No one to care for your potted plants during the National Day holiday? Here are a few tricks for automatic watering

Planning to go out and travel during the National Day long holiday, but what do you do when there's no one to care for your plants at home? If you happen to keep only drought-tolerant plants, then it's fine not to water them for seven days, such as the common aloe, cactus and succulents. If you keep moisture-loving plants like pothos, ivy and nerve plant (Fittonia), then seven days without water means a real risk of them dying.

Besides finding someone to help care for your plants, there are actually many little plant-care tricks that can automatically replenish water for your plants. The methods are all very simple and can be made from discarded materials you have around you.

1. Tray soaking method

This method is very simple and can be done with just one easy step: pour clean water directly into the tray, making sure the water level is not too high, then simply place the potted plant on the tray.

However, this method carries a certain risk. If your environment is not well ventilated, the plant is at risk of root rot. If you are growing nerve plant (Fittonia), pitcher plants (Nepenthes), pitcher plants (Sarracenia), Venus flytrap or butterwort (Pinguicula), using this method to keep the soil moist is completely fine.

If it is other flowers, you should fill the tray with clean water and at the same time spread some pebbles on it, keeping the water level below the pebbles, and place the potted plant on top of the pebbles. This way it can continuously replenish water, but the plant will not get root rot.

2. Wine bottle watering

This trick is very simple. You can use a plastic bottle or a wine bottle, fill it with clean water, then turn it upside down. After inserting it into the soil, it will slowly replenish water to the soil. However, to control the amount of water, you need to stuff a cork into the bottle mouth and drill some small holes in it, so that the water is released slowly.

3. Plastic basin automatic watering

The automatic watering tools above are all made from plastic bottles. You can cut a plastic bottle of about two liters, cutting off about the top 1/4 directly, then place it upside down in the bottom part of the plastic bottle. Drill a hole in the bottle mouth and thread a cotton string through it all the way to the bottom of the container, add soil, plant your plant, and put some clean water in the bottom. This way you can achieve the effect of automatic water replenishment.

4. Buried bottle watering

The method above is rather simple and rough. You can prepare some larger containers, drill some fairly small holes in their sides and bottom, dig a fairly large hole in the soil, and directly bury this plastic bottle in it. This way it can continuously replenish water to the soil.

5. Automatic watering tools

Besides the homemade automatic watering tools above, you can also directly buy some automatic watering containers online. Some of them can achieve the automatic watering effect simply by being inserted into the soil.

Some are equipped with automatic watering devices: as long as they are connected to power, they will automatically replenish water at the times we set. It is best to choose drip irrigation automatic watering tools, and some watering tools can even achieve remote-controlled watering.