Holiday watering problem...soil grow

[stokesy]

I'm going to be away from base for 11 days shortly.. at that time, I'll have 6 plants going into 12/12, and from experience, at this stage, they'll require water around the 10th or 11th day... which means I'm about a day out, possibly. Don't want to return and find them dehydrated. So.. I have a few options here...

I'll be using 10 litre airpots as usual, but with a 400w HPS. Normally, I use 600w. Cutting down on the light at this stage shouldn't affect them too much, and I'll be grouping them for maximum light. That's my first option. I'm figuring, less heat, less transpiration, so the water should last a bit longer.

I can also change over to 2 x 250w CFLs with reflectors. AGain, less heat, less dehydration.

So.. I'm looking for opinions on the above, or any other solutions. Your advice, as ever, is greatly appreciated.

FYI, they are AK48, Northern Lights, and PPP. The soil is Biobizz, with added perlite. Perlite is about 20% of the mass.

Tks...

 

[stokesy]

For future reference, I've switched to 2 x 250 cfls, still vegging. Decided not to switch to 12/12 right now, as I don't want to get out of hand while I'm away, and the nodes right now are very tight. Another 10 days in veg can only do them good.

 

[Hosebomber]

You can always hook up an "IV" and some drip irrigation lines to the... just make sure the IV has a large reservoir and is sitting higher than the drip lines.

 

[stokesy]

The IV drip was an option... but it really needs a bit of trial and error... to determine the flow of water. In the end.. I decided to extend the veg period till I get back, and have used two x 200w CFL's with the input and output fans set at the lowest.

Temp sits at around 73F all the time. OK,with then reduced output, growth will be a little slower, but that's a small price to pay....


They are:

Northern Lights
AK48
PPP

2 of each.

Tks!