Christmas Vacation Plant Care
Do you have a vacation planned for the 2024 Christmas season? Unsure how to successfully prepare your plants for your absence? Here are 5 helpful tips to make sure your tropical plants survive, thrive and remain healthy while you are away!
The overall theme for successful plant care while on vacation is to plan ahead! A little forethought goes a long way.
If you are planning on going on an extended vacation, think about finding a neighbor, friend or relative that will take on the task of checking on your home and watering your plants. Have a plan B person on standby if the original person cannot make it as planned. Life happens and it is always best to have a Plan B. Set your plant sitters up for success by walking them through plant care before leaving and leave them brief written information beside each plant. Make their time in your home as short and efficient as possible – especially if they are doing this favor for free! In return, always offer to look after their plants when they go on holiday.
Check Your Home or Renter’s Insurance
The other advantage of having a helper come in to water the plants is that it may satisfy the requirements of keeping your home insurance active. This will mostly apply when you are vacationing for extended periods of time.
Home Temperature - Keep your home at 15 C at the lowest or preferably 18 C when you are gone. Make sure your tropicals are away from drafts, cold windows or heat from the furnace vents. Do not keep your home too hot. Excessive dry heat pulls the moisture from the leaves and the soil. You are not doing your plants a favor.
Maintain your plants before you leave.
Clean and prune off dead, dying or unhealthy foliage. Dust or wash off plant leaves in the shower. Wipe large leaves front and back with a wet cloth.
And while you are cleaning, check your plants for any unwanted guests such as spider mite or mealy bug. Treat them with environmentally friendly insect spray, rubbing alcohol or yellow sticky strips. Isolate these plants in a separate room that has adequate light.
Scrape or break up any water - repellant soil on the surface of each pot. The soil will filter water better without a top crust and allow oxygen to reach the roots. Fill in any soil depressions with new tropical soil.
Watering and Light – If you are only going away for a week, water thoroughly before you leave. In winter, most plants can go for longer periods of time between waterings. They are not actively growing; just resting until the days begin to lengthen in spring. Consequently, they also do not have to be fertilized.
Group your plants in one location – Preferably in a bright room out of direct sun. Plants that tolerate lower light levels will welcome a visit to a bright room. Group plants that share the same watering requirements and allows them to share extra humidity. Remember to provide a reliable moisture meter or demonstrate the index finger method to determine water needs. Provide room temperature open jugs of water that have sat out on the counter for a couple of days to rid the water of fluoride and other chemicals. Plants can be turned a half turn every visit. This is especially important if they are grouped together.
For extended vacations, one reliable watering practice is to use the wick method. Group your plants around a water source, such as a kitchen/bathroom sink or pail of water. Use a long length of wicking material for each plant. This material should be cotton which means candle wicking, narrow cotton rope or cotton shoelaces (cut off plastic ends) will do.
Thoroughly water your plants before positioning the wicks. If you don’t, the plant will use the wicked water first which reduces the time between waterings.
Insert one end of each wick in the water source, making sure it coils in the bottom of the water container. Position the other end deep in the plant soil (about 5 cm).
On each visit your plant sitter should refill wicking containers and watering cans before they leave so fluoride or other chemicals have plenty of time to dissipate before the next watering.
Floor plants with very large pots can be watered thoroughly until water collects in the drip trays. These plants should not need water again for three weeks or longer. For larger pots you can also use 2L plastic bottles with tiny nail holes in the cap. Fill with water and invert into the soil. You may need more than one plastic bottle per pot.
Make sure you don’t leave plants sitting in water. Empty the trays on each visit if necessary.
Light - If you have a small/medium plastic covered mini greenhouse, this can help house plants that need more humidity. Do leave the front flaps open a bit to allow for some airflow. These can be positioned in a bright room, but never in full sun.
More Helpful Hints!
Decorative water globes are good for short durations but not for longer days away.
TV tables in the tub! – If you are lucky enough to have a bright, naturally lit bathroom, put two tv tables in a partially full tub of water. This works particularly well for the wicking method.
ZZ plants, succulents, cacti and snake plants can go a month or more without water in winter.