As the title states...I am currently weighing my options for keeping plants happy and moist for the 8 days I'm in Tahoe (Can't wait!). Having a friend help out is out of the question.

I have rigged up a slow-drip system, but it's less than ideal. Since I can't test it over long term, I don't want to rely on it. I leave in less than 24 hours, and don't have time to buy anything.

Currently, I water every other day. If I wait until 3 days, my plants start sagging--but this was before I turned off the circulatiing fan, which should help a bit in keeping things moist, I think. I do still have my vent fan, but no direct wind blowing on plants/pots.

I was thinking about wrapping the containers in a garbage bag, and soaking the soil once and hoping for the best. By containing the root mass, the only loss of water would be through transpiration...

Is the risk of root rot too high for this?

i would not wrap them in a bag, moss or fungus will probably happen. 8 days.......... you a drip system is all that May do it.... but I don't know how long it would have to be

I cant believe you are going, Ive racked my brain I thought maybe ice cubes with a slow melt but that wont last 8 days....ill just come over and handle your watering while your gone...but I expect a healthy treat when you harvest...

Sure, come on over!

Yeah...the drip system might have to do it. I think I'm going to saran wrap the soil surface on top, but leave the drain holes on bottom open. I don't have mulch to use right now...

I was wary about the bag idea, but wanted to see what people thought before I ruled it out.

i wish you could find a legit friend I hate to say this but your plants may be in trouble a week is a loooong time . hmmm seriously you better macgyver something up.. I am at a lost of ideas at the moment but I will think about it

tell me about the drip sys why dont you think that will work??

how many pants are you talking about? I am sure a drip system of some sort would work, maybe figuring out a way to decrease water consumption in the plant or plants would help. Maybe a 5 gallon drip system would work.

So I have 2-liter soda bottles. I stuck a syringe needle (26 gauge to be exact) into the base of it, and now the water is slowly dripping through the needle. I can adjust the drip speed by tightening or loosening the bottle cap.

My plan is just to plop the 2-liter bottles somewhere next to my plants so the dripping goes to the soil.

One problem is that the needle only extends ~1/2" from the bottom of the soda bottle. I don't have enough room on my pots to stand a soda bottle on, so the dripping prob will have to be somewhere off to the side of the stem (not centered).

Hope that sums it up...It seems to be dripping alright, I just don't know if I trust it to last 8 days (I don't know at all how many day's it'll last!). I don't have much time to optimize drip rate...

5 plants. Idea is to have 1x2L/plant.