the soil by absorption through the plant roots. Due to there being less water in the soil than in the tube, capillary action causes the water to flow from the wicking tube into the soil until an equilibrium is reached. This cycle will continue until the pot runs out of water. The best part about these is that they don’t require electricity. This helps keep your bills down while keeping your plants up! Check out these budget self watering planters from Mkono.

Timers

Austin’s Pick from Soltech Solutions comes with an easy to use timer for your plant lights.

Another technology that could provide a big boost in your quest to keep your plants alive while on vacation is a timer. People use timers for a vast range of daily tasks. From microwaves and ovens to light fixtures and washing machines, timers are integral to getting chores done. They prevent waste by turning the appliance off at the correct time and help lighten your chore list by turning on appliances at the correct time. Why not use them for your plants? By hooking up a timer to a faucet and hose, you can set specific watering times and how much should be added per watering. You can also make sure the temperature and humidity of your home stays at the right level by setting up a timer on your thermostat. If you want to buy a timer for a plant light, try “Austin’s Pick”, from Soltech Solutions. This combo not only has a state of the art timer and the high quality Vita, but also the little things such as swag hooks and wall fairleads. This deal comes in at just $132 which is a steal for the amount of value you are getting. No matter what, your plants will be pleased and you’ll return from vacation happy that your plants are thriving.

Relocate for Proper Lighting

Depending on your plant, you will need a different amount of lighting. Throughout the day, your home will get different amounts and intensities of sunlight which could lead you to place your plants differently throughout. If you have plants like hibiscus or Aloe Vera, keeping them directly in sunlight throughout your vacation will be perfectly fine. These plants love full sunlight and won’t dry out. If you have plants such as the Monstera or English ivy, you will likely need to move these plants out of spots that will lead to direct sunlight. These plants thrive under indirect sunlight, which just means the light passes through a medium. Whether that be curtains, window blinds, tree foliage or light bouncing off objects in the room, as long as the light doesn’t go directly from the sun to the plant, it will do well. This is yet another example of how knowing what is best for your plants will help you tremendously.

Pre-Water

In some cases, you will be able to water before you leave and they will survive just long enough for you to return. Plants like this usually live in harsh conditions such as deserts. This includes succulents, cacti and more. If your plant has hard, waxy leaves it will have a high level of water retention. The wax keeps the stomata of the leaf shut so no water can escape. As is usually the case, do your research and make sure this method will work with your specific plants in order to not accidentally cause a disaster upon your return home.

"Babysitter"

What would you do if you needed to leave your child or pet behind at home? You get a babysitter of course! It should be no different for your plants. Maybe you’re lucky and have a great plant parent as a neighbor who already knows the ins and outs of plant care. However, it’s more likely that you find someone who doesn’t know the specific care that your plants need. Take this as an opportunity to test your knowledge of plants by teaching them. Hopefully this has helped you form a game plan for your plant care over your vacation. You can now go enjoy a drink by the beach knowing that your plants will be just fine when you return!