Question
QUESTION: Hello,
I have a Coleus which is small around 6 inches above soil potted in small 4.5 inch pot. I water it daily with around 150ml water everyday . In winter watering once was enough but now in summer it requires watering TWICE , in case i don't water it, i see the stems have come down as if they don't have any energy to stand erect. That's the reason i water it everyday. Now i want to go 'out of town'  for maybe 2 weeks ,but i don't wanna lose this beautiful plant .

What do i do that it gets the water even when i am not here ? There's no one else to take care of it &  i have noticed that the 'Shoelace technique'  drips out a lot of water that too continuously , which will definitely rot the roots and my plant have gone through such phase ,thankfully recovered, although it was me who had watered it excessively. There's no gardening stores locally where i could buy some automatic mechanisms to water my coleus.

How can i develop a self watering mechanism on my own which will automatically keep watering the coleus when i'm out and which donot water continuously because continuous drop by drop flow will also make a bucket filled in time and drops will not even reach the bottom till the roots ? So how can i do it ?


Oxalis   ANSWER: Greetings Gaurav,

I have the same issue (traveling while watering high maintenance plants) and I have a solution for you.

You have been watering from above, but plants are very happy to be watered from below. Often, it is actually better, because it keeps the leaves from retaining too much moisture, which opens the door for disease.

Put your plants in containers of water. It can be a tray, a bowl - any thing that holds water.  I purchased some oxalis a couple of weeks ago and kept forgetting to water them. So I put them in small plastic food containers and put water at the bottom.  Plants absorb water through their roots and pump it up to their leaves. It's part of a process calls transpiration, but don't worry about the name, just the concept. It works!

The plant will only pump what it needs. It will not become waterlogged.

I suggest that you test this before you leave. Since there will be a degree of evaporation, you will gage how much water to put in the containers. Then you can go on your vacation with no concerns about overwatering, underwatering, or the demise of valued plants.

Does this make sense?  Please feel free to write with any questions or concerns.

I just went and took a pic of my oxalis. Sorry for the flash. It's dark here and I wanted to get the image to you. These have no been overhead watered in a week. They are continuing to grow and bloom.

Regards,

Donna

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Thankyou for the photo. Are you sure that there won't be a case of overwatering in this. As water in container will try to maintain same level as with container (which is natural) , which means whatever part is submerged in water will be waterlogged and so will be the part of roots in that particular area. Isn't it ?  However I've kept it in a mug of water (as test) from today let's see how it goes. I kept when soil in pot had fully dried, but even after soil on top also has also become wet , i still see noticeable change in water level going down. That's the reason i think may be soil is sucking more water than what plant needs .

ANSWER: I absolutely understand your concern.  I have had mine in the pots for a week, and they are fine, but it is wise to run your own test. I found that the water tended to be absorbed, but the plant was fine. I suspect that there is a mechanism in nature that keeps it from overabsorbing (is that a word?)But you are the best judge.

Please let me know how it goes.

Regards,

Donna

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Your Idea is GREAT. It does WORK. But you know i'm observing that my plant isn't growing further and stopped at what it was when it was kept in the water mug. I noticed the small and budding leaves are of same sizes even after two days whereas i could notice growth everyday(yes trust me everyday, only if you notice small leaves carefully not big ones). The same thing had happened a few weeks ago because i was watering it 2 to 3 times a day and i got to know(from AllExperts itself) that the reason is over-watering. I guess same reason goes in this case also cos the soil remains moist all the time .
Perhaps stop of growth is because of the reason that the plant is no more getting Oxygen since moist soil will not have a gap to transmit air, which in case if soil is dry it creates some gap lines(you might have noticed) through which air can enter. So , i think this method should be used only when travelling out of town and not when one is in home and can water one's plant , as plant will not grow but it won't even grow.

Two things i wonder about your's is :
How the water in your plant's container did not evaporate in a week  also ?
and  Is your plant growing ? Did you notice ?

Answer
Hi! Just noticed this. For some reason I was not" flagged".

The water does evaporate. But not before the plant has absorbed quite a bit of it. So when you see no water in the bottom, it can still be in the plant.

And yes, my plant grew! It even flowered!

Donna