Will my pelargonium pots still be alive if I go on holiday for a fortnight?

[Fourmoos]

Off on holiday in July and nobody to water them. Will obviously water well before we leave.

I doubt it 😕 you need a local kid in to water them for £20

if it's hot and dry, they probably will dry out in a fortnight.

Get some water retaining crystals/granules. You mix them with the compost and when watered they swell up and as the name suggests, retain water and prevent the pots from drying out. Anywhere that sells garden supplies should sell them.

I stand all my pots in big trays of water when I go on holiday for a week.
You can also get capillary mats

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Relaxdays-Dispenser-Automatic-Irrigation-Terracotta/dp/B07TB8MNJT/ref=asc_df_B07TB8MNJT/?tag=googshopuk-21&linkCode=df0&hvadid=430680605463&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=10514398927816123797&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=m&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9045521&hvtargid=pla-779571395014&psc=1&th=1&psc=1&tag=&ref=&adgrpid=105650286848&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvadid=430680605463&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=10514398927816123797&hvqmt=&hvdev=m&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9045521&hvtargid=pla-779571395014

Or watering spikes

They'll stand more chance if you move them into the shade and stand them in a tray/saucer/trough of water.

Maybe stand them in trays and use some kind of delayed watering device… perhaps a plastic bottle with a tiny hole that will drip water slowly?!

I can’t properly remember what we used to do or how well it worked, but I’m sure we tried the dripping bottles, and it turns out there are pages and pages of ideas and contraptions on Google 😁 including siphoning and upturned bottles buried in the soil.

Put the pots in a shady, sheltered area of the garden. Stand them on a tray lined with either matting or old towels. Soak the plants and the towels before you leave.

This will keep the plants alive for a fortnight.

They will probably be fine, they are incredibly drought tolerant, provided the root system is well established - they are, after all, South African in origin.

But to mitigate any disasters, as has been said, moving them into semi shade and using the upturned bottle, with pinhole in the lid method, cannot do any harm!

I have some clay pointy things that screw on to empty bottles. If you use big enough bottles and keep the plants in a cool place they might be OK.

I water my neighbours plants, she will either leave them at the front so I don't have to go through the house or in line with where the hose reaches when I do mine. She has also brought them round but that was a bit of a pain. Could this work?

These are what I have:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Watering-Terracotta-Houseplant-Automatic-Irrigation/dp/B09TSRXBCN/ref=asc_df_B09TSRXBCN/?tag=googshopuk-21&linkCode=df0&hvadid=597999536879&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=7724568786708807065&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=1006953&hvtargid=pla-1661846222609&psc=1

I do as a pp does. Line them up within reach of next doors hose which they point over the fence at them. I return the favour if needed.

That works if neighbours don't go away at the same time though!

In the vanishingly small possibility that you live near me you could leave them in the front garden and I could water them every few days.

Standing in trays with an upturned, full plastic bottle of water (with holes in the lid) should keep them watered for a week.

Thank you all who have responded. Some good ideas here for me to look into.

As a log stop, pick a branch or two off each and leave them out of the sun in a big glass of water. They’ll probably have rooted by the time you come back

Stand them in a tray and let the outside tap or hosepipe slowly drip onto it.

I save loads of 2 litre bottles before going on holiday and stick them in my pots. Plants always still alive on return.

https://www.bobvila.com/articles/diy-self-watering-planter/

Put them in the shade, grouped together. Or if you dare, bring them inside in the bathtub with water wicking on towels.