The Secrets for Keeping Plants Happy While Traveling (Part 1)
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My Secrets for Keeping Plants Happy While Traveling (Part 1)
I'm sure you all know by now that I love plants. You might not know that I travel for work and can keep my plants healthy and growing while I'm gone for weeks at a time! I'll share my strategies to ensure they are still alive when I get back.
I'll be covering the following topics:
Which plants to buy if you know you will be traveling a lot
Can you extend the length of time plants can go without water?
Can plants go longer than they are used to without water?
Automatic watering devices (Part 2)
Automatic watering pots (Part 2)
Good plants for the traveler
Drought-resistant plants. Do they exist? YES!
I know this sounds like a silly tip, but one way to keep your plants alive while you are gone for extended periods is to buy plants that can handle only being watered every two weeks or longer.
Surrounding yourself with plants like these will make traveling much less stressful because you have nothing to worry about. Just water them before you leave, and they will be fine when you get home.
I realize this isn't helpful to those of you that want to keep the plants you ALREADY have alive when you leave, but there are tips for that below ;)
Many plants can suit your lifestyle if you are a road warrior and a plant lover. Below is a link to a good list of drought-resistant plants.
I currently own 8 of the 17 on that list and can attest to their resilience. I can water these plants before leaving for my trip and don't worry about them at all.
Best Drought-Tolerant Houseplants | Better Homes & Gardens — www.bhg.com Tough, easy-care houseplants that don't need much water include snake plant, ponytail palm, aloe, burro's tail, Sago palm, pothos, haworthia, cast iron plant, ox tongue, ZZ plant, jade plant, bunny ear cactus, bishop's cap cactus, panda plant, living stones, corn plant, and golden barrel cactus.
Can you extend the length of time plants can go without water?
Light - Reduce the amount of light your plants receive. Whether this means moving them to a darker area or keeping the blinds half closed, decreasing the amount of light they get will cut back on the amount of water that gets used through photosynthesis.
Humidity - Run a humidifier or group your plants together to increase the humidity around the plants. The more water in the air, the less transpiration will occur.
Transpiration is the process of water movement through a plant and its evaporation from aerial parts such as leaves, stems and flowers. Water is necessary for plants but only a small amount of water taken up by the roots is used for growth and metabolism. The remaining 97–99.5% is lost by transpiration and guttation.
Credit: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transpiration
(Yes, I just credited Wikipedia, and I'm sure every teacher/professor I've ever had just felt a shiver down their spine.)
Temperature - As the temperature goes up, the amount of water your plants need goes up. Keeping the air conditioning on in the summer or turning the heat down in the winter will help quite a bit. You don't want to freeze your plants, but keeping them a little cooler than usual will help keep them happy until you get home.
You can even lower the temperature to around 60F for the most significant effect. This is clearly much cheaper to do in the colder seasons than the hot ones, so you make the call on how cold you want to go.
Can plants go longer than they are used to without water?
As we all know, watering schedules can be flexible. You might not know that they can be temporarily stretched beyond your regular watering.
Most plants are more resilient to drought than you might expect. This is necessary due to the random variations in weather. If every plant died after one rainless week, we would live in a pretty barren landscape...
You can use this to your advantage while traveling. As long as you don't use this strategy all the time, remember I said TEMPORARILY stretched, your plant should recover just fine if it doesn't get water for a few more days than it's used to.
Below is a helpful chart demonstrating how long a plant can go without water. Please take this as a baseline because other factors can affect these timelines, as mentioned in the section above.
Part 2...
This newsletter got much longer than I expected, and I try to keep these a reasonable length so you can enjoy them without it feeling like a chore to read! Sooooo I decided to split this up into two parts.
I have quite a bit to share on the last two topics, so stay tuned!
Automatic Watering Devices (Included in Part 2)
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Automatic Watering Pots (Included in Part 2)
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Final Notes
If you plan on traveling soon, I hope these tips make you feel a little less nervous about coming home to a bunch of dead plants. Following these tips, as well as the info you will gain from part 2 of this newsletter, I'm confident you will have no problem keeping your plants happy while you are gone. I travel a lot and manage to keep mine healthy and growing while I'm away, and I know you can too.
Thank you for reading my newsletter! I hope you enjoyed it and look forward to many more. I will be sending these out twice a month and may increase frequency based on feedback and engagement.
I would greatly appreciate sharing this with friends and family, or give me a shoutout on Twitter (@HobbyistPlant) and let me know you enjoyed it!
This Weeks Happy Planter Submission
My African Violets have been a part of my window seal decor for more many years. I have 3 and they are over 30 years old and bloom at least once a month. I haven’t named them but I do tell them how pretty they make my life. Some people think they are hard to take care of but I have no problem getting them to thrive even after I moved 5 years ago. I let them have morning sun, keep them in the same place and wait till they are completely dry before watering. I enjoy the color they bring to this old lady.
Thanks for the submission by @mccord_janie :) I'm very impressed at how long you have kept them alive - Great job!
That’s All For Now!
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Talk soon! Feel free to enjoy my content on Twitter until the next newsletter :)
-Houseplant Hobbyist