Would it be a terrible idea to leave plants unattended for up to a week? If not, are there any precautions that should be taken? It would be during the third week of flowering. So far, they've been pretty resilient (knock on wood), but I don't want to screw up the whole thing right near the end. It's an organic, soil grow under a 400W HPS. Any thoughts or advice? Thanks!
Think about power outages, bulbs burning out, pests, etc. How are they going to drink?\ I don't think its a terrible idea, but it's certainly not a good one.
What about For like three days for the same age.. I was seriously thinking about making a similar post. I guess its just water before you go and pray. unless you have one of those water globes lol.
The longest I've left my plants (3rd week flowering, maybe 4th now I forget) is a weekend or so. Watering seems to be the biggest issue, as my plants are always thirsty. If your space can maintain everything for a week then go for it. A test run would be a good idea. Set it up like you would and leave it for a week. Check in on it every now and then, if you have to intervene then find a different solution.
My primary concerns are getting them enough water or having them grow too close to the HPS and getting burned. They're extremely thirsty and they have almost been burned before by the light. Moving the light far enough away might solve the latter problem, but I can't figure out how to water them in absentia. Do water globes actually work?
I would first check out some of the guerilla grows and adapt a drip line into the grow for the week. As far as the light goes maybe move it up "x" before you leave for the week. where x= the amount of growth per week averaged As far as what to do specifically to make it work I don't know, its just ideas I'm throwing out.