Leaving a thirsty phrag for a week

[Morja]

How do you world travelers do it??
Making plans to leave for a week and my small collection is of course foremost in my mind!
All my phrags show tons of root growth when I flush them daily or at least every other day, which I am used to doing (I have 4... so it's doable). But they will be fine sitting for a week... I think... Except one. When it gets warm especially it sucks up water like crazy and its wet feet quicklybecome dry feet in a day or two! To avoid it getting too warm I keep a little fan on its growing area during the day, but I have to turn it off overnight or it dries out the top of the pot too much. Should I set it in a bigger water dish, make the fan less direct, and turn my supplemental light off for a week? It will still get some windowsill sun but not a whole lot.
I think I may actually need a couple of timers. I could timer the supplemental light and pull the shades, keeping things cooler, but keep the fan off unless I can make it helpful without blasting the plants with it.
If all else fails I might pay somebody 20 bucks to come water it, my one struggling phrag and my paph fairrieanum. And the delenatii. And all the other slippers. And my dendrobium in its laughably tiny pot. Aw, man! Maybe I should just do that...

I deal with pretty low humidity. Doing very well if it's in the 50s, though my special cooler area that has the fairrieanum and the thirsty phrag stays a bit more humid in 50s-60s thanks to a fancy high sided plant tray.
Thoughts?
Low quality pic of the cooler growing area with the thirsty phrag, dendrobium, and paph fairrieanum (hiding mostly out of frame because the picture is not centered at all). You can see I have the fan much too close, mostly just to push the hot air away that accumulates right by the plants when the sun shines in briefly in the afternoon. The window screen makes it less intense for the leaves, but the heat is not appreciated by the phrag especially. The fan (or keeping the shade down) really helps.

 

[Ray]

That fan is likely not doing as much cooling as you’re giving it credit for, because plants don’t sweat. It’s evaporative cooling that makes us cooler in a breeze, not the breeze itself.

I have my plants outdoors in the summer. When I travel, I put a lawn sprinkler on a timer. Orbit sells an inexpensive one that will operate for a set time period every day or every other day, either at the time you set it or at dawn, using a photocell.

 

[Heather]

I’d just set it deeper in water. I’m doing that this weekend with mine. Just the ones that dry out the fastest. I have my phrags in cache pots so I can regulate that pretty easily. Have a housesitter coming for the weekend but she’ll just need to fill humidifiers and mist a few things.

 

[big923cattleya]

A week never really bothers me at all. 2-3 weeks is a different story.
You water right before you leave and just trust all will be fine. Orchid growing is fun! You can’t let it keep you from enjoying life! They are only plants.

 

[Tom-DE]

We travel quite often and the duration of our trip is about two weeks each time. This is how I deal with the watering:
indoor, bark base pot culture, water well two/three days before your trip, then again the day/night before you leave, never a problem for two weeks vacation, sometimes even a couple days longer in winter.
outdoor summer, if it is going to rain while you are away, it is probably okay to leave them out there, but Ray's suggestion sounds good. I left my well-established plants outside when I was on vacation for the past ten days, and they were fine. Small ones were inside the house by the window...If you don't feel comfortable with leaving them outside, move them inside and do the "double" waterings before you leave.

 

[Morja]

Thank you for all the good advice! A deeper dish and double watering sounds good. I don't have them outside here because of temperature extremes, but that's a good idea too.

 

[Sky7Bear]

Or grow semi hydroponic and don’t worry about it

 

[Morja]

Or grow semi hydroponic and don’t worry about it

I have actually tried this with one phrag. Due to my conditions the top dries out very quickly and it just didn't feel optimal for the plant. Root growth was excellent though as I flushed daily to keep the top moist

 

[PhilaGardener]

A week should not be a problem, but last time I went away for longer than that I took them with me lol

 

[Skoester]

I follow the advice of someone on this site who posted about creating a mini- greenhouse. For all but my largest phrags I water 1-2 days before leaving and then on the day I leave I put them in large/tall plastic totes (40 qt for the small plants, 72 qt for the larger). I’ve done this twice and left them for between 7-10 days and most of them looked better when I came back than before. My little indoor collection has grown to almost 500 plants, so getting someone to care for them while traveling didn’t seem realistic.

 

[Tom-DE]

I follow the advice of someone on this site who posted about creating a mini- greenhouse. For all but my largest phrags I water 1-2 days before leaving and then on the day I leave I put them in large/tall plastic totes (40 qt for the small plants, 72 qt for the larger). I’ve done this twice and left them for between 7-10 days and most of them looked better when I came back than before. My little indoor collection has grown to almost 500 plants, so getting someone to care for them while traveling didn’t seem realistic.

The plastic container is a great idea for small plants and it will keep the small plants moist for a few extra days. I will try that for my smaller plants besides my double waterings method.
Do you put the lip on or just crack open a little for some air? Are your plants under light, or windowsill?

 

[Skoester]

The plastic container is a great idea for small plants and it will keep the small plants moist for a few extra days. I will try that for my smaller plants besides my double waterings method.
Do you put the lip on or just crack open a little for some air? Are your plants under light, or windowsill?

