Leaving my babies!

[chico24]

Hello all!

I currently have a few plants which have just sprouted over the last 3 weeks (19 of 31 seeds planted).

I have them in a tray, under a dome, on a heat mat, in peat pellets.

I am leaving for Phoenix for 10 days in just over a week, and I have nobody that can care for them while I'm away.
Currently they only have 1 set of leaves, so I haven't yet "potted up" to my larger plastic cups yet.

I was away over this past holiday weekend, and lost one plant to damping off... I'm now worried about leaving them for an extended period of time.

Im thinking of potting them up to 16oz cups and removing my dome. I'm hoping that the deeper soil, more abundant soil will hold enough moisture that they won't require the attention they have been getting so far, but I still think 10 days is pushing my luck with such young plants.

Any suggestions?

If it helps, I'm currently growing bhuts, 7-pots, Morugas, Jonahs, Chocolate Habs, and scotch bonnets.

Thanks

 

[scratchzilla]

Could you set up a bucket with water and strings going to each plant? The string would act like a wick and add moisture to the soil as it dries out.

 

[bricke]

http://www.designsponge.com/2010/05/we-like-it-wild-bottle-gardens.html

how about something like this but out of solocups

 

[Wulf]

Anybody have any thoughts on whether it would help to put them in a fridge while he's gone?

Above freezing so they won't directly die from that, but cold enough that a single watering shouldn't evaporate in that time.

 

[chico24]

Could you set up a bucket with water and strings going to each plant? The string would act like a wick and add moisture to the soil as it dries out.

That sounds easy enough! Any idea where I might find instructions on something like that? (ie does the bucket need to me elevated? Does the string need to be buried? etc)

Thanks for the suggestion!

http://www.designspo...le-gardens.html

how about something like this but out of solocups

I can probably rig up a rudimentary version of this. Wish me luck!

 

[scratchzilla]

http://www.thriftyfun.com/tf11765839.tip.html

 

[chico24]

Update:

Im back from my trip, and I was worried about my plants the whole time I was worried about my plants.

I set up a wick watering system a few days before leaving to ensure it was working, and it seemed to be fine when I left.

I checked last night when I got in. There was still a lot of water in the bucket, but for some reason, at some point, the ropes stopped drawing water!

The good news is that MOST of the plants survived and showed a lot of new growth. The bad news is, I lost the only 2 Bhut Jolokia's that survived to this point.

On the bright side, I still have some time to plant some more seeds for this season.

Thanks to all for the advise... I was too nervous and excited to remember my phone when i checked them, so I don't have any pics to post.