How to Bring my Paphs. through a Vacation

[Jpari]

I will be vacationing in Costa Rica for two weeks. I have no one to take care of my Paphs. Can I sit them in a saucer of water while I am gone so that they do not dry out? Thank you in advance for any help that you can provide.

 

[Tony]

Check out past posts from @Happypaphy7 detailing his trash bag method.

 

[Justin]

For a 2 week duration, sitting in a tray of water should be fine. I would not let Phals, Catts, or other virus-prone genera to sit in the same water source however.

 

[Nancy T]

I was away for 2 weeks in March and this system worked for me. I grow my plants under lights and several plants share a 1 foot x 2 foot tray. I sprayed the plants with Physan 20 on the morning 2 days before we left. I watered the plants well the morning of the day before we left. On the day we were leaving, I put the plants in clear plastic dry cleaners bags with stakes to keep the plastic from sitting on the plants, flowers or flower spikes, 1 bag for each tray. I decreased the lights to 8 hours a day. When we returned, 2 plants in 3" pots were quite dry; if I had been at home, I would have watered them a day or 2 earlier; they survived. And the rest were fine. Even the flowers and buds survived. A cattleya opened up while we were away. What a surprise to come home to such pretty flowers! Hope that helps.

 

[Bob in Albany N.Y.]

I go away for 3 weeks every year. I do have someone come in to tend the greenhouse, however I leave my compots in clear plastic tubs. The ones with the clear tops. Water them the day before I leave and put them in the tub the day I leave. I also keep them out of direct light.

 

[Tom-DE]

No water saucers are needed IMO if you are growing them in the house/windowsill.... water them two days before, then water them again just before you leave. For BS/NBS potted plants, the plants should be okay for just two weeks. I travel quite often (for about two weeks each time) and so far, my plants have been perfectly fine with that watering method.

 

[katzenhai2]

The last time I was on vacation I let some water run into my bathtub and put the plug in. Then I put the Paphs in. When I came back 14 days later they all had an enormous amount of stem roots (they previously been on the windowsill) but the water had already run off or evaporated. Nevertheless the substrate was still moist.

When I saw the roots I knew: "From now on they're going under glass, never again in normal room air".