preparing for travel: plants! [updated 4/5/10]

lei hou ma?  in 36 hours i'm going to be in hong kong!  i am mondo excited.  the only downsides are 1) the amount of money i am spending and 2) preparing for travel.  order number one is to prepare my babies.  we live in a pet-free apartment complex, so i have plants.  this is how you prepare houseplants for a 2-week absence --->

it's easy peasy!  the pot is full of water (about 3 quarts).  you probably don't need so much for plants this small but we live in a dry area and i want to have plenty left over after evaporation.

the lid is to slow down the evaporation, and the chopsticks elevate the lid or else the paper towels would be squished and wouldn't let much water through.

the pot is on a bowl to elevate the water above the plants and promote water flow. don't elevate the pot; you'll flood your plants like i did. D: one end of the paper towel should go to the bottom of the water and the other end should be buried in the soil (as far down as the roots, maybe 1 inch or so depending)

as the soil dries, it will suck water through the paper towel like a straw!  pretty cool right?

i had a similar setup for winter break and my babies survived 3 weeks without me, w00t w00t!

i'm going to grow up to be the crazy houseplant lady.  D:

but i'm so proud of them/myself, they've grown so much!

(my pothos, 16 months ago. don't mind the spotty leaves in the background, that's another plant)

(my spider plant / airplane plant, 11 months ago.  it survived a day-long flight, in a plastic baggie!)

okay.  crazy plant lady signing off, for now.

unless a post on plant propagation would be helpful to anyone?