I travel from time to time, usually for up to a week. Since I don’t have anyone to water my grow, I’ve had to come up with some survival techniques to keep my plants from expiring while I’m gone.
I went out and spent $80 on an automatic watering system that have yet to figure out. Maybe it works great, but I don’t have time to fool with it before my next week-long trip, which begins tomorrow.
I wouldn’t recommend this for any longer than a week, but if you plan ahead and time it right, you can put a relatively small plant into a big pot, water the heck out of it and turn your light intensity down if you can. I suppose that for plants in veg, a humidifier might also be a good idea, though I’d be concerned about mold.
Anyway, Small Plant + Big Pot + Lots of Water = Time
Obviously, you need enough perlite in your mix to allow adequate drainage, but I’ve found that my standard mix of 5:3 is sufficient. Ideally, your plants will look great when you get back, having gained some height and hopefully, health. The plants in my current grow are not that small–but I did put them into the big pots just recently, and switched from an MH veg light to an hps bulb and 12-hour flowering schedule last night. Plus, my Solis ballast can go from high-intensity 600W mode to standard 400 watts, so I cranked it all the way down. Should work just fine without doing any harm to my plants.
But yes 30 gallon smart pot and one little plant in the middle stays wet a long time even under a 600