I'm never home anymore (ha!), but thankfully Reggie (my awesome neighbor) fills my reservoirs for me :-)

Hi Barbara,
I also wick water and my plants are good from 7 - 10 days also. Generally our vacations last less than a week in most cases so it isn't a problem. I have had a few plants that have gone dry and barely survive but when I got home I was able to take the crown and reroot it.
Fred in NJ

I'm leaving this week for five days. My plants are all wicked and they will probably enjoy me not picking at them for five days.

Thom

My violet Buddy (you've seen pictures of her and me during our potting sessions where we play in the dirt) and I partner and trade off.

When she is out of town, I take care of hers and when I'm out of town, she takes care of mine. We only need to do this if we are going to be out of town for more than 7 days. My wick containers will support the plants for at least 7 days.

Dora

This topic is very timely for me as I will be going away for 7 days in a couple of weeks, and I don't have anyone I trust to water my violets - and most of them definitely need to be watered more often than once a week (they aren't wicked). I plan to cover them all with plastic - those that are too large for bags I will cover with dry cleaner plastic. I'm experimenting now with a large violet that has been covered for about 8 days and is still moist and doing fine. Hopefully they will be okay.

Judy

Before I leave for vacation I cut the lights back to 6 or 8 hours. I have mostly Oyama planters and they are good for at least a week to 10 days. The other ones I stick in individual plastic bags, or a large bag over a tray of baby plantlets. They can stay in the bags for a long time with no apparent ill effects other than sometimes an outer leaf looks a little brown and mushy. If it is something special I will take a couple of them to a neighbor's house. I suppose I could hire someone to come in and water everything, but I have so many plants, I would probably have to pay a lot.

Lynn-

welcome back! Did you plant everything you and your lucky husband won on the Convention? I am still repotting the starters.

About the bags and such - do you have the high domes? The ones with vents? They are great for the young ones and keep the humidity high but not that high.

It was such a pleasure to meet you in person.
Irina

Hi Irina!!!!!!!!
It was wonderful to spend some time with you at convention! I worked hard all Sunday and got all the leaves planted. Still have to repot the starter plants. Lots of new stuff!
As for the plastic domes, I don't have those (yet), but quite often I will use the plastic, sort of squatty type wine glass size cups for smaller plants when I go away. I just put the solo cup in one and then use another one on top to cover it up, and then tape the sides of the cups since they don't stay together very well on their own. It is a much neater look than the plastic bags actually.
Lynn

I will look them up for you. I can get them from local stores - and I sent some to Thad - but the shipping is way too expensive. Every time I repot - and get some plants with flimsy roots or if I root suckers - I just cover the tray with a dome for a couple of weeks.

Irina

I found a place with good price on them

Irina

Here is a link that might be useful: plastic domes

Irina
That 7" tall plastic dome will be perfect for keeping violets as well as streps moist while we are traveling! And, much, much, more attractive than a shelf full of fogged up plastic bags!
Thanks
Lynn

Irina,
The place that you ordered the dome from - I'd love to have several of those but ones that I've gotten from other sources don't fit the trays that I have.

Is the dome pictured made for a certain tray? I'd order those in a heartbeat if I could get a tray that they fit so I could actually have a greenhouse instead of a clear dome that sits on top of something but doesn't seal.

Dora