Published In The Great North Arrow, April 1, 2024: The Great Facebook Plant Self-Watering Technique

- jim Young

DISCLAIMER: Be sure to read this article in its entirety before attempting this self-watering procedure.

”Now they show you how detergents take out bloodstains, a pretty violent image there. I think if you've got a T-shirt with a bloodstain all over it, maybe laundry isn't your biggest problem. Maybe you should get rid of the body before you do the wash.” - Jerry Seinfeld

Facebook is filled with suggested hacks to cover everything from keeping mosquitoes out of your back yard to removing highlighter stains to getting gum out of your carpet with a baggie full of ice cubes.

It would be nice if they all worked. In fact it would be nice if even half of them worked.

Here’s a hack we got from Facebook that could have been a real life-saver for us.

We recently planned a 2 week vacation to Cuba. Like everyone going away for a holiday, we had to make many preparations before we left. 

• Advise the post office to hold our mail - check

• Book our dog Myra into a Kennel - check

• Get enough spending money from the bank - check

• Ensure our passports were valid - check

• Water the plants - oh-oh!

My Shirley loves her Christmas Cactus, Ivy, Aloe Vera Plants and a variety of other plants that have names I can’t pronounce, much less spell.

As the heat was going to be turned down in some rooms, we had to move several plants to an area of the house where they could get sufficient light and heat. 

“But they need to be watered,” My Shirley explained to me. 

Apparently, my suggestion to “just give them 2 weeks supply of water all at once before we leave,” was not a viable solution.

We considered calling on my cousin, Mike to water them every couple of days but I had already requested he “keep an eye” on the house whenever he drove by to ensure no unwanted visitors were lurking around, so I didn’t want to impose on him further.

Instead, I suggested this Facebook hack I had recently seen online.

Stuff You’ll Need

• Container large enough to hold sufficient water to supply the number of plants you want watered, times the number of days you’ll be away.

• Water (quantities using the same formula above)

• 1 large ball of cotton string.

• 2 metal washers for each piece of string. 

Do This:

1. Place a container of water on a chair, table or shelf that is above the plants.

2. Cut 1 piece of cotton string for every plant you have, long enough to extend from the container of water to the plant you need watered.

3. Soak the pieces of shrink in water to saturate them.

4. Tie a metal washer to each end of the strings.* 

5. Run the pieces of string from the container of water to the plant.

6. Bury the end of the string that reaches the plant in the dirt in the plant’s pot.

* Note: The purpose of the washers is to hold the string in place and ensure they wouldn’t accidentally be pulled out, should one of those visitors who were lurking around the house manage to breach our security, get inside and accidentally displace the string while they were stealing our TVs and other worldly possessions.

The Proof Is In The Pudding

I took pictures before we left with the intention of also taking “after” photos, that I might give a full report of the success or failure of our experiment upon our return home.

You can see the bowl has plenty of water to slowly water
the plants through the string while we were gone.

After 2 full weeks in the hot sun of Cuba we came home to find My Shirley’s plants had fared very well. We were both pleased.

You can see by the watermarks of the container in the “after” picture, that a considerable amount of water was passed through osmosis into the string and transferred to the plants below.

Notice the dramatic change in the water level in the bowl.
But was it due to osmosis or evaporation?

I would like to report this experiment was a complete success should you need to go away on vacation.

I would like to report that, but unfortunately, Facebook left out one very important step that is crucial to the success of this hack.

In addition to the container, water, string and washers, you will also need a loyal and conscientious cousin to drop by once in a while.

A couple of days after we left, Mike decided to drop into the house just to check on things. While there, he noticed the plants were wilting and the dirt they were planted in was bone dry. Mike touched the string and discovered it was equally dry.

Apparently the “osmosis” portion of this experiment had failed.

So Mike removed some of the water from the container and used it to water each plant, checking back every couple of days to repeat as necessary.

So you see, the actual hack does work very well with the added step of having your cousin drop by to manually transfer some of the water from the container to the potted plants.

You’re Welcome

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