We’re giving our best advice for keeping your houseplants happy and healthy while you’re away, whether it’s a long weekend at the beach or a month abroad.
Preparing your plants just takes a short amount of time, freeing you up to concentrate on other important things like a nice book and an effective sunscreen.
Tips to Keep Plants Alive While You’re Away
1. Modify the lighting and climate
Your plant will eventually become more thirsty the more sunlight it receives. This is due to a number of factors, but the main one is that plants use the most water when they transpire, a process whose rate depends on and rises with the quantity of sunshine the plant receives.
Therefore, your plant will require more water the more natural light it receives. You can move your plants a little bit further away from their source of natural light to prevent them from wilting while you’re away due to a lack of water. Place them in the center of the room to prevent them from drying out as quickly as normal from the heat and light from the windows. You can relocate your plants back to their original location when you get home. Draw a sheer drape over the window as an alternative if you don’t want to move the plants.
You can choose to leave your plants in their current location if they weren’t getting enough light to begin with because of blocked windows or the time of year. Asking yourself how frequently you need to water a plant can help you decide whether to move it if you’ll be gone for an extended amount of time. If you need to water it once a week, for example. However, if it happens every other week, there might be no need to move them.
Additionally, never leave a heating or cooling system on or close to a houseplant, whether you’re at home or away. A/Cs and heaters, while a luxury for people, tend to deprive your interior environment of the humidity that most tropical plants require.
2. Preserve moisture
Watering your plants properly before leaving is sufficient if you’re only going to be gone for a week or less. Make sure you only water plants in potting soil that is dry or nearly dry. In order to keep the potting soil moist without letting your plants sit in a saucer of water, which could attract bugs or cause root rot, let any excess water drain from your potted plant before you leave the house.
Keep in mind that only plants that require weekly or more of watering require this. Succulents and cacti are examples of indoor plants that may survive without water for a week or two. Additionally, since plant development slows and some plants fall dormant in the winter, you can completely forgo watering them.
There are a few strategies to prepare your plants if you expect to be gone for longer than a week. Depending on the length of your trip, the type of plant, and the season, try one or more of the suggestions listed below.
Keep in mind: How frequently do I typically water this plant at this time of year? You don’t want to overwater your plants before you leave because you won’t be home to watch over them!
1. To assist hold moisture before or after giving dry soil a good soak, sprinkle lava rocks, mulch, or wood chips on top of the soil surrounding your plant. Newspaper that is damp will also work. Longer soil moisture retention will result from this.
2. To create a temporary greenhouse, thoroughly water your plant, and then cover with a clear plastic bag that hangs just below the lip of the planter. To ensure that there is enough airflow because plants also require oxygen, make sure to cut a few gaps in the plastic. Hold the bag up and away from the vegetation using sticks (or old chopsticks). Make sure that the bag is not in contact with any vegetation.
3. Place small rocks down the bottom of a shallow tray and add water to the tray, just below the top of the rocks. Placing your planter atop the rocks The planter’s base should be directly above the idle water rather than touching or resting directly in it. The levels of humidity and moisture will rise as a result, but neither overwatering nor root rot should result.
4. Move your humidity-loving plants, such as ferns and air plants, to your bathroom or another small room and arrange them in a group there (assuming you have a window that gets some natural light). Your plants will have an easier time maintaining humidity and moisture in a smaller space.
5. Construct a self-watering system yourself using empty bottles or capillary wicks:
Choose the size of the water container based on how long you’ll be away before placing one end of the capillary wick in a basin of water and the other end in the potting soil of your plant. While you’re away, your plant will get the water it requires through the wick. (Our staff prefers this approach for prolonged absences from our plants.)
By adding water and puncturing the bottle top, you can recycle used plastic or glass bottles. Ensure that the hole is small enough to permit a gradual release of water over time. Turn the filled bottle upside down and insert the perforated bottle top all the way into the potting soil of your plant.
