- Build holiday irrigation yourself - this is how you do it right
- Plastic bottle method - how it works
From now on, your balcony plants will no longer show that you are on a well-deserved vacation. Just a few simple steps are enough for plants in flower boxes and tubs to be able to help themselves from the water supply. This guide tells you about the best ways to water balcony plants while on vacation.
With the help of a few tricks, the plants can provide themselves with water
Build holiday irrigation yourself - this is how you do it right
The following irrigation method was put to the test by critical balcony gardeners and judged to be recommendable. The material required for each planter is limited to 1 bucket, 1 roll of kitchen paper, 1 pair of scissors and stale water. To construct automatic holiday watering:
- Form a roll out of the kitchen paper
- Adjust the length of the paper roll to cover the substrate and create a long tail
- Place buckets next to the balcony plant and fill with water
Press the paper roll onto the substrate for firm ground contact. Put the long end of the roll in the bucket of water. While you relax on vacation, the balcony plant draws the water over the paper roll into the substrate and waters itself.
Plastic bottle method - how it works
The clever combination of a PET bottle and a screw-threaded clay cone acts as a magical plant sitter for the holiday season. The bottle is filled with fresh water after cleaning. Replace the previous screw cap with a clay watering cone. The material is sufficiently porous so that the capillary forces of the potting soil can gradually extract the water.
The water supply of a commercially available PET bottle is not sufficient for holiday watering of large balcony boxes (109.00 €) and tubs. In this case, specialist retailers offer clay cones that are connected to an external water tank with a thin hose. This variant also works without electricity and supplies your balcony plants with water until you return.
tips
If a perennial balcony plant has withered after the holiday - despite all efforts - please do not throw the perennial away. Instead of disposing of the stressed plant, you can awaken the floral spirit with a revitalization treatment. To do this, cut off any wilted roots, unpot the root ball and soak it in water until no more air bubbles appear. Repotted in fresh substrate, there is a good chance that the plant will recover.