- Author: Lowell Cooper
One of the biggest challenges for me when going on a several week vacation is how to instruct house minders how to take care of my indoor and outdoor plants. I've never yet been successful. Fortunately, I tell myself once I leave the house for a trip, that whatever happens, happens. In preparation with the house sitters, only the dogs get fully attended to. Ironically, for the average caretaker, they are easier to notice, and are thus better attended to. The plants don't bark.
Since I am leaving behind several hundred plants, I don't think it is reasonable to give individualized care instructions. And I put as many outdoor plants as possible on an automatic watering system. In the past, I have said to the caretaker: “ there are many plants that need to be looked at regularly – in and out of the house. On the average, I water once a week and that will do. The outdoor plants are hard to overwater, but the indoor ones will die if overwatered. Walk around and check a couple of times a week. If there is a hot spell, check more often.” Way too incomplete! I discovered quickly that people loved to overwater inside and never were interested enough (?) or compulsive enough (?) to check the outside plants,, even the ones that flowered. So….
I revised my instructions. Inside plants need to be watered once a week and the soil checked especially if there is a hot spell, and outdoor plants that look wilted, also need water. Succulents could be watered less often – and it turned out no succulent ever met its maker. Indoors, the most predictable problem was all plant problems were treated the same, as if they required more water. So, many plants drowned, especially the thin-leaf ferns, dracaena, philodendron, rubber plants, and other which got low light in the house and therefore needed less water. The instinct to treat water as a miracle drug seemed very automatic. I tried another approach….
All plants outside that didn't have spongy leaves, i.e. were not succulents – like herbs, petunias, mimulas, and cymbidiums – needed to be looked at, soil touched and penetrated for wetness, should be watered if dry. Given the weather in the bay area, there are occasions when it does get very hot. If there is a heat spell, be more vigilant. Indoors, same principles: check the soil, especially if the weather is hotter than usual, water when the soil is dry to finger poking depth, if the plant looks sad, don't cure with water. Again, I was surprised: several plants were treated as if they were capable of making water on their own: dry as a bone and very dead upon my return.
After half-dozen caretakers who have been wonderful with the dogs, I have begun to believe that it is not going to work with people who don't really think plants are living creatures. I have made up some tentative guidelines for myself for house sitters that I thought you might also find useful as part of pre-vacation planning. 1. If you water regularly, put post-its on the pots giving the watering schedule. 2. Put bright little flags in planting areas outdoors with vulnerable plants, again, with watering instructions. 3. If a plant is very precious, question going away. 4. Keep an open account at your local nursery, for when you return and assess the damage. 5. Enjoy your trip.
If anyone has other ideas, I'd love to know.