HESTYA 8 Pack Plant Self Watering Stakes Insert Automatic Watering Devices Self Watering Spikes Indoor Outdoor Plant Watering for Vacation

I am leaving for vacation for 26 days. I was so worried about my plants and am so happy I found this system. I have 32 plants which I have invested a lot of time and money on and I do not want to lose them. First, I made sure my plants were completely dry and almost wilted to test if it worked. I followed the instructions but modified a little. I separated the tops and bottoms and soaked everything in about two teaspoons of baking soda for more than 15 minutes (helps to disinfect). Afterword, I rinsed everything off really good, blew the air out of the hoses so I would not have air bubbles in the lines, and then reassembled everything under clean water and left them to soak in water until I was ready to install in the plant. I setup the lines and then rubber banded some glass beads to the bottom to hold the hoses to the lowest level in the container. It was amazing because the next day, I saw that the plants had drank a lot of water. I am going to re-arrange some because some plants need more water and should probably need to be on their own container. I absolutely love this product. I've included some pictures. All water bottles were topped off when I set them up last night and you can see how much then drank in just about eight hours. Oh and I was able to setup the entire system in about three hours. That's pretty good considering I live in a jungle. WOW, is all I can say. Now my friend will only need to check the plants once a week while I am gone. Anyway, I highly recommend this for all plant lovers.

I found that these did not work, I came back to a bucket with water still in it, plus mosquitoes.

These watering stakes work well if you know how to troubleshoot them when they're not working. I used these for a 2 week vacation and my plants were healthier than ever when I came home. It does take some trial and error and patience before you can set it and forget it, but it's worth it! If you're planning to use these while vacationing, I recommend buying these about a month in advance so that you can experiment with them and know exactly how much water you'll need in the reservoir for the amount of days you'll be gone.I did quite a bit of research before deciding to purchase these. The pricier name brand ones likely work just as well as they all function the same way, through capillary action.There are various methods to prime these stakes, so that they work well. Here's my method:- Remove the cap from the stake- Unravel and stretch out the tubing so that it's as straight as you can get it, you don't want a pinched tube- Soak everything in warm to hot water for 15-30 min- I would stretch out the tubing again to ensure there aren't any pinched areas- Get rid of any air bubbles in the stake cup (With the stake cup still submerged under the bowl of water, I tap it under against the wall of the bowl). Keep the stake cup under water.Here's the trickiest part (you'll have to find your own method of doing this properly):- Fill the tube with water (make sure there are no air bubbles in the tubing) and cap it onto the stake cup while it is still submerged. You should see a squirt of water coming out the other end of the tube.- Your stake is ready to use. Try and prevent any air bubbles getting into the tube by quickly submerging the end of the tube in your water reservoir. Stick the stake end into your soil, ideally near the center of the plant. Keep it upright and not angled.Keep the water line of your water reservoir ideally 3-5 inches below the stake. You'll have to experiment. If your water level is higher than the stake, you will drown your plant. If it's too low, then the capillary action won't work.I typically draw with a dry-erase marker where the water line is on the reservoir and check back in an hour or two to see if the plant is drawing water in. If the reservoir water line increases or stays the same, then it's likely the water line is too high and you'll need to lower the reservoir and/or pour out some water OR it's likely your reservoir is too low. Always check that there is still water inside the stake cup (it can be tough to see).You can also combine multiple stakes into one water reservoir. I was able to combine 7 small to medium pots to use 1 water reservoir.This is just a basic version of my method. There are a few sites online that will guide you on how to use these. Methods are slightly different but the principle is the same. It requires a bit of effort and can be frustrating but I swear it's worth it once you get it working! Hope this helps!

These worked great for my vacation!!

Product works as intended. But very delicate and needed more cushion around all individual ceramic parts. One broke in delivery.Look up tutorials online to use it. Key is to make sure it has no air left in it. Soak it for a while then underwater put the cap on and off until no more air bubbles come out

The media could not be loaded. I was skeptical because they did not work last year, but I did not soak the vessels long enough. I read someone else review and it said to soak them for 24 hours. I also made sure that I cleared the lines of all air so I ran water through them until I saw water coming out and then I put the top on and stuck them immediately into the water. The video shows that there is water being drawn up each day in my jugs. I also checked with a meter that I inserted into the plant to see how moist the plant is and all of my plants are thriving after seven days. I can leave confidently and go on vacation without worrying. Looks like I have enough water for almost 3 weeks in each jug. But I do have someone stopping by to check on them. If you follow the directions they will work. If your plants are outside, they’re going to drink a lot more water due to evaporation.