Will my tender babes be safe?

[Mamsoth]

Hey everyone, I'm about to start germinating 3 varieties, white bullet habs, bird eye and possibly the last sb7j's (cheers Patrick). The thing is, I'm going on an astronomy holiday to tenerife in 6 weeks, I'll be gone for 1 week so my question is...will my young plants be ok for that amount of time? If not, are there any methods I can employ to keep them from drying out and dieing. There's no one free to come round and water them is the problem.
 
Cheers guys
 
Matt

 

[Jazzman1001]

Hey Matt,
 
while i don't have the most experience with it, i think that at the 6 week mark they will be a more hardy (first 4 weeks they're pretty tender - assuming germination takes a week to a week and a half you are just over the tender mark). To be safe though, maybe get some vermiculite and cover the tops of the soil in it (soaks up some water and keeps the moisture longer).
 
if you have the space, I've also read that putting them in a basin of some kind but raised up just above the water line (such as on a brick or other solid material) then that'll help them get some water but won't leave them susceptible to root rot. 
 
Hope that helps a bit, and that your Astronomy holiday goes well! it sounds like a cool trip idea.
 
-Ben

Also, not sure if this is an option for you, but if you wanted to pick up some plastic covers to "greenhouse" them a bit, that'd retain some moisture for a while as well.

 

[Pepperjack91]

Are they already germinated? If so what are they in?

 

[ms1476]

The smaller the pot is, the quicker they dry out. Put them in bigger pots and water them when you leave.

 

[Bob_B]

I would pot them up in small pots right before you leave and put them in an aluminum pan - put about a quarter inch of water in the pan. Fluorescent light with timer or placed so that they get some light but so they don't dry out. You want to let them "bottom water".

 

[Mamsoth]

thanks for all the suggestions guys. big pots and vermiculite it is
 

Are they already germinated? If so what are they in?

 
Not yet but hopefully i'll have them in some dirt by the weekend.
 

 
 
Hope that helps a bit, and that your Astronomy holiday goes well! it sounds like a cool trip idea.
 
 

 
Thanks jazzman, I'm so excited, the skies up mount teide are so dark, should be great : )