Watering Bonsai While Away Or On Holiday – Guide

Bonsai plants can maintain their beauty and health as long as they are well managed and cared for. We must provide them with all the necessities, especially sufficient water for their growth.

To keep them moisturized and blooming, it is recommended to establish a routine. But what if you are away? Who will provide this care for your Bonsai during holiday periods?

Today, we’ll look at options to keep your plant hydrated for the period of your absence.

Water Wicking Technique

This is an old-school method of automatic watering system Bonsai plants. Still, it helps provide the required amount of water needed by the plants. You can implement this method for your Bonsai while you are away, and be sure that it will be watered through the period of your absence.

A big vase or bucket and a cotton rope are required to perform this watering technique. A clothesline works perfectly and is easily accessible in stores and markets. The cotton rope or clothesline is cut to a length that extends from the bottom of the water container to the soil of your Bonsai.

Carefully place the rope’s end in the soil a few inches below the soil and near the plant. Ensure that the rope does not get in the way of the roots and that the other end is at the bottom of the water container.

The cotton rope steadily wicks water from the vase or bucket into the plant bonsai pot, thereby keeping the plant watered and regulating the moisture in the soil.

Drip System

This technique also works perfectly and keeps your plants watered while on holiday. You can create your drip system at home; all you need is an empty plastic bottle and water. Before leaving home for your vacation, water your Bonsai plant properly. Then you fill the empty bottle with water and drill a few holes close to the top of the bottle head.

Fix the plastic bottle filled with water into the plant’s soil, with the head facing downwards. Ensure that the bottle head does not interfere with the roots of the plant, but make sure that the bottle is deep enough into the soil that the punctured tiny holes are covered.

As the soil dries out over time, the water from the container gradually keeps the soil moisturized.

You can increase the size of the bottle if the size of the plant pot is big and depending on how long you might be away or on holiday.

Plant Bath

This method is effective for Bonsai plant pots with a proper drainage system. You fill your sink or a bathtub with a small amount of water, like a height of a few inches.

Place a towel in the sink or tub before putting the plant pot to prevent scratches and littering of soil. The soil through the plant’s roots draws water from its sink, thereby keeping the plant watered for some time.

However, you should endeavor not to keep the plants in the dark bathroom, away from sunlight. Bonsai plants also require light to survive.

Plastic Bag Greenhouse

This is a less popular method of watering your Bonsai plants while you are unavailable, and it is sufficient for long vacations. To implement this system of watering your plant, you need a transparent plastic bag that can cover the plant and the pot.

You can use stakes to hold the bag to stop the bag from attaching to the plants.

Before leaving for your vacation, water your plant sufficiently and position it in a place with indirect sunlight – direct light from the sun will heat the bag, which may harm the plant.

You can inflate the bag as an extra precaution to prevent it from touching the plant. This looks like ballooning housing for the plant.

As water evaporates from the soil, the plastic bag allows it condenses back into the plant. This greenhouse-like method keeps the plant hydrated.

Automated Bonsai Watering Method

This is a unique system of watering Bonsai plants, as it is an automated approach.

This method involves using a computer to control water flow from a storage house through pipes and then to the plants, hence, keeping the plant watered. Along with the piping links, some valves also help to regulate the water flow.

You can also include sensors for this method in providing the temperature and environmental parameters that influence water availability in the soil. This computerized method can be controlled from your computer or a smartphone app.

Despite the fact that this is not the best option, it is still a feasible option if you are going away for a few days or a week. However, don’t place your tree in direct sunlight, since this will quickly dry out the soil, along with a lack of specific maintenance.

It is important to keep in mind that there is only one serious flaw: not all Bonsai trees need the same amount of watering at the same time. This makes it far less attentive than caring for each tree individually.

Conclusion

Every Bonsai plant requires water for survival and growth. Therefore, you need to devise means to keep them watered if you are going on holiday. You can choose any of the above methods of water Bonsai plants while you are away. They are all cost-effective techniques, except the automated method, and can be done easily and conveniently.

So whenever you intend to travel and have no one to help water your plants, you can apply any method and keep your plants watered until you return.