Automatic watering systems for indoor plants - purchased and homemade

Indoor plants delight the eye with rich greenery and bright colors, enrich the air with oxygen, and some, according to esotericists, even protect against negative energy. To prevent green pets from drying out while their owners are away, you can arrange automatic watering for indoor plants with your own hands. To make this simple device, various improvised means are used: threads, tubes, bottles. In addition, you can buy capillary mats, trays, cones, hydrogel and ready-made industrial automatic watering systems.

How to prepare plants for automatic watering?

Caring for home flowers mainly consists of fertilizing and regular watering. Feeding is carried out depending on the season and the general condition of the plant, but usually no more than once a month. But without regular watering, green spaces will not last long. That is why, when planning a trip for more than a week, it would be useful to purchase or design an automatic sprinkler in advance.

In order for indoor plants to withstand the upcoming “drought” with dignity, they must be properly prepared.

A few days before departure, break off the remaining inflorescences and buds, thin out the bush if possible, removing the widest leaves. This will reduce the evaporation area.
At the same time, the flowers are inspected for diseases and pests.For the safety of healthy plants, damaged specimens must be treated and moved to another room.
All greenery is removed from window sills, stands, bedside tables and grouped in the middle of the room, away from radiators and windows. The pots are placed close to each other. The less light and heat, the higher the humidity.
After fertilizing, plants need a lot of water for better absorption of minerals. Therefore, just before departure, you should never apply fertilizer. The last feeding is carried out three weeks before departure.

Now all that remains is to water the house plants generously, turn on the automatic watering - and you can go about your business. Under drip irrigation conditions, flowers can grow from 7 to 20 days; it is not advisable to leave your green pets for a longer period.

Automatic watering from plastic bottles

Many gardeners know how to set up a drip irrigation system from plastic bottles. The operating principle of this device is very simple:

Take a container of mineral or carbonated water and, using a hot knitting needle or nail, make two holes: in the lid and in the bottom.
The bottle is filled with water, turned upside down and secured above the pot or buried in the ground up to the neck.

The most difficult part of this job is adjusting the frequency of drops and calculating the volume of liquid needed for watering over several days. To do this, you need to measure in advance how much water will flow out of the bottle per day and check how well the soil mixture is wet. Depending on these observations, the diameter of the hole in the cap and the volume of the bottle are adjusted.

Waterer made of threads

To make automatic watering for indoor flowers, you can use thick woolen threads, twine or fabric strands. The work is carried out as follows:

Pots with plants are lowered to the floor and placed closer to each other.
Place a bucket of water on a table or stool. The main thing is that the container is above the soil level in the pot.
Several threads (according to the number of plants) are tied with a knot, which is immersed in a bucket of water.
The free ends of the threads or cords are brought to the pots and sprinkled with a little earth to hold them tighter.

Instead of threads, you can use thin tubes, the permeability of which can be easily adjusted with cotton balls. Medical droppers are excellent for this purpose. It is enough, using a special regulator available in the system, to set a convenient mode for the flow of liquid, fill the flask with water - and drip watering of home flowers is ensured.

Water tank

To prevent house plants from drying out during their owner’s vacation or business trip, they can be self-watered using any wide, shallow container filled with water. This is done like this:

the bottom of the basin or bath is covered 10-15 cm with expanded clay, sand or peat;
pour water to 5 cm;
Pots are placed on a cushion of filler, after removing the pallets.

You can also add filler between the pots and moisten it generously with water.

Purchased products for auto-watering

You don’t always have the time and desire to invent something and build something with your own hands, and it’s simply impossible to leave for a long time, leaving the flowers without watering. In such cases, you can use factory products, which are available in abundance in garden centers and flower shops.

Capillary mat. Pots with indoor plants are placed on a flat surface covered with this hygroscopic material, and one end of the mat is lowered into water. Sometimes the capillary mat is sold together with special trays: internal and external. In this case, the inner tray is lined with a mat, and water is poured into the outer tray.
AQUA GLOBES. This device is a glass flask of water with a ceramic cone, the tip of which sticks into the soil and evenly moistens the soil mixture.
Hydrogel. This is a special polymer that can quickly absorb moisture and then slowly release it. Available in the form of transparent or multi-colored balls. Before use, the gel is soaked for 5–6 hours, and then the soil in the pot is covered with balls.

Having an automatic drip irrigation system for house plants, you can safely go on vacation or a business trip. The flowers will not lack moisture and will withstand separation from their owner with dignity.