How to water Peace Lily while on vacation [Pro Tips]
A houseplant lover always gets worried about his plants when he goes on a vacation. You may request your neighbors to water your plant if it can be placed outside. But what if it remains inside? Again, all types of plants are not hard enough to tolerate drought for several days. The peace lily is one of them.
Though peace lily plants are easy to maintain, they need to be watered properly when they get dry. That’s why you can use a pebble tray, water wicking method, placing bottles, inserting globes, a polythene bag, use moisture-retaining methods or a self-watering pot to water your beautiful lily though you are not at home.
If you are interested in these methods, then scroll below to get the elaborated forms of these ways to keep your peace lily unstressed in case you are on vacation for some days.
How To Water Peace Lily On Vacation- 9 Simple And Effective Ways
I want to describe some easy and effective methods that I usually apply to my peace lily when I go outside for a few days. Check them below-
1. Using Pebble Tray
At the top of our method list, I would like to talk about the pebble tray as it’s one of my favorite methods. For this purpose, you will need a tray and some pebbles.
- Firstly keep a layer of pebbles on the tray.
- Pour water into the tray. Use such an amount of water so that the pebbles are not completely drowned. They should be submerged and the upper part of the pebbles should be out of water.
- Then keep the plant directly on those pebbles.
- Thus, the pebbles will continuously supply water to your lily leaves.
2. Water Wicking Method
Next, you may go for a water-wicking method. In this case, you will need a thick cotton rope, and a glass jar full of water.
- Take the cotton rope and push one end of it inside the plant soil so that it can reach the end of the pot. But make sure the root system is not disturbed.
- Then, take the glass jar and fill it up with water and place another end of that cotton rope in the water.
- Keep the plant pot and jar nearby.
- The cotton rope will slowly absorb the water and pass it to the plant soil.
3. Keeping the Plant Near Other Plants
This method says to keep your lily plants nearly or near to other plants which can transpirate well. When both of the plants will continuously transpire water, there will be a cool microclimate which may reduce the rate of transpiration.
As dry weather won’t be created there so much, plants can get facilities to survive. But this method cannot be applied singly. It can just facilitate a little moist environment but won’t be able to supply water to your plant.
4. Adjusting With Towel
After that, I am going to provide you with other tricks that you may have seen in the crop fields. Simply saying, it is like a mulching method but done in a short range with different equipment.
Mulching is done to retain moisture in the soil with water hyacinth, coal, polythene etc. But in this case, I will suggest you use a wet towel.
- Take a towel that can hold water for a long time.
- Soak the towel in the water.
- Then water your plant in the normal way as you water.
- Keep the towel on the soil so that it can cover the whole soil in the pot.
- As the soil and towel both are wet, it will help to retain the moisture of the plant for many days.
5. Placing a Bottle With Tiny Holes
Following that, a bottle consisting of tiny holes can be another easy method for keeping your plant watering. To complete this procedure follow the instructions-
- Take a plastic bottle.
- Make some tiny holes in that bottle so that water cannot come out at a wide range.
- Water your plant normally and make a hole in the soil without disturbing the root system.
- Fill that bottle with water and immediately place it inside the soil.
- Place the bottle in such a way so that neither the soil cannot stick to the holes nor there remains a huge space so that all that water comes out fast.
- Keep a few spaces to allow the water to come out slowly. Thus, the lily plant will be watered continuously.
6. Inserting Water Globe
Then, I have another idea which is using a water globe. It is an aesthetic way to water your peace lily while on vacation. I am saying aesthetic because of its beautiful glass structure and appearance.
These colorful water globes have clefts or pores in them. That’s why they can supply water to your plant soil slowly. Just take a water globe, fill it up with water and stick it inside the soil. The water will be released slowly into the plant. If your plant is too large, you may use two or three globes in it.
7. Keeping In a Moist Place
This method is a little different from others. You have to use this with any other method that you want to apply to water your plant. Because this helps to make the other methods much more effective.
You just need to place your plant in such a place where it will get mild indirect light. The palace should not be shady but much sunlight may not enter. As a consequence, the water loss process of the plant physiology will be minimal and your plant will be able to survive for a long time.
8. Self-watering Pot
If you can manage a self-watering pot, the work will be easier for you. Self-watering pot contains a small hole bottom of it. You just have to fill up that pot and place it in the lily soil. Water will be continuously leaked from the pot and it will keep the plant soil moist.
9. Try Polythene Bag As a Greenhouse Implement
Lastly, I want to finish with an updated and technical method. You must have heard about the greenhouse. This method is an implementation of that knowledge. You need to use polythene for this purpose.
- Take polythene so that it may cover the whole plant along with the pot.
- Cover the plant with the polythene with a stick so that the polythene doesn’t remain touched by any parts of the plant.
- Make some tiny holes in the polythene to facilitate aeration.
- Then water your plant and keep it in a place where it will get indirect sunlight.
- The polythene will capture the evaporated moisture and will return it to the plant and thus it will conserve the moisture.
Peace Lily Daily Watering Rules
Besides, the ways of watering on vacation, you should know about some general rules of peace lily watering. Check them below to provide better care for your plant.
How Much To Water
Before watering, you should know how much water is appropriate for a peace lily. It mostly depends on the soil and environmental conditions. You should use a moderate amount of water that is needed to make the soil moist. Don’t pour much than the required amount of water that exceeds its demand as overwatering is harmful to peace lilies.
How To Water
You can apply two methods in watering peace lily-
- Water in the root zone with a watering can. But be alert so that an excessive amount of water is not transferred to the soil at a time.
- Sprinkle water with a sprinkler on the top of the plant and in the leaves so that the moisture level is maintained properly in the root zone.
When To Water
Water your peace lily when the soil is dry. You can use a humidifier to estimate the moisture level in the soil. Besides, you may pinch your finger on the soil to observe the water condition. If it is dry, then water your plant.
It is better to water the plant in the morning or sprinkle it at night. Watering the root in the early morning helps the plant to produce food in a moderate amount. Sprinkling at night keeps the plant vibrant.
When Not To Water
Don’t water your plant if the soil is moist. In this case, the plant won’t uptake the excess water. Consequently, the extra water will stay in the root and it will initiate damage to the root.
FAQs
1. Are peace-lily plants drought-resistant?
Peace lilies are moderately drought-resistant. They don’t like overwatering as it is harmful to their root zone and overall physiological activities.
2. How long can peace lilies live without water?
Peace lilies can live almost 10-13 days without water. But after that, they start to droop due to their physical imbalanced condition.
3. Is making a self-watering system troubling?
Not at all. All the methods are easy enough to apply. Besides, you have many options in your hand. You can choose any one of them to water your lily on vacation convenient for you.
Final Thoughts
So, finally, I am at the last stage of this article where I have described how to water peace lily while on vacation. I applied almost all of these methods that I narrated here to save my plant.
As you can see in the upper portion of the article, I have mentioned about pebbles tray, water-wicking procedure, water globe, bottle method, polythene covering method, self-watering pot and moisture-retaining procedures for those people who don’t want to lose their plants after a memorable vacation like me.
So choose one of them and apply it to your plant whenever you are not at home for your plant maintenance. Thus, you may enjoy your gardening even while staying away from home.
Read our complete guide on Peace Lily care & Tips to get flowers from peace lily.