Planning a winter holiday? Somewhere warm, I hope. Passport, toothpaste, tickets, sunscreen, bikini, destination guide, foreign money, but what about your houseplants? How will they survive without your usual doting care and attention? Fortunately with a bit of planning, they will hardly miss you.
Set your thermostat to 15 C to reduce plant respiration (and therefore water use) and to save money on unnecessary heating costs. But don’t drop the temperature much lower in case some of your tropicals are chill sensitive.
Move plants away from direct sun (but make sure they still have bright light). Even with a lower house temperature, pots and soil can heat up dramatically on a sunny day resulting in high evaporation rates.
Move pots off windowsills where they can be chilled or even frozen.
Group plants to create a high humidity zone. This will also help to reduce evaporation. And if you have a friend stopping by occasionally to check on things, it’ll make it easier for them to water.
If your bathroom has lots of natural light, soak an old towel, lay it out along the bottom of your tub and put your plants on top. The wet towel will provide some water for your plants and the enclosed space will create a high humidity zone.
Plants in large pots, and therefore with larger root zones and more potting media, will survive better than plants in small pots or plants that are root bound. If you have the time, consider repotting small and root bound plants into pots one size larger.
Optional: Use self-watering pots. These have medium to large water reservoirs and supply the plant with water as needed.
Optional: Use a watering spike. Spikes are usually composed of some porous material (e.g. terra cotta) or plastic with a small hole set at the bottom. They are designed to attach to a pop bottle (one- to two-liter). Fill the bottle with water, attach the spike, invert and push the spike into the potting media beside the plant. The water will slowly wick or trickle into the soil as needed.
Optional: Use a capillary water mat. These are water absorbent and come in large sheets (available from Lee Valley and some local garden centres). Start by placing a large plastic tray next to your sink and cut the watering mat to fit the tray; next, fill the sink with water; cut a strip the mat to connect the tray to the water in the sink; put your pots on the mat. The water will move from the sink to the mat and into the soil in the pots through capillary action.
Water everything well before you leave.
These tips should get your houseplant through 10 – 14 days. But since you need someone to stop by regularly during the heating season to maintain your insurance coverage, ask them nicely to check on your plants while they’re at it. Happy holidays!
— This column is provided courtesy of the Saskatchewan Perennial Society (www.saskperennial.ca; hortscene@yahoo.com; www.facebook.com/saskperennial). Check out our Bulletin Board or Calendar for upcoming garden information sessions, workshops, tours and other events.