6. Speak with a friend. If a friend is willing to water your houseplants for you while you’re away for a long time (more than a month), please accept their offer! Give your friend written directions that are simple to follow, or guide them through your daily care routine a week or two in advance. If you want them to send you photo updates while you’re away, we won’t pass judgment. Just be sure to bring them something as a memento (or send them a new plant as a thank you when you return.)
3. Omit using fertilizer
If you fertilize your indoor plants sometimes, wait to fertilize them after your trip until you get back. In the weeks leading up to your trip, avoid fertilizing your plants. While you’re away, you want your plants to grow as slowly as possible to help them preserve water and energy.
4. Execute some little trimming
You can also cut off any buds or flowers since they typically need more frequent waterings to keep healthy in addition to any dead, decaying, or unappealing foliage.
Pro tip: Tropical plants are the main beneficiaries of the aforementioned tips, especially the techniques for “watering” while away. Drought-tolerant plants, such as some succulent kinds, ZZ plants, or snake plants, can survive for almost a month without water, especially if they are placed out of direct sunlight. Succulent plants are the perfect houseplant for frequent travelers.
Give yourself a big pat on the back when you come home to happy and healthy houseplants, no matter what precautions you take. They also missed you.
Can I go away for a week with my plants?
Seniors who migrate south for the winter to escape the cold of northern regions are known as snowbirds. They give themselves 3, 4, even 5 or 6 months off from work. They drop everything and go to the beach with thousands of others every year, leaving their pals behind home to shiver in the cold.
Outdoor gardeners who are snowbirds need not worry about their plantations while they are abroad because Mother Nature will maintain their dormancy. What about houseplants, though? Almost any non-succulent plant can be killed by going three to six months without water. In actuality, the majority of them would die after just two weeks without watering.
But it’s much simpler than you would imagine to take care of your houseplants while you’re away. Simply place them inside a “If you use a transparent plastic bag as a mini-greenhouse for the winter and follow a few simple safety measures, they’ll be able to care for themselves even if you’re gone for six months or more.
Your plants must receive adequate water for this method to work, but they shouldn’t be sitting in soggy soil because it could create root rot in the potting mix. Water them thoroughly two or three days prior to your departure, if at all possible. In this manner, the soil will remain evenly moist while any excess water has time to be absorbed or evaporated. You want something that is evenly moist.
Also pick up any leaves that have turned yellow or dead, as they will just deteriorate while you are away. Remove any flowers or flower buds as well because you won’t be around to view them and they will ultimately wilt and start to decay. (A few rotting leaves or blooms are not damaging to the plant in any way; but, it is less pleasant to come back after a six-month absence to find the plant still alive but with its soil covered in moldy dead flora.)
Put the plant in a transparent plastic bag right now. For large plants, you’ll need a bag from the cleaners or a transparent bag for fall leaves; for smaller plants, you can recycle the transparent bags of your choice. One plant can be placed in each bag, or you can join many together in one bigger bag.
Although it is not necessarily necessary, some gardeners choose to insert stakes into the pot to support the bag as if it were a tent so that it won’t touch the plant’s leaves.
The plants should be kept out of the light because if the sun shines on a closed container, the plants inside will become overheated. Seal the bag with a twist tie. Indirect illumination and a little morning sunlight will do throughout your absence.
Go now in peace. Your plants will benefit from a relatively damp soil for months because plastic prevents water from evaporating, which is precisely what they like!
Do not be concerned about your plants “Plants create oxygen and absorb carbon dioxide during the day, then the opposite during the night, until the air within a sealed bag runs out. Thus, they generate all the air they require for healthy breathing.
They won’t run out of water either. When indoor plants are grown in the open air, they don’t require as much watering because the majority of it evaporates. Evaporation won’t occur inside a sealed bag since the humidity can’t leave. Therefore, during your departure, the plants will need relatively little water. They won’t need water either because you made sure the soil was adequately damp (but not saturated) before you left.
How long can a plant survive in an airtight, clear bag? Easily six months, and more likely eight to twelve. If you think it’s unlikely, keep in mind that plants in sealed terrariums that haven’t been opened in 40 years are still flourishing!
