Tips for plant care when vacationing?

[yousillygirl]

Hi all

New to the board generally and only moved my plants into s/h within the past 6 months.

I was wondering if people take special steps with their s/h plants when you expect to be away or travelling? Over Xmas I'll be away from home for about 2.5 weeks - while I've got a friend coming over to flush the pots once a week, I'm wondering if maybe I should move them to a more shaded location, etc etc.

Finally got a couple of my plants adapted to S/H after months (!) so I would hate to lose them now.

Any tips appreciated!

[Tindomul]

Yes,
I move my plants to a slightly more shaded location. Not too dark though.
I also bunch them up all together (I really havent got that many, so its easy for me to do this). The idea being that being close together they will benefit from each others transpiration, s/h evaporation.
Third, I try to tilt some so I can add just a little extra water without it spilling out the holes. For those other house plants that are not orchids and are in soil, I tie a plastic bag around the pot to conserve moisture.
Good luck!

[DelawareJim]

I do the same as Tindo. I was going to add I also lower the thermostat to reduce transpiration, but I see you're in Singapore and probably can't do that.

Cheers.
Jim

[yousillygirl]

Nope! Attempts to moderate the temperature in SG are mucho $$$. On the other hand, I never have trouble with maintaining humidity!

Many thanks

[Tindomul]

Yes, we'll good luck. Let us know if you think of something else.