Vacation Plant Watering Set Up for a Month

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  I bought these to keep my plants watered while I was away for Christmas vacation. I was debating whether to use the glass globe type self-watering kits, but since they are only supposed to last for 3-5 days I needed something better. I somehow came across these HydroSpikes a couple days before I was leaving. Thanks to Amazon’s quick overnight shipping, I had them in time to give it a try. The packaging was extremely easy to open. Just pop open and uncoil the watering tubes. You have to then open the green cap and fill with water. This helps to start the siphoning process I believe. After inserting the spikes into the soil, I filled a gallon-sized bowl with water and placed the other end of the tubes inside the bowl. The only negative thing I found at this point was that the tubes seemed to just float on top of the water. This could be due to their light weight and that the tubes wanted to coil back up. I fixed this by weighting the tubes down into the bottom of the bowl with a small metal wrench. If I had more time I probably could have found a better solution for the tube problem.

  I left for vacation on Dec 18th and returned Jan 4th. When I came back, my 3 plants were fortunately still alive and well. I have 2 medium sized plants and 1 small one. Each had their own spike. The water in the bowl was a little less than half empty compared to where it was when I left (to the very brim). So the spikes supplied just enough water to keep the plants going for just over 2 weeks. I probably could have gone a month using these spikes and the amount of water in the supply bowl. This product worked great for what I needed it to do. Maybe if the kit came with it’s own weights for the tubes, I’d give it 5 stars.

  –LuN3yDaV3

  I’ll start by saying, I’m not much of a greenthumb. One of my friends gave me a little bonsai tree as a housewarming gift a year or so ago, and it has since turned a nice crisp yellow because I put the plant in a room I don’t often frequent, and kept forgetting to water it. Since then, I’ve started using these HydroSpikes to keep my plants watered without constantly having to remember when I last watered them. Works really well! I keep a cup of water hidden behind the pot, and I fill the cup maybe once every couple weeks. It definitely makes it easier to keep your plants nice and green.

  Every once in a while, I’ve managed to leave the plant unattended for too long and it sucks the entire cup dry — at which point, it’s easy to get it going again, just refill the spike with water up to the brim to get the water flowing again.

  All in all, I think it’s a good product, works well, and seems to be cheaper than some of the equivalents. Will be buying some more if I get some more plants!

  –Jim C. (Seattle, WA)

  Went on a month long vacation and all three plants connected to this system were in great shape upon our return. So for us, it worked well.

  -S. Blaylock (Valley of the Sun, Phoenix, AZ)

  These actually seem to work pretty well. We bought some for a very large fern that we bring in during the winter months. We are going to be on vacation for over a week and wanted to make sure the fern got watered, without the need to have someone come into the house and water it.

  We tested it before we left. We bought a 3 pack and put them in 3 different containers around the fern. We found that they were about the same as watering our plant 1/2 of the water it needed. We then bought another 3 pack. Perfect amount of water!

  Our fern is HUGE though and really takes a ton of water. It is about 3 1/2 feet tall and about 4 feet wide. Without the spikes, we had to water it every other day and about 32 ounces of water each time. These spikes really do the job!

  –Ann

  This is an excellent product. I arrived quickly and performed as described. It has been working very well.

  -Mar

  I purchased this watering system in preparation for summer travel. I have been using it for about a week and it works great. My outdoor plants have not drooped or looked parched once since I set-up the spikes. My one piece of advice to you is that if you have plants that are on the larger side, especially plants which are located outside, you might want to purchase more than one set since these plants might require two spikes depending on the length of your travel.

  –K. P. Walters (New York, NY)

  Bought a set of these for my wife’s office plants. So far they work exactly as advertised and the plants are healthy and happy. I used one in a six inch pot and two in a 12 inch and that seems adequate.

  For folks that are having trouble with over watering, make sure that the water jar is BELOW the bottom tip of the watering stake. (which is mentioned in the instructions but the illustration is vague) If it is level or above the water stake will draw too much water.

  -Paul M. Koshiol “Gear Guy” (Rockville, MD)

  I love how the HydroSpike works, it really is easy to set up and forget it, and my plants are really doing well.

  –Mary B. (Canton, OH)

  When I first set these up (following the instructions on the package), I didn’t see how they would work. But, after a time I noticed the water level in my reservoir bottle beginning to drop. I was amazed. The flow rate is slow, so if you have a very large pot you will need more than one HydroSpike.

  -GH

  I bought one pack with some big reservations. Plants on my balcony are constantly dry, no matter how much I water them – and it’s messy with water going everywhere. I read instructions carefully, but they’re very simple.

  I filled each spike with water, put a big, filled to the top, Poland Spring 1L bottle next to plants in the planter, put the spike in the middle of each plant and put the little tube from the spike into the big water bottles. That was Thu night, and Sunday night, after 3 days of 90+ weather, and my balcony getting full sun all day [western exposure], I went out, as usual, to water all my plants, and to check on the 2 with spikes. I was amazed to find wet soil and both water bottles more than half empty! What a relief and surprise. That means I can probably refill the water bottles once a week and not worry too much about my plants during the week. Love the product!

  -Valentina (Fair Lawn, NJ)

  This is the system I was looking for, easy to use, very affordable, and I’m having great results.

  –Jim R. (Boston, MA)

  I travel a lot on business and I really love to have growing things around my house, so this was a great answer to my problem of who to water the plants while I’m gone, so thank you.

  –Mike L. (San Antonio TX)