I have an upcoming vacation next month and I am already thinking about what that means for my grow. I am doing a micro grow so I only have one plant to worry about, but that also means a lot is riding on this plant. I estimate the plant will be at around day 30 of flowering at the start of my vacation. My question is what I should do about watering while I'm gone. No one knows about my grow, and I plan to keep it that way so havin a friend help is out of the question. I have done some research into delayed watering systems (2 liter bottle with hole poked in cap) that I can fill up and will hopefully release the water over the course of the week. I am also aware weed needs dry/wet cycles and that would make it a consistent moisture. What have some of you done/ would do if you were in my position?
Just a rough draft off the dome, but... Get a cheap timer for 1 garden hose, a 10-18 gallon tote or whatever size you feel appropriate, an overflow drain for a swamp cooler and a couple feet of hose. Drill or cut a hole for the overflow pipe into the bottom of one of the sides of the tote, attach the pipe to the hole, attach the timer to the pipe, attach the hose to the timer, and run the hose into your tent or wherever, then set the timer. You could then use straight water or hop onto a hydro forum and figure out how to keep the solution prime and algae free for 10 days. Done. Remember, this is a rough draft off the top of my SOBER dome. So it might not make sense. But everything can be had at a Lowes for around $30 I'd say. Again that's a guesstimate. Good luck bro.
What about something like this? Amazon.com: CobraCo 6001-TC Replacement Ceramic Watering Sensors, 3-Pack: Patio, Lawn & Garden
Actually built one of these rigs for just this purpose. Will try to get some photos up. Basically here is what you need 1/2" black rain bird tubing ($10.00) 1/4" black tubing (5.00) 100 gph pump or some sort of small pump with 1/2" outlet ($15.00) 1 gph drip emitters ($3.00) Little aquarium pump and airstone ($15.00) 7 day digital timer ( $15.00) 5 gallon bucket or larger if needed for the water reservoir ($3.00) ...lastly one small hose clamp. Take the 1/2" main water line and measure out your layout, mark the spots for your 1 gph drip emitters and install them. Next connect the 1/4" tubing to the drip emitters and run to your plants. Fold the end of your 1/2" hose (opposite end from the pump) back onto itself causing a kink at the end and put your hose clamp on ( this stops the water from coming out the end of the hose and forcing it out of your drip emitters). Once you are comfortable with your layout measure your 1/2" line back to your water reservoir and cut the 1/2" line to length. Fill your res, turn on the air-pump and connect the stone and drop it into the water. Plug the air-pump w/air stone into an always on connection. Next connect your 1/2" hose to the new 100 gph pump and drop into the res. Next, set your programmable timer and then plug your 100gph pump into the timer to test. I have 4 plants in this setup and I set it to run for 30 minutes supplying my four plants with a 1/2 gallon of water every 4 days. I garden organically so i dont fertilize at all during my grows but you could add a light dose of nutes to this setup and since you are aerating, you should be okay. Any questions just ask. Good luck. -= booyaa =-
Jerry was dead on with his advice. NoobwanB's system is fool proof. I don't have a reservouir and I can go 5-6 days without any watering at all, I can do 2 weeks with a little plumbing into another bucket!
I have to travel often, so this is something I deal with quite a bit. I also like the sip pot as laid out, for shorter trips I usually just do some training or repot right before I leave to stunt the growth. Slows the water uptake and the plant benefits from the training. Only works in veg though, since I want as little stress as possible during flower