Holiday Care Of Pot Plants

Press, Volume CVII, Issue 31564, 29 December 1967, Page 3

Holiday Care Of Pot Plants

House plants present quite a problem for the owner who is going away, and undoubtedly where a caravan is being used at least one or two cherished plants will be taken, in spite of protests from the husband. However we cannot all de this and as these plants will continue to grow and also dry out meanwhile, some provision for their well-being must be made.

What can be done, apart from asking someone to come in to tend them?

The following alternative suggestions may be of help. Take a box and into the bottom place an inch or two of sawdust, moist sand, moss,

or even peat or leaf mould. Stand the potted plants on this and pack them in with the same material so that they are covered to a little over pot rim level. Place the box in a tray of water. The depth of water should not be allowed to rise above the base of the pots. The complete arrangement is then to be put in a cool shady but not dark position. Plants with hardened foliage, that is those capable of withstanding ready transfers into the open, can be well watered and similarly plunged to their rims in the garden. A spreading shrub in a sheltered part of the garden provides an ideal location for this suggestion. After plunging the pots, the ground in their immediate vicinity should be well soaked. Another method is this: carefully knock the plant out of its pot, take a strip of cloth and soak it in water. Then line the pot with the saturated cloth but make allowance for considerable overhang which should be > dipped into a container of i water after the plant has been ■ replaced in the pot. The cloth ; acts as a wick and draws water from the container, so : keeping the plant moist. , Yet another method, and probably the simplest, is to water the plant well, allow it to drain and then place it in a polythene bag. It should then be placed in a shady place. Although the foregoing suggestions are only of a temporary nature and will not support a plant for a long time, it will provide a sufficient safeguard against drying out for about two weeks.