What do you do for the 'chids when you're on vacation?

[LauraGR]

Solay's thread about coming home from vacation brought up for me something I've been thinking about for coming summer trips: What do you all do when you leave home for more than, say, 5 days?
I know I can get my partner to spray the orchids and maybe fill all the trays a few times, but for more than that, what do you do to ensure they're alive when you get home?

[patticake]

I have a friend of mine come over and water while I'm away. She's a really good friend! I have little pink flags that I put in the ones that have to have water each day, and she does her best. We have a brush-up training course before I leave.

Some folks just water well, move the plants away from the windows, so they don't dry as fast, and say a little prayer.

[Stelios]

I asked my partner to water them a couple of weeks ago that i was out of town. He did but as I discovered later... he was too lazy to take each pot downstairs in the bathroom so he used a big pot to soak all the plants in turns. Fortunately no plant had any infections passed to the others. :P

[Hummer344]

We use a house/cat/plant sitter. I leave a detailed note for her but she has done this for so many years now that she knows the routine.

[kmarch]

I have an orchid mate that takes care of them.

[fred]

with all my trips to Melbourne last year a good friend and my wife shared the duties

they done a good job while I was away but they don't look after the chids like I do

I hope they don't read my post for there goes my chid sitters lol

[bemarine]

I've had bad experiences while on vacation. I had to mostly save them by the time I returned

[CharliesAngel51]

I usually only go away for a week at a time so I am hoping that they will survive that long. I haven't been gone since I started with my orchids except for hosp. stay. I lost a couple then due to overwatering. If all else fails I always have my sister who will do her best. She lives close and has taken care of my veggie garden in the past. That was when I was going away for a couple of months at a time. Now I am more of a home body.

[Fishmom]

Once I took all my plants to a friend's house, along with directions on care. She is a gardener, though not an orchid person, and she did a good job. Now I live in another location, and I have found a house sitter who comes as many times as I need her to during the week. Last time it was once a week for the major watering and once midweek to top up the S/H containers so they didn't dry out. However, I can tell that without the misting I do most days, and the checking of skewers for unexpected dryness, the plants don't do as well. It's hard for a house sitter to know how to compensate for extremes of temperature.

[PhalPal]

If I'm going to be gone less than 10 days, I water well, turn off the T5's and leave them alone. They have always been fine when I returned and not excessively dried out. I put my paphs and phals species that are in moss in a shallow pan with a bit of water and they drank from the bottom. This is okay for a short time but I wouldn't do it for much longer than this.

With my recent trips back east this year, up to a month, I had my husband take care of them. He did a really good job for someone who could kill a cactus, but I did lose a few. Either he got water in the leaves or didn't see the signs of dehydration. He was so scared he was going to kill one, I couldn't bear to tell him he DID. Under the circumstances of all the coming
and going, sometimes with little notice, they did survive despite not being lovingly cared for.

Moral of the story: I have had the most problems when I let someone else care for them, or.....I let someone else (i.e. hubby) get them ready to be left alone for two weeks. I have never, ever let my critter sitter touch my orchids; he has been known to kill a geranium or two over the years.

[grandmapenguin]

You find a GREAT FRIEND like kida who took care of my cHIDS for three months. She took them to her house so it was a chore for her. It was greatly appreciated.

Terry

[rcb]

Since we usually go in the summer, all the orchids are outside, and my next door neighbor (a GREAT lady) just gets them with the hose if it doesn't rain for a few days. (She also comes in every day and takes care of the cat)

Had one bad experience though, years ago, I had just broken up a flask, the seedlings were doing really well, this was the first flask I had done. After a month, my husband and I went on a cruise, and my mother was staying at my house to watch the kids. Well, I gave her strict instructions about using a specific spray bottle to water the tray of seedling. showed her how to feel the spaghnum if it was dry, then water. I had the mix of distilled water in an old spray bottle I had washed out. Well unfortunately I left a bottle of Febreeze out roughly on the same place on the counter. Yep she did it. She watered my seedlings with Febreeze. BTW, orchids do not like Febreeze, every one of them died.

[Wendy]

If I am only away for 4-5 days I don't worry about them. My son fills up the humidifier and will water anything that I set out for special care. If I am away for longer then I get my best orchid buddy to come over and water. He always cares for them like they are his own.

[solay]

Good question. I had a misting system put in the G/H form my previous vacation but find that it misses some plants and over waters others. So this time I left all the ones that need daily watering with my mom and the rest I put in the G/H and have someone water once a week for me.
Even with all that I lost a few orchids. This time around I was lucky and had little loss, but still some of my plants were either over watered or sun damaged.
I guess you have to pay a price for leaving them too long.

[NancyH]

Worry!!!! During the colder months It seems to be ok. Less watering and I have the greenhouse heater on a thermostat. Now in Jaunary, here we had a heat spell, days to 78 or a little more. I came home one day from town and my automatic exhaust fan (also on thermostat) had clicked in. Great, but I had bubble wrapped the interior on the grenhouse and covered up the opening of the exhaust fan. So the fan was roaring and trying to suck in the bubble wrap. What a mess. If I had been gone it would have been a real mess. Then the summers, and it can get hot. I have all sorts of shade cloth with a top layer of the aluminet shade cloth on the roof. That really helps, but it still gets hot. The fan kicks in, but In the transition of really cold nights to hotter days I have to manually open the greenhouse door in the mid morning and then close it at night so it will not get to cold in there. I am a slave to the place, it is worse than having children! Most of the time we hire a house sitter as we have dogs and cats and I have to leave notes all over the place to water, open doors, close doors ect... Works OK but I feel limited as to my travels. But I LOVE the orchids and that makes it OK fo now! Nancy

[cloudswinger]

I was just away for 3 weeks. I had a few phal in one outdoor area, and all the rest in another outdoor area which is quite a bit sunnier. The phals didn't get watered the whole time I was gone, but I had a mister system for the others. Everything was all right, the phals all are spiking/blooming, and many of the others also. So I'm sure it depends on your climate, but I just leave them mostly alone anyway. I was a little concerned about the cold snaps, but they all pulled through just fine. Summer would be even easier to leave them, since I wouldn't have to worry about cold spells.

[nenella]

Originally Posted by Hummer344

We use a house/cat/plant sitter. I leave a detailed note for her but she has done this for so many years now that she knows the routine.

Same !! we have a guy who comes and lives at our house while we are on holiday he looks after the cats, orchids & house plants & has been doing it for us for the past 3 years! I'm happy to say he has become a real expert! I didn't lose any at all (last year lost 3) - But I do give him a 'crash course' plus leave him notes & ring him up every couple weeks...