I put the lid on. My plants are indoors and grown under lights, but when I put in containers I leave them in a room away from light. I believe whoever gave the suggestion recommended giving the plants a day or so to dry after watering so they weren’t too wet when sealed up, and that made sense to me. So far I haven’t lost anything and I’m growing Phrags, brachys, parvis, multiflorals etc. I had several plants in bud when I last left, including a Barbara Larkin that was known for blasting, and everything was fine. I did learn the first time not to mix phrags (which I grow in a mix of Rockwool and leca) with other plants that don’t like that much moisture because of the condensation from them. Nothing bad happened but i keep like with like these days.

 

[Morja]

That's a good idea! I ended up finding someone to watch them and regretted it

 

[Tom-DE]

I put the lid on. My plants are indoors and grown under lights, but when I put in containers I leave them in a room away from light. I believe whoever gave the suggestion recommended giving the plants a day or so to dry after watering so they weren’t too wet when sealed up, and that made sense to me. So far I haven’t lost anything and I’m growing Phrags, brachys, parvis, multiflorals etc. I had several plants in bud when I last left, including a Barbara Larkin that was known for blasting, and everything was fine. I did learn the first time not to mix phrags (which I grow in a mix of Rockwool and leca) with other plants that don’t like that much moisture because of the condensation from them. Nothing bad happened but i keep like with like these days.

I don't worry about mature Brachy or Parvi in 3"+ pots too much for two weeks. They can deal with the little dry mix pretty well. What I worry about the most is those in 2.5" pots--they were fine under light in my basement(under light) for a week without doing anything special (done that), but for two weeks I need to do something if I don't want to move them out of the grow light setup. I am pretty sure I'll shorten the hours for the light and the fan...if I put them in plastic containers, it will help to keep them moist for a few extra days and not stress them too much.
I will put a few plants in a clear container with the lid semi-open(to avoid condensation) before my trip and see how it goes. Thanks.

 

[Tom-DE]

That's a good idea! I ended up finding someone to watch them and regretted it

I don't regret hiring people to water the plants but sometimes it is hard to find anyone to do it...I don't like to beg for help and that is why I got rid of my collection(mostly on mounts) 8 years ago.

 

[Morja]

I went on another trip, about a week long again, recently. I shortened light times and put absolutely everything in an outer container to help hold some moisture. I had to use some cups and mugs but I think it helped. I was most worried about my seedling fairrieanum, but it seemed to fare well. I watered everything really well beforehand and made sure every outer container had a little bit of water in the bottom (not touching the roots).

 

[Morja]

I don't regret hiring people to water the plants but it is hard to find anyone to do it...I don't like to beg for help and that is why I got rid of my collection(mostly on mounts) 8 years ago.

Previously, I took some of my plants to a non plant person that works with my husband. To her credit she tried to follow my directions, but confused some of the plants and a couple of my paphs ended up sitting in water for a good part of the week. My delenatii enjoyed it least.

 

[big923cattleya]

I am beginning to have the opinion that this has kind of got out of hand.
If you are leaving your plants for a week, not a summer, not a month, a week, then how can they possibly develop any kind of serious problem in a week?? It makes no sense.
You mean that in just seven days, an issue can develop in 4-5 days of the week that can seriously damage their well being and over all health, and that issue can happen in just a few days??? That just seems out of line. Because if it was remotely true, you essentially made yourself a SLAVE to your plants!!! No fun, no joy, just a sense of impending doom and gloom. If that was remotely true, who would to be engaged in this hobby?? No one in their right mind, that’s who.
Now I know that a good many of us worry about our orchids but man oh man, that is just putting yourself under a lot of pressure. Just relax, take a few deep breaths and calm down.
No temporary greenhouse needed.
No plant sitter needed.
It is just 7 little bitty days. 7. Just make sure that they are hydrated upon your departure and trust that they will be fine.

 

[Morja]

I am beginning to have the opinion that this has kind of got out of hand.
If you are leaving your plants for a week, not a summer, not a month, a week, then how can they possibly develop any kind of serious problem in a week?? It makes no sense.
You mean that in just seven days, an issue can develop in 4-5 days of the week that can seriously damage their well being and over all health, and that issue can happen in just a few days??? That just seems out of line. Because if it was remotely true, you essentially made yourself a SLAVE to your plants!!! No fun, no joy, just a sense of impending doom and gloom. If that was remotely true, who would to be engaged in this hobby?? No one in their right mind, that’s who.
Now I know that a good many of us worry about our orchids but man oh man, that is just putting yourself under a lot of pressure. Just relax, take a few deep breaths and calm down.
No temporary greenhouse needed.
No plant sitter needed.
It is just 7 little bitty days. 7. Just make sure that they are hydrated upon your departure and trust that they will be fine.

I feel like the conversation applies to going away longer than a week as well. After leaving them myself for a week I also see it's not that big of a deal, I could probably even stretch it to 2 with just a bit of stress on my plants. Some of us don't have ideal setups or years of experience though, so maybe at times we go over the top in our protective measures. It's part of how we learn. When one is used to watering multiple times a week, it's a scary thought to leave them unwatered for a week or two, especially if you paid good money for the plants, as we do!

Also... in my defense, when I left my plants with someone the trip was more like 10 days, not a week. I had not left any of them for that long before.

 

[Tom-DE]

Bill, keep this in mind, Morja is relatively new to this hobby. Worrying is common for new hobbyists and that is okay. I only water my plants(Paphs) once a week even if I am home, so for 95% of hobbyists(indoor growers), leaving the plants alone for a week(or 10 days) without doing anything special should be perfectly fine. Longer than that, especially for small plants/seedlings, you should do something about it.