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While appearing on the TV program Great Day Houston last week, guest hostess Dana Steele (as we were running completely out of time I might add) asked a specific question about the container gardening topic. "What about those of us who go on vacation for 2 weeks in the summer, how do we keep these alive?"  I quickly mentioned a product you may have heard me mention only a couple of times on the radio show for the past few weeks. It’s not-so-coincidentally called VACATION. A perfect name for a product that will help you keep container gardens alive, when you’re not there. Yes, it will work on landscape bed plants too, but it’s better served for container gardening.
Simply put, VACATION is an anti-drought treatment. So, it makes weekend get-aways and extended family trips a bit less stressful, in that you don’t have to worry about the plants dying. Nor, do you have to worry about the neighbor kid forgetting the job you hired him for.  Vacation is a liquid treatment that mixes with water and is watered in to the plant. Like a state of hibernation, Vacation causes the plant to react and raise its Asbiscus Acid level, which in turn causes the plants stomata to close. While in this suspended state the plant does not transpire water. Transpiration is the process by which the plant loses water through the stomata of the plant.
 Plants treated with Vacation can survive for up to two weeks without watering. Then, once watered again the plant snaps out of the dormancy and the effects of Vacation disappear.
Some of you may be asking, "This can’t really work in Houston, where 90 degree temperatures reign during our time away." Yes, it can, because once Vacation is watered in, a plant no longer requires water for up to 15 days even in the driest and hottest environment. Vacation is a not a water absorbent polymer. It is a liquid product that needs to be watered in to take effect.  Here’s my dilemma: While I trust the company that makes the product (Natural Industries, which makes Actinovate and Actino Iron ) it’s just so new I need some test cases to help prove the point this year. So, if you know you’re going to be leaving town later in May, June or July I would love to give you some Vacation so you can try it out and give us a report back. Check my calendar of appearances back at the main GardenLine webpage. and over the next few weekends I will be handing out free bottles of Vacation for the asking. All I ask in return is that you give us some honest feedback. Or, maybe you could take pictures of two similar containers before you leave. Apply the Vacation and take a similar picture of those two containers when you return.
If you simply want to take my word for it and give it a try by purchasing the product, you can get it at most places that sell Nitro Phos and Bonide products, as Vacation is also distributed by the Nitro Phos Warehouse. Until next issue, here's to Great Gardening from the GardenLine, heard exclusively, 6-10 a.m. Saturdays and 7-10 a.m. Sundays, only on NewsRadio 740 KTRH. |
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