Replying to @sehurlburt
As someone who travels a bit and has a lot of plants, I have a good bit of experience with this. How well plants do for an extended period without watering depends a lot on temperature and on how much sun they get. (Probably humidity too, but I'm really judging by season.)
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I make sure to water plants very well before I leave, and often (for some of them) leave water sitting in the tray at the bottom for them to draw on for a bit. That's generally just fine for 2 weeks in summer or 3/3.5 in winter.
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Longer than that (by a week, anyway) and the plants are still alive but I have to cut a bunch of dead leaves off of them and clean them up a bit when I'm back. Some of them also take a *lot* of extra water when I return (e.g., soak up the normal weekly amount 3 days in a row).
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This applies to my two drysenas & multiple philodendrons. (Assuming I have the right names! Google image search.) The snake plant and christmas cactus can probably last a good bit longer. The bromeliads are similar to the first group but leaves can brown at the ends.
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The potted hydrangea is more sensitive and probably wouldn't survive longer trips that I used to do, at least in summer. And I move some plants away from sunny spots into shadier ones if I'm away a long time. (But philodendron & drysena in shady spots anyway.)

Feb 15, 2020 · 4:55 PM UTC

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