If you follow me on social networks or you have seen some of my post such as The decoration of MY LIVING ROOM: Final result or Changes in my living room decoration you will have noticed that I have quite a few plants at home. For me they are all a discovery since I always liked them but I thought that they would all eventually die under my watch, as most people think. One day I started and I was completely hooked: they make the house happy, which completes the decoration and happiness that I get when I see new leaves. And it’s not at all complicated.
In a short time I started to get more and more and I have reached a whopping 20 plants at home.
I am delighted because I do not require much care, just perseverance. Some need more watering, some less.
I made a table with the times a week that I had to water each one and in the end I got used to it and I know it by heart, autopilot.
Photo: ©Home archiLAB
The other day I had a lightbulb moment, How to water the plants on vacation? Horror!! Help!! I will be almost a complete month in Spain …
I am sure that for those of you who have had plants, you have had to deal with this dilemma. But above all, to eliminate excuses for those who do not want them, I’ll tell you the solution!
Here you have it!:
Photo: ©Home archiLAB
What is this?
These are porous ceramic cones that provide the right amount of water to the plants.
Photo: ©Home archiLAB
It must be said that the first and best option of all is to be able to order someone to come to your house to water the plants. But this is not always possible, especially for those who live far from the family and close friends.
So I was searching the internet for existing systems and this was the one that convinced me for 3 reasons:
- It allowed me to cover more days,
- You can REUSE (one word with RE of those that gives me so much pleasure),
- Its price (4 cones, € 14.97 in Amazon Spain)
For you to have all the information, I leave you the video of Viveros La Mezquita
that was very clear to me on the systems that exist, how they work and for how many days:
Visto lo que hay me decidí a comprar 16 conos.
Having seen it, I decided to buy 16 cones.
I know I said that I have 20 plants. It’s not that there are 4 “ugly ducking” plants, but they are cacti or succulents that last a long time without water.
Photo: ©Home archiLAB
These cones are attached to a plastic water bottle. They are compatible with almost any bottle between 0.5 and 5 liters.
Notice that the next picture shows how the bottles are not the same. These are 0.5 liters and I used them to do a test before the holidays. Later on, I’ll tell you how and why.
Photo: ©Home archiLAB
However I also tried this other 2 liter bottle and perfect.
Photo: ©Home archiLAB
Even in this other photo of my parsley (the plant that requires the most care even though it does not seem so, because it is very sensitive to the lack of water) you see that there is a 1 liter bottle (put it on the label).
Photo: ©Home archiLAB
All the bottles are different, because it is what I had at home, you do not need to spend a fortune on drinks, but also because each plant has its needs and the speed with which it absorbs water depends on the type of plant and the substrate.
That is why it is advisable to do a test before the holidays and to see the speed at which the water absorbs each plant so as to put a bottle of more or less quantity according to the days that you are going to be outside.
Before placing the cone with the bottle you have to water the plant a little more than normal, but not too much! We don’t want the remedy to be worse than the disease.
Photo: ©Home archiLAB
If the plant takes up a lot of pot space or has abundant roots it is advisable to look for a place and dig a hole where we will introduce the cone without damaging the roots. It is not the case of this photo of the plant because there is plenty of space, but it is where it best appeared for the photo.
Photo: ©Home archiLAB
We can now introduce the cone in the right place, pressing until it is completely buried.
Photo: ©Home archiLAB
Finally and VERY IMPORTANT is to make a hole in the top of the bottle, which in this case is the base of it. It is essential for air to enter and the system works well. You can do it with a punch, a scissors or a knife.
Photo: ©Home archiLAB
Here you can see my Alocasia also known as «elephant ears» with its prepared watering system.
Photo: ©Home archiLAB
The product I bought is the one you see on the packaging, I bought it through Amazon at this link: Ceramic watering cones.
You do not need to buy them in lots of 4. They also sell them individually.
There are several types of cones depending on the size of the pot.
Foto: Aquasolo
And depending on which bottle you use, you know the number of days for which it will serve as indicated on the product web: Aquasolo (you can check out all the details of how it works and doubts that you may have).
Photo: Aquasolo
But my personal advice is to try it before, because this is just theory. Depending on the amount of water that each plant requires and the substrate it has, the water demand will vary.
So what I did was to put 0.5 liters bottles and checked in how many days the bottle would empty, and with this information I know for 20 days what size bottle I need. I wrote down how much water I put to each plant and the day the test began and when the water is finished I will know how long it has lasted.
Photo: ©Home archiLAB
This is very important because in only two days that they were placed there are already some that are more advanced than others.
Photo: ©Home archiLAB
Evidently there are other cones that are not those of Aquasolo, and surely they will work well too. I simply told you about these because they are the ones I have used and because the opinions I read on Amazon about them were good. To me the product has pleasantly surprised me.
I will tell you how the experiment comes out and if my plants survive the holidays!
Do you use any other effective method to water the plants when you are not at home? Do not keep it to yourself! Share it by writing a comment.