The suggestion that you can seal your houseplants inside a plastic bag while you travel has one significant limitation. Cacti, crassulas, aloes, sansevierias, and other succulent plants are some of the uncommon plants that can’t stand stagnant air and excessive atmospheric humidity. If you put them inside a bag, the most of them would rot.
However, because they lose so little water to evaporation, they may survive with very little water.
Therefore, in their case, just water them thoroughly and take them out of any windows that are bright, without placing them in a bag. They will dry out in the open air, it is true, but very slowly. They will still be alive even six months later, albeit somewhat shriveled. When you return, water them gently; this will help them gradually recover.
So don’t worry if you’ve been hesitant to leave your plants alone when you travel a long distance south. Houseplants may be kept alive while you’re away amazingly easily! If only taking care of your pets were as simple!
How should I care for my indoor plants for two weeks?
It would be excellent if you have a plant-savvy friend who could visit you once or twice a week while you are away in exchange for you doing the same for them. If you do a little advance planning, even a cautious, non-plant-savvy person will function in an emergency. Keep track of the amount and frequency of watering each plant for a few weeks prior to departure, and then give detailed instructions: Every weekend, give this plant half a cup of water.
Assist your friend by placing plants that require similar amounts of water together on a water-resistant surface away from the sun. In the summer, keep in mind that your home may warm up while you are gone, so modify the care instructions to take faster water use into consideration.
How can I water my plants while on vacation for a week?
Watering and mulching might not be sufficient to keep your plants healthy on longer journeys. A rain bucket can deliver water continuously.
To a rain barrel, connect a soaker hose, then snake the tubing through your garden. The ground will become saturated as the held water slowly leaks out through the hose. While you still need to water thoroughly before you go, using this technique will allow you to take a longer vacation without worrying about your outdoor plants running out of water.
You can fill your water barrel from the faucet if it hasn’t rained enough to do so.
At this point, such kind of cheat is acceptable.
How should I care for my houseplants while I’m away?
Perhaps you have hired a cabin for some R&R time away from the same four walls or you’re going to see family. Happy travels! But when you leave town, don’t forget about your plant babies! You must prepare in advance whether you have a single houseplant or an abundance of flowers, veggies, and herbs on your balcony or patio.
If you can’t get a friend to watch them for you, water them well before you go (water should drain out of the pot’s drain holes), then use our advice to make sure everyone is still alive and well when you get back.
How do snowbirds care for their indoor plants?
If you’re intending to spend the winter somewhere other than Iowa, such as the south or the west, I wrote about how to take care of your indoor plants last year.
This strategy will maintain your plants alive and healthy even if you are just gone for two or three weeks, so you won’t need a plant sitter.
It would be lovely if I could claim ownership of this concept, but I can’t. This strategy was developed by Dan Fellows and his wife Marie. It worked for me too when I tried it.
Dan’s approach is this. A few days before they depart, he gathers all of the house’s plants, gives them plenty of water, and wraps them in plastic.
This is the perfect place to put all those shopping plastic bags that, despite your best efforts to use cloth bags, always seem to follow you home.
Water every plant deeply, allowing it to drain well. Then take out the clear, dark, and white bags that are big enough to completely enclose the plant.
Dan adds that the bag must be well closed in order for no air or moisture to escape. No sunny window is necessary, but keep them away from the closet.
That is it. All the plants will be vibrant and lovely when they return in the spring. When I tried it last year over a brief absence of a few weeks, it was successful for me as well.
The bags resemble a little greenhouse or terrarium. The water vapor that the plants release from the soil is subsequently recycled.
The African violet that I planted in the glass terrarium last year is still alive and is currently in its blooming stage. It hasn’t received any water since I planted it, so it must be the ideal indoor plant. Recognize it! I occasionally remove the top and stick my fingers in the ground; they always come out wet.
Even when we make an effort to remember the cloth bags when we shop, we all end up with those plastic bags. Put them to use once more by wrapping your plants in cloth, tying them securely, and setting them aside until you return—even if that isn’t until spring.
NOTE: Check your evergreens and brush off as much snow as you can to prevent the boughs from breaking if we receive a heavy, wet snowfall.